I am always open to blaming the people for their government’s ineptness. From a reader:

I’m glad you handed out blame for not preventing 9/11 to a lot of
people in your corner post, but there’s something that I think really
needs to be emphasized more in these discussions: America is a
democracy. Politicians take their positions, by and large, because
those positions get them votes. Terrorism was not treated as a huge
threat before 9/11 because the American people, in general did not
think of it as a threat.
Imagine if someone had tried to run for president in 1992, or 1996,
or 2000, on a platform that preventing terrorist attacks against the
US should be our number one priority, and promised to devote immense
resources to that goal, maybe including serious military engagement
in the Middle East. He wouldn’t have had a chance.
It’s a funny thing about democracies, and one that goes back at least
to Athens: the whole point of the system is that decisions are made
by the people, and we’re all very proud to take part in government;
and then when a decision seems to have been wrong, there has to be a
huge frantic hunt for the politician who tricked or coerced us into it.