A bipartisan group of lawmakers will be reviewing the 9/11 Commission Report to track the progress made on its recommendations ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks next year.
Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) and Representative Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.) are leading the initiative, lawmakers announced Thursday, the 24th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
“Today, as a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee and a proud New Yorker, I am honored to announce that I will chair the bipartisan House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence review of 9/11 Commission Report to evaluate the progress made on the intelligence-related recommendations,” Stefanik said.
“It is important that the intelligence community is equipped to counter terrorism over the next 25 years amid a quickly evolving landscape.”
House Intelligence Committee chairman Rick Crawford (R., Ark.) and ranking member Jim Himes (D., Conn.) established the bipartisan review panel. The 9/11 report review will feature hearings, briefings, and other events to develop a suite of recommendations prior to next year’s 9/11 anniversary.
“The attacks on 9/11 fundamentally altered the security posture of the United States and the way we engage in the world,” Crawford said.
“As we mark the 25th anniversary of one of the darkest days in U.S. history next year, we must ensure our intelligence community and its capabilities remain one step ahead of our rapidly evolving adversaries. While the threats look different today, the mission remains the same: we can never allow a failure to connect the dots to result in catastrophe ever again.”
The 9/11 Commission released its bipartisan 585 page report in 2004 after combing through 2.5 million pages of documents and interviewing more than 1,200 interviews. The damning report documented significant intelligence failures leading up to the terrorist attacks and a lack of coordination between different intelligence agencies. To combat the problem, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created to serve as a coordination hub and conduct oversight of the U.S. government’s sprawling intelligence apparatus.
“Twenty-four years after 9/11, we are still living with its aftermath — especially in New Jersey, where we lost hundreds of loved ones, friends, and first responders. The pain of that day has never faded, and neither has our responsibility to honor the victims by preventing future attacks and keeping Americans safe,” Gottheimer said.
“In the years since, following the 9/11 report, we have made critical improvements to our intelligence and homeland security systems. But, our work remains unfinished. I will continue working across the aisle to ensure that we remember the lives lost, support the families of victims, and strengthen our nation’s defenses against terrorism.”
The 9/11 attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon claimed 2,977 lives. A fourth plane was supposed to hit the U.S. Capitol but crashed in Pennsylvania after a passenger revolt foiled the plot. All the passengers and crew members aboard Flight 93 died heroically in the crash.
Most of the 9/11 casualties happened at the Twin Towers at the time of the attacks or from injuries sustained during them. Countless first responders have suffered life altering health problems because of exposure to toxic debris at Ground Zero in Manhattan following the terrorist attacks.
“We are still reckoning with the aftermath of 9/11— both in Connecticut where so many lost neighbors, friends and family members, and as a nation whose belief in our own security was deeply shaken,” Himes said.
“Twenty-four years later, we continue to honor the victims by doing all in our power to prevent future attacks and keep Americans safe. In the years following the attacks, the Intelligence Community underwent substantial reorganization. I look forward to a rigorous bipartisan review of the intelligence community’s progress since 2001, and the opportunity to identify additional areas for improvement.”
Islamist terror group Al-Qaeda carried out the attacks at the direction of its leader, Osama bin Laden. U.S. forces killed Bin Laden nearly a decade later after he hid in Afghanistan and later escaped to Pakistan to evade capture.
The 9/11 attacks led to the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the start of the war on terror under President George W. Bush. The 9/11 terrorist attacks forever changed U.S. foreign policy and made combatting Islamist terrorism a top priority for U.S. national security officials domestically and abroad.