US intelligence chiefs failed to grasp 9/11 threat

US leaders and intelligence chiefs failed for many years to grasp the gravity of the threat posed by extremists and suffered from “failure of imagination,” the commission investigating the September 11 attacks said in its final report released today.

It recommended the creation of a new intelligence centre and high-level intelligence director to improve the ability of the United States to disrupt future terrorist attacks.

The panel determined the “most important failure” leading to the devastating September 11 attacks on New York and Washington “was one of imagination. We do not believe leaders understood the gravity of the threat.”

The highly anticipated 567-page report said an intelligence-gathering centre would bring a unified command to more than 12 agencies which now collect intelligence overseas and at home.

Overseeing the centre would be a new Senate-confirmed national intelligence director, reporting directly to the president at just below full Cabinet rank, who “would be able to influence the budget and leadership” of the CIA, FBI, Homeland Security Department and US Defence Department.

Commission chairman Tom Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey, said the 9/11 attacks “were a shock, but should not have come as a surprise.”

“By September 2001, the executive branch of the US government, the Congress, the news media, and the American public had received clear warning that Islamist terrorists meant to kill Americans in high numbers,”

Commission vice chairman Lee Hamilton said after the 9/11 attacks the government’s efforts “rightly included military action to topple the Taliban and pursue al-Qaida”.

“But long-term success demands the use of all elements of national power: diplomacy, intelligence, covert action, law enforcement, economic policy, foreign aid, public diplomacy and homeland defence,” said Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana.

“If we favour one tool while neglecting others, we leave ourselves vulnerable.”

The report, which is the culmination of a 20-month investigation into the plot that killed nearly 3,000 people, describes the meticulous planning and determination of hijackers who sought to exploit weaknesses in airline and border procedures by taking test flights.

A surveillance video that surfaced yesterday shows four of the hijackers passing through security gates at Washington Dulles International Airport shortly before boarding the plane they would crash into the Pentagon.

In the video, the hijackers can be seen undergoing additional scrutiny after setting off metal detectors, then being permitted to continue to their gate.

While faulting institutional shortcomings, the report does not blame President George Bush or former President Bill Clinton for mistakes contributing to the 2001 attack.

Kean and Hamilton presented Bush with a copy of the report today. Bush thanked them for a “really good job” and said the panel makes “very solid, sound recommendations about how to move forward".

“I assured them that where the government needs to act we will,” Bush said.

The commission did not recommend creation of a new domestic intelligence agency similar to Britain’s MI5, as proposed by some in Congress.

Instead, the report endorsed steps already being taken by FBI Director Robert Mueller to create a specialised intelligence service within the FBI.

Beyond government reorganisation, the report also says that the United States and its allies must embark on a global strategy of diplomacy and public relations to dismantle the terror network led by Osama bin Laden and defeat the militant Islamic ideology that feeds such terror groups.

“To Muslim parents, terrorists like bin Laden have nothing to offer their children but visions of violence and death. America and its friends have the advantage – our vision can offer a better future,” the report said.

The commission also says the US government must do more at home to guard against future terror attacks, including such things as national standards for issuance of drivers’ licenses and other identification, improve “no-fly” and other terrorist watch lists and use more biometric identifiers to screen travellers at ports and borders.