NBC- What ever happened to secret meetings ?

Hear this Mr Terrorist, we aren't ready if you attack again.... come
on in !!!! Idiots.







WASHINGTON (Dec. 5) - The former Sept. 11 commission gave dismal grades
Monday to the federal government's efforts to shore up national
security and prevent another terror attack on the United States.



Meeting for the last time since being appointed by Congress in 2002,
commission members gave the government "more F's than A's" among the 41
grades measuring progress on security recommendations they issued last
year.

"We're frustrated, all of us - frustrated at the lack of urgency in
addressing these various problems," said former commission chairman
Thomas Kean, a Republican and former New Jersey governor.

Specifically, the panel gave the government an "F" on homeland security
spending for cities most at risk, on improving radio communication for
emergency agencies and on airline passenger prescreening. They awarded
only one A - actually an A-minus - for the administration's efforts to
curb terrorist financing.

"We shouldn't need another wake-up call," Kean said. "We believe that
the terrorists will strike again, so does every responsible expert that
we have talked to. And if they do, and these reforms that might have
prevented such an attack have not been implemented, what will our
excuse be?"


Grade the Government




The official commission, tasked with investigating government missteps
that led to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, disbanded after issuing its
recommendations in July 2004. It has since been operating with private
funds at the 9-11 Public Discourse Project to monitor government
progress.

Since the commission's final report in July 2004, the government has
enacted the centerpiece proposal to create a national intelligence
director. But it has stalled on other ideas, including improving
communication among emergency responders and shifting federal
terrorism-fighting money so it goes to states based on risk level.

"There are so many competing priorities," said vice chairman Lee
Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana. We've got three
wars going on: one in Afghanistan, one in Iraq and the war against
terror. And it's awfully hard to keep people focused on something like
this."

White House counselor Dan Bartlett said the Bush administration wants
to base funding on threat but is frustrated by the way Congress spends
homeland security funding.

"They are funding things based on old models, pre-9/11 models. We think
it's important that homeland security dollars go to where the threats
are," Bartlett said Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

He said the Bush administration had acted on some 70 of the
commission's recommendations and that others were awaiting
congressional action. "It's important that Congress act on those
recommendations," he said on CBS' "The Early Show."

Bartlett told NBC's "Today" show that while the United States has not
been attacked since Sept. 11, "we're not resting on our laurels" and
will "continue to press to make the type of changes to make the country
safer."


White House counselor Dan Bartlett said the Bush administration wants
to base funding on threat but is frustrated by the way Congress spends
homeland security funding.

Hamilton, in a joint appearance with Kean on NBC's "Meet the Press" on
Sunday, said, "We believe that another attack will occur. It's not a
question of if. We are not as well-prepared as we should be."

National security adviser Stephen Hadley said President Bush is
committed to putting in place most of the recommendations.

"We are safer, but not yet safe. There is more to do," Hadley said on
"Fox News Sunday."

Some members of the commission, whose recommendations now are promoted
through a privately funded group known as the 9/11 Public Discourse
Project, contended the government has been remiss by failing to act
more quickly.

Kean and Hamilton urged Congress to pass spending bills that would
allow police and fire to communicate across radio spectrums and to
reallocate money so that Washington and New York, which have more
people and symbolic landmarks, could receive more for terrorism
defense.

Both bills have stalled in Congress, in part over the level of spending
and turf fights over which states should get the most dollars.

Congress established the commission in 2002 to investigate government
missteps that led to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Nearly 3,000 people
were killed when 19 Arab hijackers organized by al-Qaida flew airliners
into New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon and caused a
crash in the Pennsylvania countryside.

The panel's 567-page final report, which became a national best seller,
did not blame Bush or former President Clinton for missteps
contributing to the attacks but did say they failed to make
anti-terrorism a higher priority.

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