[iwar] [fc:Hart.Warned.On.Terror,.But.Bush.Didn't.Listen]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-11-10 17:42:56
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 17:42:56 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Hart.Warned.On.Terror,.But.Bush.Didn't.Listen]
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International Herald Tribune
November 9, 2001
Hart Warned On Terror, But Bush Didn't Listen
By Richard Reeves
DENVER -- At the Tattered Cover, the best bookstore in town, you can buy
what might have been for $30. The title is: "Road Map for National Security:
Imperative for Change."
The 146-page book is the final report of the Hart-Rudman Commission, more
formally know as The United States Commission on National Security/ 21st
Century, a government commission created in 1998 during the Clinton
administration to evaluate changes in national security threats and
organization after the Cold War. The co-chairmen were two former senators,
Gary Hart, the Colorado Democrat, and Warren Rudman, the New Hampshire
Republican.
Published on March 15 of this year, the report urged the creation of a
cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security and said such things as:
"The combination of unconventional weapons proliferation with the
persistence of international terrorism will end the relative invulnerability
of the United States homeland to catastrophic attack."
And this: "A direct attack against American citizens on American soil is
likely over the next quarter-century. The risk is not only death and
destruction but also a demoralization that could undermine U.S. global
leadership. In the face of this threat, our nation has no coherent or
integrated governmental structure.
"The intelligence community should emphasize the recruitment of human
intelligence sources on terrorism as one of [its] highest priorities."
That was submitted to President George W. Bush and Congress almost exactly
six months before the terrorist attacks that struck the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon in September. Well, six months is not such a long time in
such matters. Right. But the bipartisan 14-member commission appointed by
the secretary of defense, William Cohen, early in 1998 had, in fact, begun
issuing such warnings two years ago. On Sept. 21, 1999, phase one of the
three-phase report stated:
" While conventional conflicts will still be possible, the most serious
threats to our security may consist of unannounced attacks on American
cities."
The report then cited the dangers of a "germ warfare, well planned cyber
attack on the air control system on the East Coast of the U.S." It added:
"Americans will likely die on American soil, possibly in large numbers." It
happened that I was having dinner with Mr. Hart, who practices international
law now and took time off to earn a doctorate in political philosophy at
Oxford University in England, on the day I bought the phase three report and
asked him how he learned of the World Trade Center attack. He said he had
watched it on television like most everyone else.
"I just sat there tearing my hair out," he answered. "It wasn't that I
thought a report could have stopped the attack, but because I knew nothing
at all had been done to prepare for the possibility. The government was
almost helpless."
What happened in the government was that Mr. Bush politely thanked the
commission, which included such prominent members as Newt Gingrich, the
former House speaker; James Schlessinger, a former secretary of defense;
Andrew Young, a former ambassador to the United Nations; and Lee Hamilton,
former chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, and then ignored the
thing. The President ordered Vice President Dick Cheney to come up with
another plan turning such national security matters over to FEMA (the
Federal Emergency Management Administration), which deals with hurricanes
and other acts of God. That was that. Mr. Hart knew the commission's
thoughts and warnings were dead. Actually, he knew before the president
filed it away. During the press conference presenting the final report last
March, he noticed that the reporter there from The New York Times walked out
in the middle. Later, he asked the correspondent why he did that. "He told
me," said Mr. Hart, and these are the exact words: 'This isn't important.
None of this is ever going to happen.'"
But it did happen. On Sept. 11 of this sad year.

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