McCaskill Vows To Work to Implement 9-11 Recommendations

McCaskill Vows To Work to Implement 9-11 Recommendations

Today, in a news conference call with reporters, U.S Senate Candidate Claire McCaskill and 9/11 Commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste, both former prosecutors, talked about the need to fully implement the 9-11 Commission Recommendations in order to make America safer amid new reports and intelligence experts confirming that the war in Iraq is actually breeding more terrorism. In a report issued in December of 2005, the President and Republican Congress received failing grades on a majority of the Commission's recommendations.

"Based on our extensive 20 month investigation, the bipartisan 9-11 Commission made a number of recommendations in our unanimous final report in July of 2004 to make our country safer," Ben-Veniste said. "Ten months ago, we graded how well the President and Congress implemented our recommendations. Our evaluation, again unanimous among the five Republicans and five Democrat members on the Commission, found ten "C's", twelve "D's", and four "F's" among the grades."

Ben-Veniste also said that recent reports and intelligence experts who testified before the Commission confirm that the decision to pursue military action in Iraq instead of completing the job in Afghanistan has actually led to the breeding of terrorism around the globe, which has left many Americans less safe. The feelings of these Americans is a reality as our focus in Iraq has made us less able to respond to these new threats and our neglect toward implementing the 9-11 Commission Recommendations has left us unable to adequately secure our homeland. Ben-Veniste made the following commentary related to that issue:

"Finally, on the issue of global strategy against the spread of Islamic extremism, it is now undisputed that the Iraq war has sparked a significant increase in new terrorist recruitment. Indeed, the fact that there are more terrorists now than there were on 9-11 probably explains why so many Americans feel that we are less safe today.

"The National Intelligence Estimate, a compendium of all sixteen intelligence agencies, importantly confirmed what we in Washington have known for some time. Indeed, in an open 9-11 Commission hearing in June 2004 two CIA counterterrorism experts testified about the jump in Jihadist recruitment following the invasion of Iraq with hundred of billions of dollars spent in Iraq, which indisputably had no connection to the 9-11 attack. We have diverted our focus from whipping out the Taliban, which is now resurgent in Afghanistan, and hunting down the mass murderer of 9-11, Osama Bin Laden, who is still at large.

"These choices have consequences. The Administration and Congress have short changed priorities at home such as providing needed security for chemical plants, port security, airline screening, passenger no-flight lists, liquid bomb detection hiring, secure translators and securing nuclear material overseas."

Among the 9-11 Recommendations Ben-Veniste cited was the need to protect our chemical plants from terrorist strategies within our homeland, securing loose nukes from falling into the hands of terrorists, improvement of first responder communications to better prepare us to deal with a terrorist attack or natural disaster, and oversight of the executive branch to encourage accountability and prevent fraud waste and corruption.

In McCaskill's May 8th National Security Address, she called on Congress to implement several recommendations that deal with our ports and borders to protect Americans from terrorist threats from within our homeland.

"A growing threat to our homeland is the severe lack of port and border security," McCaskill said in May. "While all of us are taking off our shoes at airports, less than 5% of the cargo containers coming into our ports are ever inspected, making it easy for terrorists to smuggle in a dirty bomb. As those containers are loaded onto semis that make their way across America's heartland, the possible consequences are obvious. Yet little is being done to prevent a potential disaster. We must fully fund port security and toughen regulations."

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