U.S. given 'more F's than A's' on terror preparation
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/05/911.commission.ap/index.htmlLeaders called distracted by wars, competing priorities
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. (Read the commission's report card
)
"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?"