Commentaries On The 9/11 Commission Report

By The Disaster Center
The Disaster Center
September 23, 2004

On September 13, 2004 a group of 25 former Federal employees directed a letter to the Congress of the United States of America. The purpose of the letter was to address serious shortcomings in the 911 Report. These former Executive branch employees, whom are not permitted to speak publicly about the specific wrongs that they reported to the 911 Commission, write of the existence of serious problems and shortcomings within the bureaucracy.

Part of their concern is that, in the Commission's 911 Report, no one within government was held accountable. They maintain that in order to understand the underlying problem the Commission needed to take account of systemic errors in the operation of the Executive branch, which are dictated by motives other than the security of the people of the United States. "The errors were not due to a "lack of imagination" or "human error", but due to clear negligence and/or a dereliction in the performance of their duties to the nation." The Commission's failure to assign blame, "is to play the political game." They warn us that, "If these individuals are protected rather than held accountable, the mindset that enabled 9/11 will persist, no matter how many layers of bureaucracy are added."

It must be understood that many of these former employees came forward with warnings related to the United State's terrorism policy and other serious problems prior to 9-11-01. Much about what we know is because after 9-11-01 these individuals came forward and provided information to the Commission. They are whistleblowers, who "put the safety of the American people above their own careers and jobs even though they had reason to suspect that the deck was stacked against them," and it was. The Commission neither acknowledged their contributions, nor faced up the urgent need to protect such patriots against retaliation. All were ostracized, others were put under gag orders, and some were fired.

"It is unrealistic to expect that government workers will defend the public, if they can't defend themselves." The great omission of report is not to address the issue that it is in no Executive branch employee's interest to speak up to report wrongdoings. The way the bureaucracy currently operates was and remains a contributing factor that enabled the attacks to take place.

All the branches of government tend to operate like a single tribe and the agencies within like clans of that tribe. Exposing incompetent, irresponsible and even lawless conduct by a clan/agency is almost always considered more a serious offence than the wrong disclosed. The interest of the clan/agency in having a good reputation is more important than mitigating problems or correcting the defects that might cause it to have a poor reputation, if the wrongs were to become known. Wrongs that are disclosed by clan/agency members to outsiders, even when the wrong results in a disaster like 9-11-01, is an offence to the clan/agency. As long as the clan's/agency's interest is always superior to the public's interest, disasters that could have been mitigated, like 9-11-01, will continue to affect the people of the United States.

The way the bureaucracy operates is to a great extent influenced by its interactions with the two other branches of our government. Wrongdoings against the people of the United States (who aren't tribe members/federal employees) is less of an offence to the clan/agency than it is for the clan/agency member to disclose a wrong outside the clan/agency. Even when a clan/agency member reports a wrong committed by a member of his or her clan/agency within the clan/agency, the tendency is to feel a greater affinity for the wrongdoer, for who does not make an innocent mistake? When a report of wrongdoing is made to a person outside the clan/agency, the interests of the whole clan/agency is threatened, no matter the seriousness or gravity of the error.

Agencies are experts at firing whistleblowers. When this takes place the tribe member/Federal employee who runs a court may hear a complaint after the individual is fired because of the disclosure. The status and legitimacy of the court depends upon the respect of the people of the United States. The court being part of the tribe has an interest in the outcome of the case. When tribe members/Federal employees report wrongdoing it reflects badly on the tribe/Federal government. Since, judges get to decide what is true; it's in the judge's natural interest to decide in favor of the agency/clan, not the fired individual, who is no longer a member of the tribe. As far as the public is concerned, Government clans/agencies operate in a manner that is remarkably flawless even when events like 911 happen.

Congress has passed the laws to specifically protect whistleblowers, but it rarely investigates allegations of wrongdoings by executive branch employees and agencies. When it does investigate disasters, like the one that took place on 9-11-01, it rarely assigns blame or provides protection for those who disclose the causes of the wrongs. The point of the letter, that these former Executive branch employees sent to Congress, is that it is not in the interest of anyone in the Federal government to prevent another disaster like the one that took place on 9-11-01. Whistleblower protection should be a restraining force to prevent wrongs, but relying on the questionable mechanism of whistleblower laws to protect Federal employees, to act as a restraining force, comes to late to prevent the wrongs. When a wrong takes place it may or may not result in a disaster. Yet, when an Executive branch employee objects to wrongs, an agency policy line or speaks freely about an administration's policy, even before Congress, like many did prior to so many of the disastrous policies adopted by the Executive branch, they don't last long in the Federal service.

Congress passes a lot of laws. Most don't apply to the Federal government. Thus, it is crime if a state employee violates Federal laws, but not a crime if a Federal employee performs the same act. Because Federal laws and courts are superior to state laws and courts, the result is that Federal employees and agencies can be lawless. Congress could remedy this situation, the courts have even pointed this out, but even if they did, prosecution could still only take place if an executive branch clan member is willing to prosecute the crime against another clan member. Since the prosecution of executive branch employees or agencies by an executive branch agency would reflect badly on the executive branch, this is a rare event.

The underlying problem is the manner in which the Federal bureaucracy is organized and how it operates. We have a system of government, which tends to operate (and even reward) incompetent, irresponsible and lawless conduct. In response to the events of 9-11-01 we give government even greater powers, while ignoring the underlying problem that enabled the attacks to take place. It is a recipe for disaster.

We have entered the digital age. The internal operating structure and the functions of agencies need to be examined and brought up to date. The Commission has recommended that the tools of the digital age be used to constrain the rights of the people, in an effort to identify and interdict those who may have the intention of committing a terrorist act.

Yet, that the events of 9-11-01 took could take place at all was as much a fault of the way our system of government operates, as it was due to the terrorists. The reform of the intelligence community outlined by the 911 Commission Report does not address this issue. The issue is not just with the intelligence community. The problem is a government wide and the costs to the people of the United States is of a magnitude greater than the costs that have been paid by the American people for allowing the attacks of 9-11-01 to take place. While the attacks of 9-11-01 caused a loss of 80 billion dollars, the Secretary of the Treasury recently noted in a speech, the collapse of the Wall Street bubble caused a loss of 7 trillion in equities.

We are at war. Because of this, the majority of the people of the United States understand that the Federal government may have the need to assume certain powers to mitigate threats that will arise in consequence of this fact.

Yet, we must begin with equal urgency to address the failings within the Federal government that enabled the attacks to take place. The tools of the digital age can be used with equal efficiency to bring about changes in the way the bureaucracy works to enable it operate in a more responsive and responsible manner. The private sector is using the tools of the Digital Age to conduct its business in a more responsive and responsible fashion to meet the needs of the consumers of its products.

Congress must address the fact that it also shares responsibility for the way the Executive branch carries out Congress's mandate. This may involve an expansion of roles that Congress plays. We simply can not afford an irresponsible, incompetent and lawless bureaucracy. Committees of Congress need to stop acting like the overseers of plantations and act more like managers. An increase in staff sizes may be required to accommodate greater responsibilities. Congress needs to develop and use the tools of the digital age, so that it may more efficiently and effectively perform its functions.

The courts too must reform the way that it handles whistleblower complaints. There is no parity between standards by which business conducts it functions and government performs its duties.

"At ease," a general once ordered, and then went on explain to an experienced combat division, about to go into combat that, "war is about killing." "No sir," replied a seasoned veteran, "it is not. It's about who is going to kill us, the enemy or your orders." Here is a letter written by veterans of many battles, who came forward and, by whose courage and willingness to put their careers and jobs on the line, the 911 Commission was able do its work. The Commission failed them and failed the people of the United States by its lack of courage to address the issues that they raise here. The people of the United States are in danger because of the way the bureaucracy operates.

It is not in now in the interest of Executive branch employees to come forward to disclose the kinds of wrongs that enabled 911 to place. For this reason, I ask the Commissioners to come forward, take responsibility for their failure, to issue an apology to these men and women, and see that their efforts are at least acknowledged, even if they may not have the power to reward them for their sacrifice.

There is no experience in life like that of being a whistleblower. The individual puts the object of coming forward to prevent or stop a wrong from taking place and every aspect of their life is affected by that choice. It is a choice that frequently results in the loss of income and causes irreparable damage to one's relationships both at work and at home. The individual is often stigmatized for life, their future prospects limited. In not addressing the issue that they raise here the Commissioners failed in their duty to them and to the people of the United States. An individual should not have to feel ashamed for harm that they caused those they love for having coming forward to save us from ourselves.

In Deep Institutional Failings you will find an explanation as to some of the reasons why the Federal government operates in an incompetant, irresponsble, and lawless manner.

The letter in PDF format may be downloaded here: To The Congress of The United States

This document is located at
http://www.disastercenter.com/911_11.htm

Commentaries On The 9/11 Commission Report
For Those Who Loved Them
Risk/Threat Management
The Terrorism Center
Deep Institutional Failings
WMD -- Weapons of Mass Destruction
The 911 Commission Report and the Markle Foundation's Recommendations
An Example of Data Matching
The Accuracy of Data Matching
What the United States Stands For
How Aviation Data Matching Actually Works
The Whistleblowers
The 911 ReportThe complete Commision Report in PDF format (7.4 MB)

Christopher Effgen [send him an mail] is the owner of the Disaster Center web site, and has been active in reporting about disasters by digital means since the site was established in 1996. He has authored articles dealing with wide variety of disaster related topics including risk/threat management, neural networks, the science of disaster communication, and compiled numerous disaster related statistics (many of which are hosted on this site). He is active as a participant in national and international forums promoting disaster mitigation towards the goal of sustainable development.

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