Opening Statement of the Honorable Howard Coble, Chairman

United States House of Representatives

Committee on the Judiciary

Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security

Hearing on the recommendations of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission)

August 23, 2004

          Today the Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security convenes a very important hearing on the report released last month by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission). Considerable time has already been spent by this Subcommittee, by other Committees of the House of Representatives, and by our colleagues in the Senate, on trying to figure out what went wrong and why the attacks of September 11, 2001 were able to be carried out with such apparent ease.

          Today’s hearing will focus on some of the specific recommendations that were offered by the Commission and upon where we are in terms of implementing these recommendations. To assist us in our examination, we have a distinguished panel of witnesses, from the 9/11 Commission itself, and from some of the agencies that play a major role in the war on terror and that are directly impacted by some of the proposed recommendations.

           I am pleased to say that some of the much needed change, reform, and restructuring has already begun, and in fact substantial measures have been undertaken within some of these agencies, long before the 9/11 Commission concluded its work. Before we go any further, I would be remiss, if I did not thank the members of the Commission for their tedious, thorough, and quite extraordinary work.

I would also like to thank our witnesses and the agencies they represent for embracing the work of the Commission as the incredible opportunity that it is. An opportunity to take learned input from outside experts and implement or supplement meaningful change.

          As the Commission found, our governments intelligence apparatus was of a cold war vintage, in desperate need of an upgrade; our numerous intelligence and law enforcement agencies were not communicating with each other the way they should; and perhaps we as a government were not as focused on the things we should have focused on.

          With the release of their report and the knowledge that we as legislators have gained from the many hearings and briefings that the congress has had on the topics of terrorism and intelligence since the events of September 11, 2001, we must look forward. We must ensure that, consistent with our oversight responsibilities of the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, we do everything possible to defy an old axiom...we must do everything possible to ensure that “history DOES NOT repeat itself”.

          As this will most certainly not be the last visit we pay to these witnesses, or to this topic, today’s hearing will focus primarily on the 9/11 Commissions recommendations regarding the creation of a National Intelligence Director, the need for more secure borders, the need to prevent identity theft and fraud, the need to target the networks that provide material support for terrorists, and the need to create a specialized and integrated national security workforce at the FBI. Additionally, we will hear about the recommendations that have already been implemented or are about to be implemented by the entities represented here today. Before I introduce our distinguished witnesses, let me recognize the Ranking Member of this Subcommitte, the distinguished gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Bobby Scott.