Washington Fails to Protect America

The 9/11 Commision -- which has existed as a private, bi-partisan group since issuing it's report in 2004 -- says American lives are still in danger.
The Commission issued a report card on how well Washington has responded to their reccomendations. Washington got a lot of Fs.

They say Congress and the Bush administration have to share the blame for failing to set up safeguards to protect Americans from another terrorist attack.

58 Attacks Since 9/11

There have been 58 terrorist attacks on US soil between September 11, 2001 and May of this year. Those numbers are from the National Counter Terrorism Center. The Center was established by an executive order from President Bush.

We mentioned the attacks in a Watching Washington Videocast earlier this fall:






The Full List

The full list of the attacks from the NCTC database:

1. Unknown Group attacked Diplomatic target (May 5, 2005, United States)
2. Unknown Group attacked Business target (Jan. 12, 2005, United States)
3. Unknown Group attacked Private Citizens & Property target (Dec. 27, 2004, United States)
4. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Educational Institutions target (July 8, 2004, United States)
5. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Business target (June 14, 2004, United States)
6. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Private Citizens & Property target (Apr. 20, 2004, United States)
7. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Business target (Feb. 7, 2004, United States)
8. Unknown Group attacked Government target (Feb. 2, 2004, United States)
9. Unknown Group attacked Government target (Nov. 12, 2003, United States)
10. Unknown Group attacked Government target (Oct. 15, 2003, United States)
11. Revolutionary Cells Animal Liberation Brigade attacked Business target (Sept. 26, 2003, United States)
12. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Business target (Sept. 22, 2003, United States)
13. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Private Citizens & Property target (Sept. 19, 2003, United States)
14. Unknown Group attacked Business target (Sept. 2, 2003, United States)
15. Unknown Group attacked Business target (Aug. 28, 2003, United States)
16. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Business target (Aug. 22, 2003, United States)
17. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Business target (Aug. 1, 2003, United
States)
18. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Private Citizens & Property target (June 4, 2003, United States)
19. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Private Citizens & Property target (June 3, 2003, United States)
20. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Business target (Apr. 8, 2003, United States)
21. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Government target (Mar. 29, 2003, United States)
22. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Private Citizens & Property target (Mar. 21, 2003, United States)
23. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Business target (Mar. 11, 2003, United States)
24. Animal Liberation Front (ALF) attacked Business target (Mar. 10, 2003, United States)
25. Animal Liberation Front (ALF) attacked Business target (Mar. 3, 2003, United States)
26. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Business target (Jan. 1, 2003, United States)
27. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Private Citizens & Property target (Dec. 21, 2002, United States)
28. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Business target (Nov. 26, 2002, United States)
29. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Business target (Nov. 4, 2002, United
States)
30. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Private Citizens & Property target (Oct. 5, 2002, United States)
31. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Business target (Sept. 27, 2002, United States)
32. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Business target (Sept. 21, 2002, United States)
33. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Private Citizens & Property target (Sept. 5, 2002, United States)
34. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Government target (Aug. 11, 2002, United States)
35. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Private Citizens & Property target (July 11, 2002, United States)
36. Unknown Group attacked Airports & Airlines target (July 4, 2002, United States)
37. Unknown Group attacked Other target (June 3, 2002, United States)
38. Unknown Group attacked Other target (June 3, 2002, United States)
39. Animal Liberation Front (ALF) attacked Business target (May 3, 2002, United States)
40. Unknown Group attacked Business target (Apr. 2, 2002, United States)
41. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Transportation target (Mar. 24, 2002, United States)
42. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Educational Institutions target (Jan. 26, 2002, United States)
43. Unknown Group attacked Private Citizens & Property target (Nov. 14, 2001, United States)
44. Unknown Group attacked Government target (Nov. 5, 2001, United States)
45. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Business target (Nov. 4, 2001, United States)
46. Unknown Group attacked Private Citizens & Property target (Nov. 2, 2001, United States)
47. Unknown Group ttacked Private Citizens & Property target (Oct. 29, 2001, United States)
48. Unknown Group attacked Government target (Oct. 26, 2001, United States)
49. Unknown Group attacked Government target (Oct. 21, 2001, United States)
50. Unknown Group attacked Journalists & Media target (Oct. 19, 2001, United States)
51. Unknown Group attacked Private Citizens & Property target (Oct. 18, 2001, United States)
52. Unknown Group attacked Journalists & Media target (Oct. 18, 2001, United States)
53. Unknown Group attacked Government target (Oct. 15, 2001, United States)
54. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attacked Government target (Oct. 15, 2001,
United States)
55. Unknown Group attacked Journalists & Media target (Oct. 15, 2001, United States)
56. Unknown Group attacked Journalists & Media target (Oct. 12, 2001, United States)
57. Unknown Group attacked Journalists & Media target (Oct. 2, 2001, United States)
58. Animal Liberation Front (ALF) attacked Government target (Sept. 20, 2001, United States)

Hippies & Katrina

The list shows that Washington can't protect against neo-hippies attacking research labs and burning down resorts. Katrina exposed weaknesses in the chain of command and rapid response to a major crisis.

We know that last week, the Government Accountability Office found Washington had no strategy -- not even a framwork -- for stopping the flow of money to terrorists. The 9/11 Commission has found that Washington doesn't have much of a strategy for the rest of the War on Terror either.

The latest 9/11 Commission report doesn't really tell us anything we didn't already know. But it puts our nation's doubts and fears into writing. Let's pray Washington reads it. (WashPost, NCTC, Watching Washington)