What should have been done in response to the briefing that Bin Laden planned to attack the US?

[jberryhill]

4. It's more than just one memo

I agree with your point that going on about "that memo" as if it were an isolated island, means much. The memo said that Bin Laden was determined to attack, that assets were likely positioned, and that there were 70 investigations going on. There is nothing actionable in that memo which would have specifically prevented this attack.

But the larger issue is appropriately symbolized over that memo. Believe it or not, there was a 9/11 Commission, and as flawed as that process was, it came to some damning conclusions about the Bush Administration's overall inattention to the fact, as one chapter is entitled, "The System Was Flashing Red".

Now, of course will come along in this thread the types of "The 9/11 Commission was a whitewash" commentary. There are times that I believe part of that discussion actually is intended to draw attention away from the fact that the report is a damning indictment of a thoroughly incompetent and criminally negligent administration.

To put the question as "What should have been done over that memo?" to suggest the Bush administration - OVERALL AND SYSTEMICALLY - was not doing its job.