Anybody remember the Hart-Rudman Commission?

[trof]

note to mods: I contacted Mr. Schaller and he said he would be delighted for this to be posted on DU with accreditation.


The Gadflyer, 5/18/04 - Thomas Schaller, Executive Editor

"The Hart-Rudman Commission handed them (Bush* admin) on their 12th day in office a detailed blueprint for how to begin making precisely the sort of changes they are now complaining needed to be made.
The United States Commission on National Security/21st Century, as it was formally known, was authorized by President Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress. The commission spent millions of taxpayer dollars, and thousands of hours of research to assess the threats to homeland security, and develop strategies to prevent attacks and/or respond to successful attacks. Of course, it was a bi-partisan panel, co-chaired by former senators Warren Rudman (R-NH) and Gary Hart (D-CO). And lest anyone accuse Rudman of being a soft Republican, keep in mind that Congressman GOPAC himself, Newt Gingrich, was a commissioner and signer of all its reports. Moreover, Clinton surely thought and hoped that his successor would be Al Gore, and as such the recipient of the commission's findings, not George W. Bush.

The final part of the Hart-Rudman commission's three-part report was aptly titled: "Road Map for National Security: Imperative for Change" (note that "imperative" is a noun that has a similar, dual meaning in its adjective form). The document details a variety of structural and organization problems, and offers 50 concrete solutions.

But the Bush Administration does not take advice well. They already know all the answers. Even with Gingrich was on the commission, if it was initiated during the Clinton years and inherited from their predecessors, well, it just has to be wrongheaded…right? Little wonder that Bush did almost nothing about Hart-Rudman, other than to reject the idea of creating of a homeland security agency and establishing a "Cheney commission" in May that never met – not once. After all, there were missile defense programs to promote.

Prior to September 11, the shunting of Hart-Rudman might be characterized as bureaucratic malfeasance. But the fact that Bush continued to oppose creating what eventually became the Department of Homeland Security after September 11, and only relented under severe public and political pressure, is simply – and, yes, I dare say it – an act of unpardonable negligence.

And why the post-9/11 delay? Well, because of Tom Delay's delays, and worries of radical House Republicans that – gasp! – some of the homeland security department personnel might be unionized. To his credit, Bush eventually backed the House Republicans down. http://gadflyer.com/articles/?ArticleID=71

Here's the United States Commission on National Security/21st Century website:

http://www.nssg.gov/

[SharonAnn]

1. Oh yes, I remember that report. I was furious at the time and I've

been furious ever since.

This administration is responsible for 9-11. They did absolutely nothing to prevent.

I could forgive them if they had tried hard to avoid it and it still happened. But they did NOTHING!

[Generator]

3. Yes, because guess where I saw Gary Hart

on CNN-on guess what day, Easter this year, and he told about the reports he gave, and guess what, he thought it was shameful he wasn't invited before the 9/11 commission.

What a surprise.

Oh, Judy Woodruff would never have Gary Hart on say a Wednesday now would she?

[Racenut20]

2. The only reason we have Homeland Security Department

Is that it let them strip the civil servant benefits away from 190,000 employees and make them "employee at will" to political appointee managers that were being rewarded for the 2000 campaign.

[wyldwolf]

4. Randi talks about it often

[TreasonousBastard]

5. I remember the report, and...

I remember how just about everything from the Clinton era was pretty much shredded, this along with the rest.

I've got to admit, though, that as pissed as I am in retrospect, I don't know if any administration would have put a lot of energy in dealing with that report without a 9/11 happening.

Washington is full of reports, plans, and good ideas, but putting any of them into effect is the real work, and it doesn't get done all that often without a crisis.

Then, everyone's running around like blind cocksuckers at a weenie roast and it gets done half-assed.