Out of Commission
A Wall Street Journal article on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the US, a commission looking into the events of September 11 to determine who did what and when, indicates that to this day, there is much confusion as to what happened.
Confusion, after this type of event, is not a surprise. In fact, if the Commission finds that there wasn't any confusion, I'd be very suspicious of their findings. Unfortunately, the President, Vice President, and some of his officials are trying to spin the story to make it appear that Government responded in a coordinated, rational, and planned fashion. The truth is, this is far from accurate.
In any case, the next attack, when it comes, will probably use a different vector. Hence, a plan designed specifically to respond to civilian planes flying into buildings will have little value.
Hence, I hope the focus of the Commission will be on what general lessons to learn, that is: What were the impediments to getting good information on which to make decisions? What were the emergency plans in place and how could they be improved? What were the defensive military/civilian assets available and how could they be better deployed? In other words, how could the system be improved to quickly identify a threat and coordinate an effective response to said threat?
The report is due out on July 26th but I am not encouraged by the spin the White House is taking on this so I would be surprised if the Commission's report will have anything of value. If this turns out to be the case, an important opportunity to prepare for the future will have been lost.
Aloha!