9/11 Panel Co-Chair Notes ‘Glaring Gaps’ in Security

The United States is more secure than before Sept. 11, but one of the co-chairmen of the 9/11 commission says “glaring gaps” persist in security, reports the National Journal.

Commission Co-Chairmen Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton released a report Wednesday noting that the country has not made progress on nine of the 9/11 commission’s 41 recommendations.

“We’re better off than we used to be,” Kean told the Journal. “But there are glaring gaps.”

Improvements have been made in intelligence sharing and airline security, but areas such as border screening and terrorist-detention standards have yet to be sufficiently addressed, Kean and Hamilton reported.

“The threat from al-Qaida, related terrorist groups, and individual adherents to violent Islamist extremist persists,” the report states.

Recruitment of U.S. citizens to terrorist organizations and cyber attacks are noted as areas of special concern.

The report recommends using biometric technology to establish a national entry-and-exit system.

Kean and Hamilton also call for a standardized form of identification, a civil liberties board to monitor government actions, and enhanced efficiency of command of first responders.