Unfinished job of safety

AS WE MARK the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Americans ask: Are we safer? Two years ago, the 9/11 Commission found that our government failed in its duty to protect us. The commission, which the two of us led, made 41 recommendations to ensure that this nation does everything possible to protect its people.

Many of our recommendations, including those to reorganize the intelligence community, were written into law. Yet no law is self-executing. Implementation is often the harder step.

We issued a report card on our recommendations in December. It included 10 C's, 12 D's, and four F's. What we argued then is still true now: Americans are safer, but we are not yet safe.

So what do we need to do?

First, homeland security dollars must be allocated wisely. Right now, those funds are spread around like revenue-sharing projects. Until Congress passes a law to allocate funding on the basis of risks and vulnerabilities, scarce dollars will continue to be squandered.

Second, states and localities need to have emergency response plans and practice them regularly. Hurricane Katrina taught us a lesson that we should have learned from Sept. 11: From the moment disaster strikes, all first responders need to know what to do and who is in charge.

Third, we called on Congress to give first responders a slice of the broadcast spectrum ideal for emergency communications. Those frequencies -- which easily carry messages through concrete and steel -- are now held by TV broadcasters, and will not be turned over to first responders until 2009. But why should public safety wait another three years?

Fourth, progress on information sharing among government agencies is still lagging. Because of failures in this area, we missed many chances to disrupt the Sept. 11 plot. The federal government is doing a better job. But there are still turf fights and gaps in information sharing, especially with state and local authorities.

Fifth, FBI reform is moving in the right direction, but far too slowly. Problems continue to plague the bureau: inadequate information technology, deficiencies in analytic capabilities, and too much turnover in the workforce and bureau leadership. The bureau still struggles.

Sixth, we have taken a special interest in the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which we recommended and the Congress created. The government needs strong powers to protect us. But the executive branch also needs a strong voice on behalf of individual and civil liberties. Stories we read every day point to the importance of a second opinion before the executive branch goes ahead with controversial information-gathering measures.

Seventh, we still do not screen passengers against a comprehensive terrorism watch list before they get on airplanes. Because the government wants to protect sensitive information, it does not share all names on its watch list with the airlines. So the airlines screen passengers against an incomplete list. The sensible answer is for the government to do the name checking.

Eighth, security is not just a question of airline procedures. The fundamental problem is radicalization in the Muslim world. The enduring threat is not Osama bin Laden, but young Muslims without jobs or hope, who are angry with their governments, who don't like the war in Iraq or US foreign policy. We need to do a better job reaching out to the Muslim world, so that America is seen as a source of hope and opportunity, not despair.

Ninth, Congress needs to reform itself. Congress has provided powerful powers to the executive branch in order to protect the nation. To protect our freedoms, it now it needs to be an effective check on the executive. Because so much information is classified, Congress is the only source of independent oversight on intelligence and homeland security issues. The oversight committees need stronger powers over budgets and jurisdiction.

Finally, preventing terrorists from gaining access to nuclear weapons must be elevated above all other problems of national security. Nuclear terrorism would have a devastating impact . The commission called for ``a maximum effort" against this threat, including stepped-up efforts to secure loose nuclear materials abroad. Our current efforts fall far short.

We will surely face more terrorist attacks, yet our sense of national urgency is lacking. Our elected leaders need to act now to provide for the common defense because the terrorists will not wait.

Thomas H. Kean was the chairman of the 9/11 Commission. Lee H. Hamilton was the vice chairman. They are authors of ``Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission."