I am adding this long after having read it, perhaps obviously. I did read it as soon as it was released and it still sits on my bookshelf, which I just noticed and so I'm adding it to my lists.
I worked in the airline industry, in air cargo operations, to include safety, training, security, QA, airline and government policy and procedure, enforcement, negotiations, mitigation, etc... really just a big blob of a job with many hats that wouldn't fit on a business card. When the events of 9/11 took place, I shut down operations and sent my people home, leaving only managers or supervisors at each base, as I waited to know what next. It was madness, hindsight now shows, clearly. My experiences and knowledge certainly affected my understanding and opinions on this report.
Way back then, having had a security clearance, I had a slightly more enlightened understanding of what followed, specifically in how airlines changed policy, in the creation and operations of the TSA, and the assignment of duties under new and changing government Agencies and their Departments. My experiences and opinions of the actions in the government, in airline safety, and in airport operations, left me with a darker view of what was happening, behind the scenes always being a curtain behind which most cannot look. So, when travel returned to the skies, I watched the ensuing madness with some additional knowledge, most of which, now, is known by all who look back on the tragedy with more information than was shared in this report.
What the government did behind closed doors will never be fully released to the public. But this is an extensive piece of information to help people who want to better understand what happened in the response with regard to some of what our government knew, some of what was not known, some of what was learned, some of what was done, and some of why. This clearly won't provide any great observations on what people in power and people in the know were doing in the months following the attacks. In this fact, information will, of course, always remain classified. There is much that will never be unredacted, but which might, someday, be released by a whistle blower, through a leak, due to a hacking operation, who knows... as those are only a few examples of how difficult it is to keep a secret with the power of technology today. And the government is so big that no one person has all of the information and never will.
So, if you want to know, what is provided is certainly a start. Being that it is now 2024 and information has been trickling out for two decades, you may not want to bother...

Well narrated by Grover Gardner, this is an hour long (35 pages if you read the pdf.) summary of the 585 page (pdf) report. It discusses the government's awareness of the al-Qaeda threat and lack of awareness/preparedness of their intent to use American commercial planes as weapons of mass destruction. It discusses the failures of communication between government agencies and executives, and their inability to act on any intelligence, suggesting specific updates/reorganization of intelligence agencies that the commission believes could better thwart current technologically advanced threats.

My wife bought this for me shortly after it came out--I believe in 2004. I put off reading it for various reasons, one being that I thought it might be like the Warren Commission Report on the JFK assassination, which I found comprehensive but one of the driest, longest, and most challenging reads ever. Another is the emotional impact. Although I live on the West Coast, and don't know anyone directly that perished in the attacks I remember that day so well. Irony that I started reading this the same year as our country's withdrawal from Afghanistan. I don't think how that was accomplished will bode well for either our country, or theirs.

The report is actually well written, and structured. Starting with a history of base of Islamic terrorism that is as informative as any books I've read on the subject. Counterterrorism efforts in the US preceding 911 is the next section, including threats and attacks by Al Qaeda and their affiliates on American targets throughout the world.

What is now known about the terrorist's planning and preparations are laid out, their actions on the day of attack, and our first responders, military and FAA response. All presented in an easy to understand, and unemotional way. Another section deals with immediate US military response to the attack. Finally the report finishes with analysis of our countries failings in preventing the attacks, and recommendations for changes.

Most of it I found highly readable and interesting. When it came to the final sections, I tended to lose interest. Some issues that need change were related to technologic communications improvements regarding first responders equipment--which seemed pretty obvious. Other changes regarding shifts in management and bureaucracy--some of those seemed like what people today have been calling 'word salad'. Granted legal rules prohibited some members from various US intelligence agencies from sharing information prior to 9/11, however creating new levels of bureaucracy to deal with anything doesn't ever seem like an effective way of handling problems.

Overall a great summary of what led to 9/11, and the actual events. You might want to skip the last two or three sections unless you like diving into the weeds. The one major improvement would be more schematics and drawings regarding the WTC. There are a few in the report, but more would have helped create a better understanding of events.

A Dunkirk, Galipolli Pearl Harbour, just what nobody expected wait did they?
Someone had blundered, theirs is not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.
Clinical analysis of these events it is, fireman bravely doing their job, citizens hopelessly stranded and in confusing dire situations, emergency services not really knowing what was going on, then recommendations to stop further terrorist actions to be enabled near the end of the book.
The motivations of the hijackers isn't in this report so its only thing for me is this its just not here, maybe some other book.
When someone tells you to do something and if you are of a certain type, age, or leaning you maybe mull it over and if it fits you go with it, some people are more likely to do it, but be you of a certain age or member of a certain group you go with enough of that war talk.
But its more than just that its beyond my understanding really and would be fair to say I'm not alone.
In 100 years time a young person doing this for a school assignment would their thoughts dwell alot or just rushing to get it done thoughts of it being a dusty tale in some long ago history, probably but what do I know.

I decided to read this book after some of the hype died down surrounding its release. I also wanted to have a little more perespective as 9/11 was such a nationally traumatic event (even when you live in Phoenix and have never visited New York). The report starts off with an insanely dramatic recounting of the events of the morning of Septemeber 11th, 2001. Nearly every sentence has a footnote listing the commission's source for the information conveyed in that sentence (which all you "Loose Change", 9/11 Truth movement people would do well to read). This thorough level of detail vividly brings alive the horror of that morning. The tone of the writing is Hemingwayesque - not many adjectives, a paucity of adverbs. This only heightens the drama, and tension of the hijackings. There are a slew of tiny details I had no idea of before reading this. For example, when Mohamed Atta told Flight 11 that they have a bomb, and are returning to the airport, he accidently presses the button that relays the message to Air Traffic Control; Atta lets slip: "we have some planes". Nobody in Air Traffic Control picks up on this essential fact which may have helped to identify the other hijacked airlines earlier. Another sinister detail involves Flight 75, which was asked to visually confirm Flight 11. This was their last transmission. The first section ends with the crashing of all four hijacked airplanes, relegating the collapse of the World Trade Center to a later chapter.
The next few sections deal with a backround on terrorism against U.S. targets - mostly overseas - as well as the U.S.'s burgeoning efforts in counterterrorism. Al Qaeda is also given a chapter, recounting their formation and growth. Most of these chapters also read fairly easy, although there is a bit of acronym soup in reading about the different agencies tasked with counterterrorism. In reading this section alone, you can see why this attack wasn't thwarted: there was way too much beaucracy, and not enough information sharing. It was difficult to keep track of who worked in what agency and what they were responsible for trying to stop. The FBI was domestic, the CIA was foriegn, but nobody was domestic AND foriegn. After giving this background the report continues by recounting the "planes operation": from a grandiose idea in the mind of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to the morning of September 11th. In reading this section, you realize how many opportunities the U.S. had to recognize this plot and put a stop to it. Meaning, Al Queada wasn't perfect, they made mistakes that the U.S. could have capitalized on. Al Queada did do a good job of covering its tracks and selecting innocuous looking western muslims to train as pilots, and then not bringing the muscle hijackers into the country until a couple weeks before the attacks. The so-called Hamburg cell, had all lived in the West for at least three years. They understood how to blend in, and - far from being poor, economically exploited middle easterners - they had all benifited from the West's openess to educate muslims from the middle east, and most came from well-off families. And yet the simmering hate of the West was fostered in mosques which preached violence against a society that shunned the God of Islam. But really, if you look past the religion, you see these people for what they really are: sociopaths. Especially Mohamed Atta, which in character bore a striking resemblance to Eric Harris (the Columbine shooter) who also thought the world inferior and corrupt, and seeing himself as better, needed to show the world their inferiority (by killing them and ultimately himself). It's frightening to think that the pilots of the hijacked planes lived in the U.S. for two years, the whole time living as assimilated westerners, avoiding mosques (for the most part) and shying away from any public displays of being a devout muslim. They kept the hate buring inside all this time, trying to fly large jets, knowing each morning what they were training for: to kill thousands of people. The saddest story of the four pilots is Ziad Jarrah, who had a girlfriend in Germany, whom he seemed to genuinely love. Jarrah seemed the most uncomfortable with the plot and refused to sever ties with his family as the other pilots had done. Al Queada was even training another pilot in case Jarrah dropped out. In the end Jarrah went through with it, killing 44 people. And while there is no solid evidence, it seems he did it out of peer pressure more than a true hatred of the West.
The next section recounts the devastation that occured after the planes were crashed. The tragedy of the north and south towers both unfolded in a similar fashion. A lack of communication had 911 operators telling people to stay put; fire and police gave evacuation orders, but trouble with communication lines meant everyone didn't receive this order. This section also tended to be confusing as there were multiple groups who responded to the crashes and at times it was hard to keep them apart.
The report ends with an explanation of what happened and how, and also gives some recommendations of governmental changes to insure an attack of this magnatude does not occur again. While this section was written with good intentions, in reading the previous 300 pgs., it's obvious what happened and why. The intellegence community wasn't designed to stop this type of attack, thus they didn't. The design of these agencies also discouraged open-mindedness, and radical thinking, which might have helped recognize the exact nature of the threats pouring in from different agencies. Alas this didn't happen, and sadly, it doesn't seem that the government has implemented all the suggested changes.
One more issue I had with the report was the lack of information regarding President Bush and his cabinet. The commision didn't try and get the bottom of why Bush didn't take these threats more seriously. They kept appearing in his presidential briefings, yet he seemed okay with not going after this group for another year or two. Also when there is conflicting accounts of what was said and when (most of which are pretty obvious when one person is lying, as their contradiction always clears them of responsibility) the commision should have done more work in ascertaining what really happened, as over 3000 people died that day, and if someone wasn't doing their job as they should have and that contributed to the attacks not being stopped, there should be some sort of repurcussion, or, at the very least, an apology. Yet the commmision hides behind the "hindsight is 20/20" rationale, which didn't work for me in high school when my teacher asked me why I didn't finish my homework, or why I didn't let someone know when that nerdy kid was being picked on. My inablilty to act has, in a small way, contributed to the bullying of that kid, as I did nothing to stop it. And in many ways it's worse for these government agencies, as in high school it wasn't my JOB to stop bullying, yet it was the President's sworn duty to protect the American people. And on the morning of September 11th he failed in doing this. And sadly, as far as I know, he's never apologixed for this, nor has he even admitted to such a tragic failure.

The 9-11 Commission Report is over 500 pages long. In the preface the authors say that the report was written to provide the fullest possible account of the events surrounding 9-11. However the collapse of Building 7 wasn't even mentioned in the report. Building 7 was a 47-story skyscraper which was not hit by a plane. It fell straight down symmetrically into its own footprint at virtually freefall speed. And they completely ignored it!

AN ANALYSIS OF THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT

Asked and answered is the central insight of The 9/11 Commission Report. Richard Holbrooke posed the question: “How can a man in a cave outcommunicate the world’s leading communications society?” (Pp. 377.) [This is the most vital of all the components of the attack and this war we find ourselves in. It is a war about ideas, the future, and hope. And these are uniquely human properties best understood via the framework of language and communication.] The Commission answered: “…four kinds of failures: in imagination, policy, capabilities, and management. (pp.339) The latter three spill down from the first. And in reading the step-by-step account of the attack reported in the Commission’s book—the salient Imagination, or lack of, belongs to the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush.

Contrary to what the administration has repeatedly said in framing its defense--
the terrorists don’t, or in this case didn’t, have to be right just once. In fact, they have to have so many contingencies break in their favor to be successful in an attack of the magnitude of 9/11-- that it seems nearly impossible that they did succeed! In other words, that attack was a sort of “perfect storm.” The report specifies what is necessary in order for terrorists to succeed: leadership; communication; personnel; training; security; intelligence; travel; money; coordination; timing and time itself. Any misstep or bad luck and the spectacular attack of 9/11 would not have happened. That it did happen is not so much a case of the systems and capabilities not being sufficient—they were; but rather the mindset (imagination) of the President.

The report details just how remarkable the intelligence information and its significance must be in order to reach the status of headlining the PDB (presidents daily brief). On August 6th, 2001 the terrorist threat had crossed that threshold and screamed: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US.” This followed intelligence reports with these declarations: Qaeda activity “had reached a crescendo”; something “very,very,very,very” big was about to happen; “Bin Ladin Planning High-Profile Attacks.” [the threat] could not “get any worse”. The President pooh-poohed it as “historical.”

I am familiar enough with Bush’s mannerisms that I can picture him reading that PDB, looking up from his desk and saying “Yeah” and then proceed to tell anyone and everyone just how it "really” is—and get ready for his vacation back at the ranch. Historical in his mind was likely defined as anything left over from the previous president. He had his own ideas (or the ideas of his advisors) about what was, or was not, a threat; and that’s the way it is! I cannot help but think that in all likelihood, had Clinton still been President—the attack would have been foiled. Clinton took al Qaeda as real and the most menacing foreign threat facing America. He would have responded differently to “The System Blinking Red”. [I have no idea how Al Gore would have responded.]

The point is this: the attack of 9/11 succeeded because the ability to respond to a “system blinking red” was not inherent in President Bush. He did not take the threat seriously. He lacked the imagination to see it and to take any additional steps to counter it. Period. And now—the threat has changed and he can’t see that.

All that has been done since September of 01 has done two things. First, made the repeat of that attack impossible, (Yes, in that regard we are safer. Steps have been taken that have undoubtedly sufficiently disrupted the necessary components that made it possible for domestic jet airliners to be hijacked and used as missiles to attack targets in America.) That won’t happen again. And second, America’s foreign policy has significantly increased the hatred towards America throughout the world. That hatred spawns individuals willing to wage an unconventional war against America. The number of such individuals has greatly increased. In that regard, we are much less safe.

We have been outcommunicated again. I can think of nothing that provokes seething hatred more than the violation of a person or country’s “personal space.” President Bush failed to communicate to the world that the invasion of Iraq was justified. That has been subsequently verified by the facts on the ground. He is trying to will reality to fit a clear distortion of it. Put simply – you cannot kill people and tell them it is for their own good. He is Osama bin Ladin’s best recruiter.

Imagination is necessary for two reasons. Firstly, to be able to see what a peaceful world would look like and just how to get there from here. And secondly, to be able to see the possibilities of the next threat.

A peaceful world cannot exist with a superpower that imposes its will on others. Compelling others into obedience, whether through force or manipulation cannot sustain peace. Human beings must come to their actions via self-determination, or sooner or later they will fight. That is the essence of freedom. President Bush sees himself as freedom’s champion, but does not even understand it – having had his world unfold before him without any impediments save himself. The accidental President quite simply isn’t capable of understanding a complex world. He can’t even imagine what it would be like to go hungry, much less … to use your imagination.

The next successful attack against America will be even more primitive than the last. It won’t be “weapons of mass destruction” attached to a missile or packed in a suitcase. It’ll be something simple that can’t be seen. Maybe just a few men with matches, or germs. All the reconfiguration of counterterrorism agencies won’t help. All the latest high-tech spy devices won’t detect it. No new fighter-jet or missile will be able to shoot it out of the sky. The only chance of stopping it is to change the world. Something that The 9/11 Commission Report seems to understand.

The accusation has been made that this Administration has used the threat of terrorist attacks to manipulate public opinion in its favor—to get your vote. [You need not look any farther than the Republican Convention.] After reading The 9/11 Commission Report there can be no other logical conclusion. The report states that the threat of attack is historical and omnipresent and specifically unknowable. In other words, Osama bin Ladin and others who now agree with him have been planning, will continue to plan, and will strike with what ever means they can, when and where they can, at targets that they believe will have the most impact. They are, and will always be, looking for opportunity. They declared war on America and mean it. UBL declared just that in his Fatwahs. The rationale that we can be safer because of announced threat level variations is fallacious because, as the report states—the threat is always there. It is both fluid and dynamic! What is needed to inhibit that threat is a constancy of people doing their jobs—always. I think 9/11 made that clear.

It is frustrating, but not surprising—that the Commission could understand how and why we were attacked, and speak to it so precisely—and then fail to name and hold accountable, the very person most responsible for the failure of imagination. It wasn’t Richard Clarke’s fault, or George Tenet’s. It wasn’t “the CIA’s” or the FBI’s. We don’t need a new National Intelligence Director and a National Counterterrorism Center. We need a new President, a new foreign policy, and new managers. Sufficient capabilities will flow from those.

MARK JABBOUR
September 2, 2004

Can you really have an informed opinion on historical/political events that have taken place since 9/11 without reading the commission report? No.

I had wanted to read this book for a while now and it was hard to get through, but I was finally able to get to it. After reading extensively on the topic over the years, I can say that I believe this book is a disgusting excuse of a commission report, not investigative at all and the ultimate insult to the victims of 9/11 and their families. It reads more like a novel and there is very little engineering or architectural investigation. It focuses mainly on pointing fingers at both the Clinton and Bush administrations as well as the various government departments that were apparently so grossly unprepared for an attack in the heaviest defense spender and most surveilled country in the world. If the book does any good, it points out that being partisan lead to a serious misstep in the government and that all of our tax money has gone to waste.

Here is everything I can think of off the top of my head that was NOT mentioned: Building 7 being "pulled" as said by owner Larry Silverstein (who profited greatly from the attacks), OBL denying he did the attacks only to later supposedly change his mind, the lack of WMDs in Iraq, the "missing taxes" announced September 10th being in the section of the Pentagon that was hit and consequently destroyed or that specific side of the Pentagon being remodeled beforehand to withstand a "plane or drone attack", the builder of the WTC saying they were made to withstand several plane hits, ANY real scientific explanation of how and why the buildings basically demolished onto themselves (the exact same way Building 7 was purposefully demolished)...the list goes on and on and on.

The reason this book reads like a novel is because it is exactly that; a fictitious piece of literature pushed out by every bought and sold media outlet while ignoring facts, science and common sense. I believe every American or person interested in this topic should read this book and others, as well as do other research to connect the dots for themselves.

2 stars.The report has been informative and has pointed out many flaws in the failure of both intelligence; the pre-planning being the focal cause of the worst intelligence failure of the century, and security, also questioning the reader of who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Moreover, yet learning a lot about 9/11 from other sources(News, Documentaries, books etc) there was a lot of contradiction I found in the book. Additionally some facts discovered from other sources were more likely to be realistic in some relation to ISLAM than those stated in this report to negatively portray muslims. This is exceptionally satisfying for many, in particular Americans and westerners to “talk about” Islamic Extremism. As many years have passed since this tragic incident, I personally believe that other well-informed people whether be Americans or Westerners know that this was only created as a ground to invade Afghanistan by Bush administration. Concluding it with the statement that it is a “National Disgrace”.

I didn’t read the report in its entirety but instead skipped around to the sections I was most interested in. The report does a great job explaining the flaws in the FBI and CIA that allowed the 9/11 plot to go undetected. Specifically, the FBI was too decentralized and often field offices were focused on local concerns, motivated by stats and criminal convictions rather than the broader global issue of terrorism. The report also highlights the confusion and lack of cooperation between the military and the FAA on the day of the attacks. It’s pretty clear the US was completely unprepared to respond to the attacks, so I’m not sure that cooperation between the FAA and military on that day would have made a difference, especially considering US intelligence had never considered the possibility that commercial airplanes would be used as the weapon for terrorist attacks, rather than the channel to transport weapons to the location of an attack.

To sum up this rambling, the report was well researched, and it was easy to understand. I’d recommend for anyone that wants to learn some more about how 9/11 occurred and how we can prevent it from happening again.

Really good information was very good and well written