I've been meaning to read this book for years and finally got around to it. It's a very meaningful record of that moment in history - exhaustively researched and seemingly free of a political bent (though folks will argue that point). I can't say I learned a lot more about the attacks than I knew, but the report makes it clear that the pattern of attacks starting with the WTC bombing almost a decade before illustrated that the US was for lack of a better word, already at war and was not dealing with it effectively. WTC bombing, the coordinated african embassy attacks, the barracks attach in Saudi Arabia, the USS Cole bombing etc. It's sad that it took such a massive attack with this level of casualties within the US borders to lead to a response and reforms which were overdo. The effectiveness of the recommendations of the committee have been proven by the absence of successful large scale attacks in the US in the 15+ years since 9/11.

Wer die Bilder gesehen hat, wie zuerst das eine und dann das andere Flugzeug in die Türme des World Trade Centre geflogen ist, wird sie wahrscheinlich nicht mehr vergessen. Die Ereignisse an diesem Tag haben den Terrorismus auf eine neue Stufe gestellt. Die 9/11 Commission wurde 2002 gegründet, um die Gegebenheiten zu ergründen, die zu den Anschlägen am 9. September 2001 geführt haben. Gleichzeitig sollte sie auch Vorschläge machen, wie ein Anschlag wie dieser in Zukunft verhindert werden kann.

Wahrscheinlich weiß jeder von uns noch, wo er war und was er getan hat, als er das erste Mal von den Anschlägen hörte. Die Attentäter waren schnell identifiziert und die Schuldigen schnell ausgemacht. Aber wie konnte es dazu kommen und noch wichtiger: wie kann ein Anschlag dieser Art in Zukunft verhindert werden?

Die 9/11 Commission versucht, Antwort auf diese Fragen zu geben. Ohne Schuldzuweisungen listet sie die Fakten auf. Sicher, im Nachhinein kann man sich fragen, warum die Aktivitäten der Attentäter nicht im Vorfeld aufgefallen sind oder warum sie am Flughafen nicht besser kontrolliert wurden, obwohl sie aufgefallen sind. Die Antwort ist einfach: man hat nicht mit einem Anschlag dieser Art und Größenordnung gerechnet. Es gab im Vorfeld immer wieder Bombenanschläge und das war die Art von Terror, vor dem man sich schützen wollte.

Dass Osama Bin Laden eine Gefahr darstellte, war bekannt. Aber auch hier hat man das Ausmaß nicht einschätzen können. Bis wenige Tage vor den Anschlägen gab es immer wieder Diskussionen darüber im Kongress darüber, als wie gefährlich man Bin Laden und Al Kaida einstufen sollte.

Es gab kleinere Kritikpunkte: im Vorfeld war die Übergangszeit zwischen der Regierung von Bill Clinton und der von George W. Bush war lange und in dieser Zeit gab es keinen Verantwortlichen für das "Problem" Bin Laden. Die verschiedenen Behörden haben nicht zusammengearbeitet und so wurden Informationen nicht weitergeleitet. Am 11.9. haben die verschiedenen Luftüberwachungszentren nicht richtig miteinander kommuniziert. Die Mitarbeiter waren mit der Situation überfordert. Am World Trade Centre haben das NYPD und NYFD ihre Einsätze nicht organisiert und waren auch nicht vorbereitet für ein Ereignis dieser Größenordnung. Aber alle diese Punkte lassen sich unter einem Punkt zusammenfassen: man hat sich nicht vorstellen können, dass so etwas passiert.

Der 9/11 Commission Report liest sich trotz der vielen Fakten nicht wie ein Sachbuch. Manchmal hätte ich mir aber einen sachlicheren Bericht gewünscht, denn gerade die Berichte aus den Flugzeugen sind mir sehr nahe gegangen. Trotzdem bin ich froh, den Bericht gelesen zu haben denn er hat einige Fragen für mich beantwortet.

There's "radiation hazards" associated with having people gather on the roof for rescue (pg 317)? What the hell is that (surely not solar UV, that's ridiculous given exposure timing)? I racked my brains for thirty seconds and couldn't figure it out. The book was admirably annotated, but this bewildering claim lacks a footnote. Combined with the regrettable lack of an index, a star must be struck from this otherwise admirable effort.

Worth reading as a consolidated history of how we got to 9/11, what happened that day, and some of our first grasps at government-wide reform afterwards. But it’s even more impressive as a demonstration of how sweeping and comprehensible narratives can be built to explain complex events and provide sensible reforms.

This is quite an interesting read. It covers the actual day 9/11, the rescue effort, what led up to the attack, and the war on Afghanistan, including the discussion on Iraq. I am going to do some research to see if any of the recommendations were put into place.

I read this book almost at the 18th anniversary of 9/11. I think all Americans should read a book like this. Forget CNN, forget Fox News, you’ll never get the impartiality that you will get from this book.

Someone commented on the strength of the investigation. Well, they must be experts or something. In my opinion what was written was the best that could be written without going into classified material or giving alway the methods of how information was obtained.

It’s very clear from reading this that the mere bureaucracy is what prevented us from being able to prevent such an event from happening. All the signs were there. All the intelligence was there, but the dots were not connected in time.

American hasn’t had another major event like this since 9/11 from foreigners, so we’re doing something right. But what about the home grown terrorists or sympathizers? I’m pretty sure our current administration is not helping on this front.

A very thorough and important account of the events surrounding September 11, including a lot of global context, which I appreciated. A very difficult and upsetting read, but I learned a lot. I’m glad to better understand this period in history which still continues to have such a big impact on our government and society. I appreciate all the work put into this comprehensive report.

Having read more than a few government reports, I was surprised by the writing quality of this one: it was refreshingly sober, methodical, level-headed, and thoughtful. The commission had the opportunity to use the report as partisan propaganda, and, to its credit, it did not take it.

The report breaks the events of 9/11 into several distinct parts: the attacks, the historical background, the planning stages, the victims and responders, the aftermath, and recommendations. All are clear well-written. The presentation of the information in this way made it a little harder to perceive in a linear, timeline fashion - in particular, how intra-agency squabbles presented barriers to information analysis - and for this reason I strongly recommend reading The Looming Tower.

When this Committee Report came across my library feed I decided to check it out for myself, even though I'd seen it on sale for $1. There are free copies of the entire report at https://www.9-11commission.gov/report/

The first observation that you will make is that it reads nothing like a "committee report" but more like a novel. I'm not surprised that it was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2004 and that a movie (based on the report) was made.

The report, in short, was quite thorough and should be required reading for all Americans interested in these question. Many of the agencies and changes in security that came about after the attacks are described in some detail.

The book itself is divided into 13 chapters that dramatize the events almost from the beginning. Chapter one is titled "WE HAVE SOME PLANES" and basically describes the 4 flights and the events of 9/11. Subsequent chapters outline the history of Bin Laden and Al Qaeda and describe these episodes as the "foundation of the new terrorism" and efforts to "counter" said terrorism before going into a short history of previous attacks upon the homeland. Bios of each of the terrorists follows in a couple of chapters before ending on some policy solutions and global strategies for combating future threats.

As thorough and interesting as the report was, I think readers should read for themselves and also analyze the book reviews and critiques of the study, even on this page. Many are quite telling about all of the different and related issues that were either left out or not mentioned at all.

Given how contaminated our politics is today, one could not help note that this report also had a rather partisan edge to it when describing the role of Clinton and Bin Laden. The committee was kind to then President Bush, who apparently could not remember that Clinton had explicitly told him that Bin Laden should be his main concern...

Loved this.

Fall in love with Anti Money Laundering.

Loved how it narrates the story from the beginning until the end. The development of terrorist and America's systematic failure of anticipating the attack.

Stunning and informative and depressing and scary. It is hard to say what is more unnerving about the revelations of this tome; that so many conspiracy theories persist, or that the true lessons of it seem to have gone completely unheeded by both sides of the political divide. One startling implication of the report is the freezing effect the Republican campaign to impeach Bill Clinton hindered our ability to get Bin Laden. Many times, apparently, opportunities were halted for political reasons, and Clinton tried and failed to get Republican support to go after Bin Laden, but he was accused, literally, of "wagging the dog". That the politics of smear played that big a role in the evolution of events that led to 9/11 should have brought about a more bipartisan tone in Washington. Alas. Also notable is the fact that the few successes that day - particularly the air traffic controllers who grounded all planes in 3 hours despite not having any plan for such an unprecedented action - were down to a lack of bureaucracy. In their final report, they advised against - against - developing a set of rules or guidelines for another such future event, noting that the freedom to think and use their own individual judgment is the only reason they air traffic controllers succeeded that day. Also notable in the report: an overwhelming lack of any evidence that Iraq was involved in 9/11. The report makes it clear that Clinton didn't have the political strength, let alone support, to do anything about terrorism even though he knew it was the most important issue of the day, and Bush didn't want to hear anything about terrorism because he had an "anything but Clinton" policy. The lesson of the 9/11 Commission Report is not one of conspiracy or of evil. It is one of incompetence and sadness, and every American should read it.

NC

Preliminary note on the event horizon of contemporary America and the vacant catastrophe lying beyond it: this book has a Goodreads average rating of 3.60 while The Mueller Report: Presented with Related Materials by The Washington Post has a 4.28.