By Angela Wu, Special Writer
Angela WuSpecial Writer
Addressing an emergency preparedness conference at Princeton University on Friday, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean warned Americans against becoming complacent about national security threats.
The conference was sponsored by the Policy Research Institute for the Region. Mr. Kean, who co-chaired the 9/11 Commission, focused on improvements in national security since the 9/11 attacks as well as the tasks still facing the Obama administration.
”In the seven years since 9/11, there’s been no attack,” he said.
He credited significant improvements in the national security system as well as a better system of funding that prioritized important programs.
”That’s no small accomplishment,” he said.
One of the most important failures of government agencies leading up to 9/11 was their inability to communicate and “connect the dots,” Mr. Kean said.
”Information sharing is still a problem,” he said, adding many people felt if at least the CIA and FBI had communicated before 9/11, several hijackers could have been apprehended.
The communication problems extend to the Department of Homeland Security as well with repercussions for policymakers, who “need better information to make better decisions,” Mr. Kean said. He gave the example of the communication gap between local public safety officials and national agencies.
”The DHS has stumbled in its efforts to share information with state and local officials,” said the former governor, who believed the DHS “tailors information to Washington, not the states.”
”There are 900,000 people in state and local law enforcement. If there is a terrorist out there, he or she is going to be identified at that level,” he said.
Though he emphasized the need for heightened security measures, the former governor also cautioned against sacrificing civil liberties and privacy rights. He said he worried about the government’s privacy protections, citing the Patriot Act as an example of one step taken by the United States to allow government agencies to collect increasing amounts of information — often with little oversight.
”I think we need new laws on how that private information is used,” he said. “We’re building a surveillance society. We need a strong government, but we also need a force in government to protect privacies.”
Mr. Kean called for a greater focus on the Executive Branch’s Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which the 9/11 Commission recommended in its 2004 report. The board, which was tasked with oversight of government and intelligence actions, has been vacant for more than a year.
During the Bush administration, the board faced much criticism — including from Kean and his 9/11 Commission co-Chairman Lee Hamilton — for being slow to act and for not addressing several issues, including the handling of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
”Without effective government oversight, how are we going to find out if Congress is doing its job [or] if agencies are doing their jobs?” Mr. Kean asked.
He emphasized said that though many aspects of national security have been improved over the last seven years — including border security, aviation security and cargo inspection — the best defense against terrorism remained “an alert American public.”
”Before 9/11, we were caught totally by surprise,” said Mr. Kean, whose commission was responsible for determining the circumstances that led up to the 9/11 attacks and for recommending changes to prevent future terrorist attacks.
”We’re starting to become complacent,” he said. “That can’t happen if we’re trying to keep our country safe and secure.”
He also highlighted the need for the government to correct what he called “a failure of imagination,” saying nobody but a few “science fiction writers” was prepared for the events of 9/11.
”We have to have imagination,” Mr. Kean said. “We have to imagine things that might be done. We have to imagine what they might be.”
