"We are safer -- but not safe."
This was the underlying message that Philip Zelikow, 9/11 Commission executive director and executive director of the University's Miller Center of Public Affairs, relayed last night in the Chemistry Auditorium.
Zelikow discussed the time period before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. His presentation was laden with references to failures by various governmental agencies in regard to pre-9/11 terrorism policies.
He said that of the 19 perpetrators of the four airplane hijackings, 10 were identified for "special security screening" -- meaning only that their presence onboard the airplanes needed to be verified before loading luggage.
"Being identified for special screening had nothing to do with passenger screening," he said, adding that the main concern of security officials at the time was that of cargo-area bombs, not using the airplanes as weapons.
Zelikow said many faults were present in the organization and substance of intelligence related to terrorism.
He said the Central Intelligence Agency spent "generations" of analysts developing methods for dealing with surprise attacks from nations such as the former Soviet Union and North Korea, but failed to apply these methodologies to al-Qaeda.
"We simply did not have a government that was organized to take on this problem," Zelikow said. "We have a government that is organized by the finest management methods of 1950."
Zelikow also addressed questions from the audience in regard to claims that federal officials orchestrated the bin Laden family's exit from America while airspace was closed for the rest of the public -- a contention he describes as an "urban legend." Similar claims were present in the recent documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."
"We found that no Saudi left the country while national airspace was closed," he said. "The FBI did satisfactorily investigate all passengers onboard those flights. There is no evidence that they are linked to terror."
Zelikow said the military campaign in Afghanistan has "damaged" al-Qaeda, but the extent of the damage is unknown.
"You are safer getting onto an airplane today than before 9/11, but we are not safe," he said. "There are clearly many terrorist groups out there wanting to carry out an attack bigger than 9/11. They are working very hard -- night and day -- to acquire weapons of mass destruction. No one should feel complacent."
The program was done in conjunction with the Center and the International Relations Organization. IRO Vice-President Rob Schwartz said the presentation gave him a better understanding of the issues surrounding the attack.
"There are a lot of things that citizens of the U.S. and students haven't considered about 9/11," Schwartz said. "It shed some light on exactly how the attack occurred and why."
Zelikow returns to the Chemistry Building tonight for a follow-up program detailing the recommended changes to U.S. policy by the 9/11 Commission.
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