Bad report card

last updated 8 January 2015

Washington, D.C.

The members of the Sept. 11 commission gave the federal government poor to failing grades in enacting reforms to prevent another terrorist attack in the U.S. In their final official act, the 10 members of the bipartisan panel issued a “report card,” giving the government five F’s, 12 D’s, and two “incompletes” in addressing 41 key recommendations. On the proposal for securing weapons of mass destruction around the globe, the government got a D. One of its flunking grades was on the recommendation for improving the screening of airline passengers. “Terrorists will strike again,” said Republican co-chairman Thomas Kean, a former governor of New Jersey. “If they do, and these reforms that might have prevented such an attack have not been implemented, what will our excuses be?”