Scandal: Feds Have Not Implemented 9/11 Report's Tech Recommendations

An article by K.C. Jones in InformationWeek reports on the 9/11 Commission's unhappiness with the government's (lack of) response to its technical recommendations:

The federal government received dismal grades for failing to enact the 9/11 Commission's recommendations in a report released Monday, which included calls for technology upgrades and improved information sharing.

The 9/11 Public Discourse Project's final report calls for rapid turnover of analog television spectrum space for use by first responders to public emergencies. The report is also sharply critical of the government's failure to find and install basic, reliable communications technology, so police and fire fighters can communicate during emergencies.

"It is scandalous that police and firefighters in large cities still cannot communicate reliably in a major crisis," 9/11 Commission chairman Thomas Kean said, in a prepared statement...

Kean also said, in comments published on the group's Web site that the government has also failed to take the single most important step in strengthening intelligence – making sure information is shared...

He also said it's scandalous that airline passengers still are not being screened against all names on a national terror watch list.

Finally, Kean and the report condemned the government for not performing a risk assessment and for irresponsibly wasting funds marked for projects and equipment to defend the United States.

"One city used its homeland security money for air conditioned garbage trucks," he said. "One used it to guy Kevlar body armor for dogs. These are not the priorities of a nation under threat."