Twenty-five years after the September 11 terrorist attacks reshaped America’s intelligence apparatus, a bipartisan House task force led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) warned Thursday that dangerous gaps remain — even as the nation faces a far more complicated array of threats.
The report, released Thursday, includes 20 bipartisan recommendations to improve intelligence sharing, strengthen congressional oversight, and prepare the nation for emerging threats, including competition with China and Russia, cyberattacks, foreign influence campaigns, economic espionage, drones, and artificial intelligence.
“The fight against terror isn’t static — our adversaries and their weapons of war are always evolving, and we must evolve too,” Gottheimer said. “That is why, after the last year of work, we are proud to release our bipartisan twenty-five-year review of the original 9/11 Commission Report, and I’m proud to have led this effort with my colleague Representative Elise Stefanik.”
The task force spent the past year holding hearings and briefings on reforms adopted after the attacks, including creating the National Counterterrorism Center and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The report concludes that those changes have made the country safer but that the intelligence community must continue adapting as adversaries develop new technologies and methods.
“We had the heart-wrenching experience of visiting the Flight 93 Memorial and hearing from the first responders and family members of the heroes of Flight 93 — the brave forty men and women who put the lives of other Americans, and of our country, ahead of their own on the morning of September 11th,” Gottheimer stated.
Gottheimer joined House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford (R-Arkansas), Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-Connecticut) and Stefanik (R-New York) to release a report reviewing the federal government’s implementation of the recommendations issued by the 9/11 Commission.
The recommendations call for intelligence agencies to operate more effectively as a single team by sharing information faster, expanding cross-agency training, and adopting new tools, including artificial intelligence and open-source intelligence.
The report also urges stronger defenses against foreign espionage and closer partnerships among federal agencies, state and local governments, and private-sector organizations.
The task force said the reforms must continue to protect Americans’ privacy and civil liberties while ensuring that intelligence agencies can identify and respond to threats before they reach the United States.
“Twenty-five years after September 11th, the message of the report is simple: America must keep evolving to stay ahead of its enemies,” Gottheimer and his colleagues said.