Lee H. Hamilton
Lee H. Hamilton
Lee Herbert Hamiltonis a former member of the United States House of Representatives and currently a member of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council. A member of the Democratic Party, Hamilton represented the 9th congressional district of Indiana from 1965 to 1999. Following his departure from Congress he has served on a number of governmental advisory boards, most notably as the vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth20 April 1931
CountryUnited States of America
I am impressed by the number of intelligence warnings, the spiking of the threats that occurred during, particularly the summer of the year 2001.
But there's another whole dimension here, and that dimension is the public dimension -- and I think the American public would benefit from hearing Condi Rice testify under oath.
Look, we want a bill on the desk of the president as soon as possible.
She's told us she's happy to have us come back, so we're going to get the information that we want in the commission,
Some 18 months after that terrifying day, we still have no comprehensive analysis of 9/11, no authoritative record of the many forces that led to the attacks, no definitive narrative of the events of the day.
Now the difficulty with those warnings is that they were not specific.
But despite this breathtaking pace, I believe in the capacity of our democracy to meet these challenges.
You'll remember Dr. Rice said that several times: It was not a warning about the place and the method and the time - it was a general warning. And that points out the imperfection, if you would, of our intelligence.
They have become quite a strong ally for the United States in terms of the war on terrorism.
It's very disappointing, and even depressing, to see that four years after 9/11 we have not done many of things we should have done to get ready for a disaster. Things are moving, but they're just moving slowly.
A member of an intelligence committee who hears of some activity he disapproves of has no real way to bring that public because if he does, he's breaking the law.
What's lacking here is a sense of urgency, a political will to get these things done.
U.S. officials and outside experts agree that China is undertaking a comprehensive modernization of its military. The Chinese military has gotten smaller but smarter.
We believe that another attack will occur and we had better get to it and protect the American people. It's not a question of if.