Posted on 08/18/2005 4:25:01 PM PDT by STARWISE
The 9-11 Commission: gone but not, the commissioners hope, forgotten. Not content to rest on their laurels, after the Commission "disbanded as a government entity" last year, the 10 commissioners believed so strongly in the need for continued public discussion about terrorism that it formed the 9/11 Discourse Project. So the commissioners keep on ticking, like the Energizer Bunny, although without an official charter.
This week, the group started a series of eight public hearings this week called "The Unfinished Agenda" which are designed to assess government progress in implementing Commission recommendations. Why? In the words of Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton: "We are worried about complacency."
Only a few of the 9/11 Commission recommendations have been implemented. Hamilton says that in a year's time he would "like to see all our recommendations adopted."
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Contributors
The 9-11 Public Discourse Project wishes to thank the following funders:
The America Prepared Campaign, Inc.
The Carnegie Corporation of New York
Drexel Family Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
John S. and Lames L. Knight Foundation
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Smith Richardson Foundation, Inc.
Overview
The ten members of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (known as the 9-11 Commission) have initiated a nationwide public education campaign for the purpose of making America safer and more secure. In so doing, the commissioners will give people throughout America the opportunity to participate in a debate that has been limited largely to those inside the Washington Beltway.
Following the July 22, 2004, release of its official 567-page report, the 9-11 Commission, in accordance with its founding statute, disbanded as a government entity on August 21, 2004. All ten commissioners believe, however, that it is critical to educate the public on the issue of terrorism and what can be done to make the country safer. They would like to do so by reaching out, in bipartisan pairs, to communities around the country, encouraging a national conversation on these critical issues. In the absence of such an effort, they are concerned that there will be insufficient public examination of how the lessons learned from the terrorist attacks can be used to shape public policy. The perils of inaction are far too high-and the strategic value of the Commission's findings too important-for the work of 9-11 Commission not to continue.
For this reason, the ten commissioners have formed a 501(c)(3) organization - the 9-11 Public Discourse Project - aimed at fulfilling the 9-11 Commission's original mandate of guarding against future terrorist attacks, while adhering strictly to the same bipartisan and independent principles that have guided it over the last twenty months. This new organization, intended to remain in effect for one year, consists of the same leadership of the 9-11 Commission, including its commissioners, who now serve as the Board of Directors of the 9-11 Public Discourse Project.
The 9/11 Public Discourse Project wishes to thank those who have contributed funding for the Project.
Rationale for a Public Campaign
It is the consensus view of the 9-11 Commission members that there must be a national debate on how future attacks can be prevented, and that they can make an important contribution to this process. The rationale for this view is as follows:
* This is a critically important debate for the future of this nation, yet a greater percentage of the people need to participate in the consideration of the 9-11 Commission's findings and their implications for public policy. By engaging in a national education campaign, the commissioners hope to use the information and insights they developed to increase broader public understanding of these issues.
* The former Commissioners are independent and bipartisan. None of the commissioners holds public office. There are five Democrats and five Republicans who have worked together to produce a unanimous report, filed without dissent or separate views. Throughout, the commissioners' public appearances have been bipartisan.
* The need is immediate. The Commission has challenged policy-makers to consider its report and to act. Therefore, the moment for public education on these critical issues is now.
The Public Education Campaign
Led by Chair Thomas H. Kean and Vice Chair Lee H. Hamilton, the Board of Directors of the 9/11 Public Discourse Project will undertake a year-long, nationwide public education campaign, beginning in September 2004 in an effort to accomplish the following objectives:
* enhancing the understanding of American citizens of the nature of the terrorist threat;
* examining key policy issues contained in the 9-11 Commission's final report. The campaign will target a variety of audiences, including the following:
* general public;
* national and local news media;
* think tank scholars;
* academic experts;
* former policymakers with national security interest; * state and local policymakers; * relevant trade groups and associations.
The project's small staff will:
* serve as an information clearing house - responding to public and media inquiries regarding the work of the 9-11 Commission;
* organize commissioner representation at town hall meetings - providing a public forum for citizens to evaluate how best to safeguard America;
* organize commissioner response to speaking opportunities - responding to requests for commissioners to speak at venues that will reach into universities, civic organizations and gatherings of opinion leaders;
* arrange editorial board meetings - informing the leadership of news outlets on the issues;
* respond to inquiries from executive and legislative policymakers - enunciating the findings and recommendations of the 9-11 Commission; and
* communicate directly with opinion leaders - conducting informational briefings with think tank scholars, academic leaders and other public policy experts.
The PDP Presented a Panel Discussion: (snip)
America Prepared
The America Prepared Campaign and the 9/11 Public Discourse Project have partnered to educate the American people about terrorism and preparedness. For more information about personal preparedness, visit www.ready.gov.
Board of Directors
Thomas H. Kean
Lee H. Hamilton
Richard Ben-Veniste
Fred F. Fielding
Jamie S. Gorelick
Slade Gorton
Bob Kerrey
John F. Lehman
Timothy J. Roemer
James R. Thompson
Staff
Christopher Kojm
President
Alexis Albion
Director of Policy
Dianna Campagna
Director of Finance and Operations
Al Felzenberg
Deputy and Senior Director for Communications
Adam Klein
Director of Communications
Michael Hurley
Senior Director of Policy
Erin Smith
Senior Assistant to the President
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And the beat goes on ....it's certainly a way for several of those invested in Shrillery to continue networking under the mantle of "US security issues" and keep their faces and names in the public eye. (Kean, you were really snookered!)
PING!
No doubt this move is so they can trash conservatives running up to the '06 election, and of course '08 presidential election.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Steven Brill
Chairman, The America Prepared Campaign, Inc.
Floyd Abrams
Partner, Cahill Gordon & Reindel, LLP.
Cynthia Brill
General Counsel, The America Prepared Campaign, Inc..
Barbara Chaffee
President, Public Intelligence.
Bill Gray
President, Ogilvy & Mather New York.
Frank Luntz
President, Luntz Research Companies.
Maj. Gen. Bruce Lawlor
U.S. Army (Ret.), former Chief of Staff,
Department of Homeland Security.
Carl Weisbrod
President, Alliance for Downtown New York, Inc..
ADVISORY PANEL The advisory panel is group of people with expertise in diverse fields and with equally diverse perspectives who have expressed a willingness to provide counsel to the Campaign and its staff on issues ranging from creative approaches to communicating the Campaign's messages, to implementing marketing and distribution efforts related to those messages, to determining the substantive content of the messages.
Donald Baer
Senior Executive Vice President,
Discovery Communications Inc.,
former White House Communications Director
Cathleen Black
President, Hearst Magazines
James Carville
Political Consultant, co-host, Crossfire, CNN
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Principal, DreamWorks SKG
Ellen Levine
Editor in Chief, Good Housekeeping
Mary Matalin
Political Consultant, former senior aide to
Vice President Richard Cheney
Leslie Moonves
Chairman, CEO and President, CBS
Bill O'Reilly
Host, The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News
Tara O'Toole
M.D., Director and CEO, Center for Biosecurity of
the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Sally Quinn
Writer, The Washington Post
Irwin Redlener
M.D., Director, National Center For
Disaster Preparedness, Columbia University
Mailman School of Public Health
David Ropeik
Director of Risk Communication,
Harvard Center for Risk Analysis
Gregory Thomas
Director, Program for School Preparedness and
Planning, National Center for Disaster Preparedness
, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Harvey Weinstein
Co-Chairman, Miramax Film Corp.
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Quite a motley crew ... wow, O'Reilly, Katzenberg, Matlin, Quinn and Carville. I'd love to be a fly on the wall at these scintillating gatherings.
I would like to see Lee Hamilton under the influence of sodium pentathol.
They've got some gall. After ignoring intelligence presented to them, they think they have the authority to tell anyone anything?
Just getting together to check that mortar between those bricks in 'The Wall'.
Thomas H. Kean
Lee H. Hamilton
Richard Ben-Veniste
Fred F. Fielding
Jamie S. Gorelick
Slade Gorton
Bob Kerrey
John F. Lehman
Timothy J. Roemer
James R. Thompson
The 3 in red are people that the American people should not allow on any commission. Who gave them the right to form their own board? They have failed miserably on the original commission. The Democratic operatives, Gorelick and Ben-Veniste need to have hearings on their past work in government, it was the Gorelick Wall that led to 9/11 and she should have to answer for it. Anything coming from this “Discourse Project” is not and never will be reliable. ” * The former Commissioners are independent and bipartisan. None of the commissioners holds public office. There are five Democrats and five Republicans who have worked together to produce a unanimous report, filed without dissent or separate views. Throughout, the commissioners' public appearances have been bipartisan.”……….that is the biggest lie of all.
Yeah .. I think it was done by an out-of-work comedy writer... ridiculous and DANGEROUS puffery and egomania. Without them, whatever would we do??
Peachie (BTW, that's what my sweet neighbor used to call me when I was a teen ;)and NP .. sorry, forgot to ping ya. Gotta get a Word list done for this stuff ... the swiss cheese aerating my brain gets the best of me sometimes .. LOL.
Oooops Matlin = Matalin
well- when the news gets out , this bunch will go from laughable to absurd.
Anyway, it'll be interesting to see if this power group decide to continue fraternizing and getting in our faces or let it end .... very very interesting.
These people were the most shameless grandstanders and are INCOMPETENT.
How many ways did they outrage me?
The attack on Condi Rice.
Bob Kerrey holding up Clark's book.
Clark the slug-man pontificating on how only HE cared about terrorism.
Ben-Veniste attacking Ashcroft like he was the devil incarnate.
Kean grinning like a fool as Jamie Gorelick batted her eyelashes at him.
I could go on. The revelations of Able Danger should be enough to render them irrelevant, but of course they will still hog camera time throughout next year.
Ugh. Ugh again! It is not to be tolerated!!
LOL
Maybe the earth will open up and swallow DC. That would be nice. Needs to wait untill September though.
Peach, I noticed one of the meetings at the end deals with a "Report Card Implimentation".
I wish the families of the 3000 people who were murdered would show up with
a report card of their own for the liars on the whitewash commission.
911 COMMISSION REPORT CARD
101 Truthful to American Public F
And I would like to see all ten of you put under oath and hopefully most of you jailed.
Even if the families don't show up to give them an "F", we can do it here. LOL
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