It's not just intel but border security! Those 19 bastards had state drivers licenses and plenty of their pals abused asylum and visa programs and THOSE have nothing to do with intelligence!
Fixing illegal immigration requires more than this bill alone would have dealt with if it had muscle in it, but damn it, it would have taken the right steps.
Jane Harmon is calling for more!
This is what the Family Steering Committee of an advocacy group led by families of 9/11 victims had to say about these provisions:
The other controversial provision that calls for imposing driver's license rules against illegal aliens was not endorsed by the 9/11 Commission. Their investigation revealed all of the hijackers were admitted “legally” into the US , through INS. Nor would driver's license restrictions help prevent terrorist attacks perpetrated by "in status" foreign visitors, naturalized citizens or by cells of American-born terrorists.Considering that an estimated 3 million illegal aliens and 500 million foreign visitors enter the US every year, clearly, the focus must be on intelligence that can identify terrorists who attempt to blend in with either throng. We cannot stop terrorists solely through second-tier methods such as driver's license reform. Sadly there are some who advocate letting the bill 'die' if the narrow issue of driver's licenses for illegals is not included. This shortsighted view has contributed to mischief in Washington .
The 9/11 Commission Report cites the best opportunities to disrupt the 9/11 plot involved Zacarias Moussaoui and the failure to track and watchlist two of the hijackers who attended a planning meeting in Kuala Lumpur. These missed opportunities are the purview of the FBI and CIA. There is simply no comparison between the effect of closing immigration loopholes and the impact in preventing terrorist attacks by creating an effective intelligence network.