Warren Bass, Michael Hurley and Alexis Albion are not exactly household names. But they are a few of the authors of the outstanding interim reports released by the 9/11 commission this week. In clear, substantive and credible prose, these staff reports describe the errors successive administrations made leading up to the terror attacks. More than that, they describe the ambiguities and constraints policy makers wrestled with. But, of course, these reports were eclipsed. This was the week the Richard Clarke circus came to town. It should be said that Clarke used to be capable of the sort of balanced analysis...