Post 9/11: A Security Progress Report Card

Washington --- Days away from the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, many measures for preventing a repeat attack are still getting under way or await action.

The U.S. government has spent about $20 billion to harden aviation security, overhauled the intelligence community and added new procedures, including taking fingerprints, to check visitors as they arrive from abroad.

Yet much more is undone or only partially done when compared with the detailed recommendations urged in July 2004 by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, a panel created by Congress and approved by President Bush.

Two years later, here is an evaluation of progress on some of its major points.

Air cargo and baggage

* Recommendation: Screen all checked baggage and air cargo

* Actions: All checked luggage is now screened for explosives. The Department of Homeland Security is still testing technologies for screening air cargo.

* Progress: Limited. Only a handful of airports have installed costly "in-line" baggage security systems preferred by security experts and recommended by the Sept. 11 commission. Only a small percentage (federal officials won't say how much) of air cargo is screened. And the Department of Homeland Security is only now researching methods to detect the newly emerging threat of liquid explosives.

Foreign travelers

* Recommendation: Install an entry-exit system that incorporates biometric features, such as fingerprints and digital photographs, to screen travelers to the United States

* Actions: A new program called US-VISIT takes fingerprints and digital photos of foreign visitors as they arrive at 115 airports, 15 seaports and at 154 land ports of entry. Computers check for matches against terrorist and criminal watch lists. More than 1,350 individuals with immigration violations or criminal records have been stopped from coming into the country based on the security system.

* Progress: Half finished. Only 12 airports and two seaports have facilities to register departures, leaving the government without the ability to monitor other ports and land border crossings to keep track of who stays in the country without authorization.

Communications

* Recommendation: Reassign adequate radio spectrum for public safety use so that local police, firefighters and emergency teams can communicate with one another

* Actions: Congress this year approved turning over a portion of the "analog" airwaves for public safety use, but not until February 2009, when TV stations are required to begin transmitting only high definition digital images and andwill no longer need the analog spectrum.

* Progress: Delayed. The date for providing a portion of the airwaves for first responders is "too distant given the urgency of the threat," said the 9/11 Public Discourse Project. In the meantime, the Department of Homeland Security has awarded more than $5 billion to local fire, police and other rescue agencies for new "interoperable" radios and other localized solutions to the critical communication problem.

Air passenger screening

* Recommendation: Improve prescreening systems for airline passengers

* Actions: The Transportation Security Administration tested various systems that could conduct background checks and provide credentials for "trusted" frequent travelers who volunteered to join the program.

* Progress: Delayed indefinitely. Privacy and civil liberties advocates objected to the prescreening program. The airlines continue to use their pre-Sept. 11 practice of consulting a "no-fly" list before boarding passengers. However, the "no-fly" list contains many more names than five years ago. The exact number is secret.

Air defenses

* Recommendation: Coordinate defense for U.S. airspace

* Actions: The Defense Department expanded the North American Aerospace Defense Command to include monitoring of domestic air traffic. A new multiagency federal center oversees security of the U.S. capital region, where military jets routinely patrol the skies.

* Progress: Vigilance has been stepped up, especially for the capital region, the 9/11 Public Discourse report said last December. However, routine violations of restricted airspace continue, and the Federal Aviation Administration announced this summer it will require pilots to take a special training course before they fly within 100 miles of Washington. The U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, cited gaps in the nation's overall airspace defense a year ago and urged that oversight be given to a single federal organization. The Department of Defense rejected the idea.

National ID

* Recommendation: Set nationwide standards for a secure identification document

* Actions: Congress passed the "REAL ID Act," which requires state driver's licenses to meet federal security standards by May 2008. The new, tamper-resistant IDs would be required for boarding airplanes and applying for government benefits.

* Progress: Incomplete. The Department of Homeland Security has yet to announce the required security features for the new driver's licenses. Some states are balking at the cost, and the Conference of State Legislatures recently voted to ask Congress to pay for the program or repeal it.

Intelligence czar

* Recommendation: Set up a new director of national intelligence to oversee and coordinate all 15 federal intelligence-gathering agencies

* Actions: Congress passed a law in late 2005 establishing the office. John D. Negroponte was sworn in as its director in April 2006 and now is the leading U.S. official on intelligence matters.

* Progress: Too early to assess. "The success of this office will require decisive leadership from the [director of national intelligence] and the president, and active oversight by the Congress," the 911 Public Discourse Project report said in December 2005.

Sources: The 9/11 commission report of 2004; the former commission members' follow-up in the 9/11 Public Discourse Project report of December 2005; spokesmen and official releases by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office (the bipartisan investigative and auditing arm of Congress).

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