Friday, September 23, 2011

O'Toole: Adopt All 9/11 Recommendations Now!

New Jersey State Senator Kevin O’Toole, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, will introduce a resolution urging the United States Congress to adopt all of the recommendations of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission. Senator O’Toole represents portions of Essex, Bergen and Passaic Counties in Northeastern New Jersey.

“I am disturbed by published reports in the Star Ledger that former Governor Kean, the chairman of the 9/11 Commission, is calling attention to the failure of the Federal Government to reform our intelligence agencies and to adopt all of the recommendations of the 9/11 report. In particular, the Star Ledger reports that legislation that would require first responder radio frequencies to be cleared during a crisis is stalled. Governor Kean characterizes this legislation as a ‘no brainer.’

According to the National Security Preparedness Group there are nine 9/11 Commission Recommendations that remain unfulfilled, including radio spectrum interoperability and universal standards for secure identifications. The National Security Preparedness Group was set up to re-assess progress on the initial 9/11 Commission recommendations to develop an updated baseline and then analyze the new or continuing challenges in today’s environment. The NSPG intends to follow a process that mirrors the original commission approach to provide useful public discourse on the issues as well as suggest policy options as solutions.

“I believe that 10 years after the attacks of September 11th the Federal Government would have made implementing the bipartisan, unanimous recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. In order to express to federal lawmakers the desire of the residents of New Jersey to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission I have asked the non partisan Office of Legislative Services to draft a Senate Resolution urging that all of the recommendations be adopted as soon as possible. I fully expect New Jersey’s Congressional Delegation to act to adopt the remainder of these recommendations as soon as possible.”

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States proposed 41 recommendations.

No comments: