I’ve used the September column most of the past 15 years to recall 9/11 and provide a brief analysis of progress made on the last of the 9/11 Commission recommendations. As we near a quarter century since those tragic events, one wonders if there are lessons we have not yet learned that are applicable to chaotic world conditions today. Here are a few observations that come to mind.
Centralize Intelligence Gathering: One of the chief reasons for creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was to better organize and align various departments and agencies that analyzed intelligence gathered from around the world. Some 22 entities were thrown together, most of them because their purpose involved protecting this country, with “homeland security.” In order to be effective, agencies needed to share their information so that a daily report for the president could be prepared by the Director of National Intelligence that took many intelligence streams and made sense of them. Though the report and the work that goes into it covers countries like China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, it also synthesizes intelligence gathered from less formal sources. Given the diplomatic alliances that have emerged from Russia’s war with Ukraine, tensions have increased around the globe, making the stakes higher where the credibility of the intelligence is concerned. At the present time, the Director of National Intelligence has cut her staff in size and is producing reports that the president ignores or says are wrong. (Remember that Richard A. Clarke tried in his April 2001 briefings of President Bush to alert him about the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and that there was viable radio chatter about a planned attack on the United States.) The circle of advisors to the current president is tight, without a diverse set of opinions and recommendations to offer the president, who appears to be calling the shots rather than relying upon the advice of his cabinet.
In Front of Our Eyes: The Russia-Ukraine war gives us another kind of national intelligence briefing. As Senator Mark Kelly noted after his trip in March of 2025 to Ukraine, the impact of President Trump's pause on military aid and information sharing was significant. But the pause was ordered by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, not the president. Kelly pointed out that the continuing transfer of equipment to Ukraine also rid the United States of outdated inventory. What is of interest in these events is that it was not the president who made the decision, which calls into question whether there are other decisions being made by his cabinet that he is not aware of.
Centralize Congressional Oversight: One of the four unfinished recommendations of the 9/11 Commission was that the number of Congressional committees that DHS reported to should be reduced from over 100 committees. At that time, the reporting from U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) was much more understated. During both of his terms of office, the current president has relied upon these two Department of Homeland Security’s teams to use extraordinary budget and employees to seize and deport undocumented residents with virtually no Congressional oversight. Together with the FBI, the CIA, and the Department of Defense, these groups have created adversarial relationships with state and local government. Since Trump took office in January, ICE has deported over 200,000 people through July. Overall, 350,000 people have been deported, which included repatriations by US Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard, as well as people who chose to self-deport (CNN . https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/28/politics/ice-deportations-immigrants-trump).
Administrative Focus: Just as the government’s attention was elsewhere in 2000-2001, the current administration’s focus seems to be on score-settling and grievance, most of it focused not on our adversaries, but on former staff, Democratic governors, and major universities. Sprinkle in a pound of determination to topple key cultural institutions, and you’ve got 90% of the president’s day, leaving members of the cabinet to implement new policies without a need (evidently) for Congressional approval. There may still be some reckoning to come via the Supreme Court, but that remains to be seen. The latest objects of the president’s attention are the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, and New York City’s 9/11 Memorial and Museum. It’s hard to be awarded a Nobel peace prize when your focus is on chaos and the destruction of longstanding democratic institutions.
On the Horizon: Set to expire on September 30 is critical cybersecurity legislation, with a new bill being written to encourage public-private sector cooperation in fighting hackers. At stake in the current act, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, is a legal platform that protects companies that share information voluntarily with other companies and the federal government, protecting them from antitrust and liability charges. Digital attacks were far less frequent in 2001, but actually comprise the bulk of malicious and costly attacks on both the government and private sector companies today. Whether there will be a renewal of the current act or passage of a new act at the same time a government shutdown is looming is still a tossup. Whether the current administration is staffed for an emergency response to an incoming missile from China or North Korea is a real question after the gutting of major departments and agencies. In that respect, we are still vulnerable to attack and have increasingly become a disrespected government.
Attacking the News: A core concern certainly since the shock of 9/11 is the vital role of critical information dissemination. In an alarmingly short time it appears that any critical news has been treated as “Fake News” or a “hoax,” supplanting by attacking as the “enemy within” an endless array of grievances that sideline or shut down the sources of information that we urgently need.
Chaos is not policy.
Originally Published in ASA News and Notes on September 8, 2025
Annie Searle
Searle is an Associate Teaching Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington. She is founder and principal of ASA Risk Consultants, a Seattle-based advisory firm. She spent 10 years at Washington Mutual Bank, most of them as a senior executive. Annie is a member of the CISA 10 Regional Infrastructure Security Group. She was an inaugural inductee in 2011 into the Hall of Fame for the International Network of Women in Homeland Security and Emergency Management. She writes a column monthly for ASA News & Notes and is the author of several books or book chapters. She is also a member of the emeritus board of directors for the Seattle Public Library Foundation.