As a Member of the Government Reform and House Armed Services Committees (HASC), I serve on two of the House committees most heavily involved in drafting the Intelligence Reform bill.  I personally participated in more than a half-dozen hearings on how to best implement many of the recommendations made by 9/11 Commission.

The Commission concluded that in order to protect our nation from future terrorist attacks, we must reform our intelligence agencies and systems.  On December 7, 2004 and December 8^, 2004 the House and Senate respectively passed the Intelligence Reform Bill.  I voted with a vast bipartisan majority of my House colleagues (336 to 75) on this important first step toward implementing the reforms recommended by the 9/11 Commission. 

The Intelligence Reform Act is the most significant restructuring of U.S. intelligence assets since the CIA was created in 1947.  Some 9/11 Commission recommendations that have been followed include:  Creating a Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to oversee 15 different agencies that gather and work with data.  The director is the primary advisor to the President on these matters and has direct budget authority.  The bill also creates a National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) to coordinate across the 15 agencies.  However, we have ensured that our troops are protected by maintaining the existing chain of command and autonomy in the battlefield.  There are additional measures in the legislation that will help make the United States safer.

Even after passage of the Intelligence Reform bill, Congress has additional work to do toward implementing other recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission.  Specifically, House Judiciary Committee Chairman, James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) raised a number of concerns which I share. 

Specifically, Chairman Sensenbrenner argued vociferously for adopting federal standards for drivers’ licenses, which are used for identification and allow us to board airplanes.  The 9/11 Commission stated: “For terrorists, travel documents are as important as weapons.” 

Chairman Sensenbrenner called for the intelligence reforms to include:  Enforcement or certification of drivers licenses at the national level; data sharing between states; the expiration of drivers licenses when visas expire; mandatory participation by all states, as there are currently 11 states that allow illegal immigrants to register for drivers’ licenses.  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette quotes Robert Thibadeau, director of Carnegie Mellon's Internet Security laboratory as saying that "the 19 terrorists on Sept. 11 were holding 63 state driver's licenses for identification."

At least three of the 9/11 hijackers had previously been stopped for routine traffic violations.  Mohamed Atta, the hijacker believed to have piloted American Airlines flight 77 into the north World Trade tower and the one believed to have been the ringleader coordinating the hijackings, had several moving violations.

Atta was pulled over in April, 2001 for a traffic offense.  A Broward County sheriff’s deputy ticketed him for an invalid license.  He also was in the United States with an expired visa and thus an illegal alien, although the sheriff’s deputy had no way of knowing that information.  He ignored the ticket and did not show up for his hearing in May.  In June a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. 

In May, 2001 Atta legally obtained a Florida drivers’ license even though he was in the country on an expired visa.  CNN reports that Atta was pulled over, again, for speeding in only a few weeks before the 9/11 attacks.  That officer, unaware of the bench warrant or of Atta’s status as an illegal alien, let him go with a warning.

Two other of the 19 hijackers were also stopped for traffic violations.  In August, 2001, hijacker, Hani Hanjour, was pulled over for speeding near Arlington, Virginia.  He had a valid Virginia drivers’ license but was in the US illegally because he was on a student visa but had never showed up for school.  Further, the visa was expired.

Maryland state police also stopped a third hijacker.  Ziad Jarrah, one of the hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 93, had a valid Florida drivers’ license.  He was stopped and issued a speeding ticket just two days before the terrorist attacks.  The citation was found in the glove box of the Jarrah’s rented car, left in the Newark Airport parking lot.

Chairman Sensenbrenner clearly has a valid case when he points out that with the driver license reforms discussed, law enforcement potentially could have picked up and held several of the 9/11 hijackers in time to change the events of that day.  I look forward to returning to Congress in January to continue to push for additional reforms to make our homeland safer.