In Their Own Words: 9/11 Commission Vice Chair Lee Hamilton
Rory Cooper /
“I just think what’s pervasive through the country, and has been now for a number of years, is a complacency, an inertia, a business-as-usual. You ask anyone, is this an important problem? They say yes of course it is, then they stack it up with 150 other priorities. You either have to give this top priority or not. We have not given it sufficient priority. And as a result, there is a complacency, there is a business-as-usual attitude that I think is harmful … including the president, including the leaders of the Congress, including many, many people who have had a part in homeland security. You can’t put all the responsibility on the president, but obviously he shares a major part of it. Now his speech yesterday suggested to me that he’s going to bear down on this. I hope that’s the case. And it may be possible that that sense of urgency may return.”
—Lee H. Hamilton, 9/11 Commission Vice Chair and former Democratic Congressman talking to Jake Tapper of ABC News about the Obama Administration’s commitment to homeland security and a pervasive sense of complacency.