a billion here, a billion there

Fred Kaplan has written an intelligent synopsis of what steps need to be taken in lieu of the the 9/11 report.

The biggest puzzle about the 9/11 commission's report is why Thomas Kean, the panel's chairman, said at the start of his press conference this morning that the U.S. government's failure to stop the attack on the World Trade Center was, "above all, a failure of imagination."

It was a strange comment because the actual report—a superb, if somewhat dry, piece of work—says nothing of the sort. The failure was not one of imagination but rather of incentives. It turns out that many individuals, panels, and agencies had predicted an attack uncannily similar to what happened on Sept. 11, 2001. The problem was that nobody in a position of power felt compelled to do anything about it.

Oh, and Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view the report, which is, like all government publications, overwhelmingly long.