Feds Have Not Implemented 9/11 Report's Tech RecommendationsFeds Have Not Implemented 9/11 Report's Tech Recommendations

The federal government received dismal grades for failing to enact the 9/11 Commission's recommendations in a report released Monday, which included calls for technology upgrades and improved information sharing.

The 9/11 Public Discourse Project's final report calls for rapid turnover of analog television spectrum space for use by first responders to public emergencies. The report is also sharply critical of the government's failure to find and install basic, reliable communications technology, so police and fire fighters can communicate during emergencies.

"It is scandalous that police and firefighters in large cities still cannot communicate reliably in a major crisis," 9/11 Commission' chairman Thomas Kean said, in a prepared statement.

The government received an "F" for failing to provide adequate radio spectrum. A 2006 budget reconciliation bill would require the transition of 700 MHz analog-television spectrum for use by first responders and reserve additional spectrum some for additional public safety purposes.

"Both the House and the Senate bills contain a 2009 handover date [for the spectrum space] -- too distant given the urgency of the threat. A 2007 handover date would make the American people safer sooner," according to the report's first entry.

Kean also said, in comments published on the group's Web site that the government has also failed to take the single most important step in strengthening intelligence – making sure information is shared.

"The failure to share information among and within agencies cost us dearly on Sept. 11," he said. "Last year's law created a program manager to improve information-sharing across the government; the President appointed an experienced officer to fill that post. Despite these steps, we have made minimal progress so far on information sharing. You can change the law. You can change the technology, but you still need to change the culture. You still need to motivate institutions and individuals to share information."

Kean said state and local emergency responders aren't getting the information they need from the federal government.

He also said it's scandalous that airline passengers still are not being screened against all names on a national terror watch list.

Finally, Kean and the report condemned the government for not performing a risk assessment and for irresponsibly wasting funds marked for projects and equipment to defend the United States.

"One city used its homeland security money for air conditioned garbage trucks," he said. "One used it to guy Kevlar body armor for dogs. These are not the priorities of a nation under threat."

The report states that money should be spent in high risk areas on items that help reduce risk and improve response. Kean and other commission members said the government needs to do more to prevent attacks with weapons of mass destruction.

The project was run by the original members of the federally-appointed 9/11 Commission acting as a private organization to monitor government progress on reforms recommended in the original 9/11 Commission Report.