Six of the eight surviving members of the 9/11 Commission are reuniting in Bloomington this week to discuss their work, and whether the U.S. is safer today. The bipartisan panel issued 41 recommendations in 2002. All but one were adopted. The two former Hoosier congressmen who served on the commission, Democrats Lee Hamilton and Tim Roemer, say the commission’s success was possible because the panel was balanced equally between Republicans and Democrats, and the members all placed national security above partisanship. Roemer says the commission’s recommendations helped the U.S. adjust its security and intelligence structure from a Cold War mindset guarding against rival countries, to one more suited to the new threat of terrorism which crosses national borders.
