INDIANAPOLIS — Retired Congressman Lee Hamilton has warned of the perils of political ideology, calling the body where he spent 34 years “noxiously partisan.” Now, he worries the divide is downright dangerous.
A co-chairman of the 9/11 Commission, Hamilton and fellow panel members issued a report last week that says Congress’ dysfunction on national security makes the United States less safe at a time when the struggle against terrorism has entered a new and dangerous phase.
Congress, having failed in its role to help protect Americans before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is back to bungling its job, they worry.
“The American people don’t want to see dysfunction in Congress. They want to be safe,” said Hamilton from his office on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington.
The report comes on the 10th anniversary of the publication of the “The 9/11 Commission Report,” and it carries weight.
Ten years ago, the Democratic Hamilton and his Republican counterpart, former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, oversaw a commission that faulted massive intelligence failures and disconnects among agencies charged with protecting Americans.
Congress has implemented most of the commission’s recommendations for reforming the intelligence community, he said. But it ignored a call to streamline its own oversight process.
Instead of cutting through the bureaucracy that oversees national security, Congress has only created more, he said. At least 92 committees and subcommittees now oversee the sprawling Department of Homeland Security, created in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.
More isn’t better, he said. It’s worse.
“When you have that many overlords, you have none,” Hamilton said. “You have no one in Congress taking responsibility.”
He’s particularly peeved at the hypocrisy of Congress, whose members love to rail against waste, fraud and abuse. Yet, by failing to pass a comprehensive authorization bill that sets policy and spending priorities for Homeland Security, the bickering body is complicit in squandering critical resources, he argues.
“It’s indefensible,” said Hamilton.
At 83, Hamilton could be dismissed as a crank but for his dedication to the institution. When he retired from Congress in 1999, he founded the Center on Congress at IU. His aim is to improve public understanding of Congress and inspire Americans to take part in revitalizing their government.
The current crew of representatives doesn’t make his job easy.
Hamilton’s disdain for partisanship over national security isn’t new, and he irked some Democrats when the bipartisan 9/11 Commission issued its 2004 report with unanimous support. Hamilton and Kean were criticized for seeking agreement; they saw it as a worthy goal that could be emulated.
Hamilton later told the New York Times, “I didn’t see my Republican friends with a big R on their head. … We talked, and we talked, and we talked. And if you know a way to build a consensus without talking to one another, let me know.”
Hamilton blames both parties for the trench warfare over national security in Washington. In the 10th anniversary report issued last week, he and other panelists also called on Americans to stop tolerating it.
They warned of “counterterrorism fatigue” and said politicians respond to what seems like public complacency by doing little.
That, he argues, is a clear call for more engagement by citizens.
“Every generation has its responsibilities,’ Hamilton said. “We can’t live off Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln and what they did. We’ve got to do it ourselves.”
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