When will America finally implement the 9/11 Commission’s security recommendations?

Twenty-five years after 9/11, the government still has not fully implemented important immigration-related recommendations in the 9/11 Commission Report.  

Congress established the bipartisan commission in late 2002, to determine why we were vulnerable to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and what could be done to prevent another attack from occurring. It released its report in 2004. 

On Sept. 11, 2025, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) and ranking member Jim Himes (D-Conn.) announced a bipartisan review of the recommendations made in the 9/11 Commission’s report, “to identify possible gaps or areas of improvement.” The committee conducted hearings and briefings both public and closed to gather the information it needed.  

Nearly a year later, the committee issued its own report, which includes a roadmap for fully implementing the immigration-related recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. 

1. Establish a higher bar for determining whether individuals are who they claim to be.

According to the 9/11 Commission, their “investigation showed that two systemic weaknesses came together in our border system’s inability to contribute to an effective defense against the 9/11 attacks: a lack of well-developed counterterrorism measures as a part of border security and an immigration system not able to deliver on its basic commitments, much less support counterterrorism.”   

All 19 of the 9/11 hijackers entered the United States as nonimmigrant visitors — 18 on visitor visas for tourism or to conduct business and one on a student visa. The commission’s report observes that terrorists use evasive methods when they travel to avoid being detected, “such as altered and counterfeit........

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