Follow-up report

The (Fort Wayne, Ind.) Journal Gazette

Members of the Sept. 11 Commission took an extraordinary and responsible step by conducting a privately financed follow-up to their historic 2004 report. The results were frightening: The federal government earned F grades in implementing a number of the commission's recommendations.

It is incomprehensible that, four years after the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks, the government still fails to check the names of airline passengers against lists of suspected terrorists. Congress and the Bush administration have deplorably awarded homeland security grants as pork-barrel rewards instead of systematically placing the most money in the most vulnerable areas.

The work of the Sept. 11 Commission is far too important to be filed away. The safety of the nation is literally at stake.

Congress and the Bush administration need to wake up to the reality of the panel's follow-up report: The nation cannot afford an F in homeland security for long.