In the words of the commission's co-chairmen, this is the compelling inside story of how the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States — more commonly known as the 9/11 Commission — managed to succeed against all odds in producing a report that made clear what went wrong and why.

The mandate of the 9/11 Commission was daunting and all-encompassing. In its investigation of the events leading up to and including September 11, 2001, the commission had to examine U.S. diplomacy, military policy, intelligence agencies, law enforcement, border and aviation security, and congressional oversight, as well as the immediate response to the terrorist attacks, while also investigating the lethal enemy al Qaeda.

The creation of the 9/11 Commission was blocked for months by the Bush administration, and after its inception in December 2002 the commission spent months mired in a series of controversies — the resignation of its first chairman, Henry Kissinger, and vice-chairman, George Mitchell; an inadequate budget; an extraordinarily polarized atmosphere leading up to the 2004 presidential election; the conflicting demands of various interest groups; the distrust of the victims'; families; difficulties in obtaining access to highly classified documents and to al Qaeda detainees; and a media eager to record stumbles and gaffes. The obstacles were great, and the expectations for a blue-ribbon panel are never high — yet somehow the 9/11 Commission overcame everything that might have thwarted it and succeeded beyond anyone's greatest expectation, holding a series of hearings that riveted the nation, producing a unanimous and widely heralded report that became a national best seller, and issuing recommendations that led to the most significant reform of America's national security agencies in decades.

The 9/11 Commission report slaked the national thirst for accountability. Here for the first time is the story of how the commission came together to produce its landmark document.

"A re-creation of the inner workings of a government commission threatens to be a dry bureaucratic procedural, but the 9/11 Commission was so politically fraught that its story is compelling in its own right. Chairman Kean and vice-chair Hamilton detail the commission's fight with Congress for more money and time; its wranglings with the Bush administration to win access to witnesses and classified documents; its delicate relations with victims' families, who were its harshest critics and staunchest champions; its strategic use of public censure to wring concessions from recalcitrant officials; and the forging of a bipartisan consensus among fractious Republican and Democratic commissioners. Their tone is evenhanded and diplomatic, but some adversaries — NORAD, the FAA, House Republicans — get singled out as stumbling blocks to the investigation. The authors cogently defend the compromises they made and swat conspiracy theories about coverups, but critics unhappy with the commission's refusal to 'point fingers' or its lukewarm resistance to White House claims of executive privilege may not be satisfied. The issues the commission wrestled with — official incapacity to prevent disaster, the government's use and misuse of intelligence, presidential accountability — are still in the headlines, which makes this lucid, absorbing account of its work very timely. Photos." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Kean and Hamilton sound optimistic, but wary, about their investigation's impact. Their book, along with the commission's report, however, will give future historians an accurate account of their sincere desire to make the nation safer." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Repeatedly, and with terrific thoroughness, Kean and Hamilton show us how their commission attempted to examine how the systems in place failed to protect us....[It] also tells a personal story about the heroic members of the 9/11 Commission, who seemed to understand the magnitude of the task put before them and figured out a way not to fail us." Denver Post

"Rich in detail and well written, this book provides excellent insight into the operation of a high-profile governmental commission investigating a national tragedy." Library Journal

"Kean and Hamilton dwell on two habits of Washington that they worried would roil the commission: leaks and partisanship. As their narrative rolls forward, this leak or that partisan enters their story, whose most dramatic moments reside in the commission's televised hearings." Booklist

Thomas H. Kean was governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990, and from 1990 until 2005 he was the president of Drew University. He has served on numerous national committees and commissions, and has worked tirelessly for over a quarter century on behalf of environmental and educational organizations. He lives in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Lee H. Hamilton is president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He was a congressman representing Indiana's Ninth District from 1965 to 1999, during which time he was chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and chair of the Joint Economic Committee. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

PROLOGUE: Kean—September 11, 2001

PROLOGUE: Hamilton—September 11, 2001

1. SET UP TO FAIL: Approaching an Impossible Task

2. A START-UP: Setting Up on a Shoestring

3. COOPERATE OR CONFRONT? What to Ask for and How to Get It

4. FINDING THE FACTS: Negotiations, Subpoenas, and More Negotiations

5. GETTING THE STORY: From Field Offices to Cabinet Offices, Distant Lands to Detainees

6. FINDING A VOICE: Public Hearings and Time Pressure

7. THE PERFECT STORM: A Book, a Charge, and an Apology

8. A REMARKABLE DAY: Condoleezza Rice in Public, Bill Clinton in Private

9. BECOMING A TARGET: The Commission Comes Together

10. THE TRAUMA OF NEW YORK: Treading Delicately in a Wounded City

11. THE ENEMY: Al Qaeda, the 9/11 Plot, and the Question of Iraq

12. THE STORY IN THE SKY: Conspiracy Theories and Correcting a Record

13. MANY VOICES: Drafting a Report, Debating Recommendations

14. UNANIMOUS: Rolling out a Report

EPILOGUE: Looking Back to Look Forward

Acknowledgments

The Report Card

9/11 Commission Timeline

Index