The 9/11 Commission Report

Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks

By: National Commission on Terrorist Attacks

Narrated by: Ken Borgers, Sal Giangrasso, Charlton Griffin, Mark Moran, Todd Mundt

Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people died in terrorist attacks upon the United States. Hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, while an additional plane crashed into the fields of Pennsylvania. This series of events resulted in the single largest loss of life from enemy attack on U.S. soil.

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was created by congressional legislation and the signature of President George W. Bush in late 2002. This independent, bipartisan commission had the task of producing a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the attack, including preparedness and immediate response, and providing recommendations designed to guard against future attacks.

The 9/11 Commission released their final report to the public on July 22, 2004. During the course of the Commission's 20-month investigation, the 10 commissioners and 80 staff members conducted more than 1300 interviews in 10 countries and reviewed more than 2 million documents. In the 17 days of public hearings, the commissioners heard testimony from 140 federal, state, and local officials, and private sector experts.

The Commission was composed of Chair Thomas H. Kean, Vice Chair Lee H. Hamilton, and Commissioners Richard Ben-Veniste, Fred F. Fielding, Jamie S. Gorelick, Slade Gorton, Bob Kerrey, John F. Lehman, Timothy J. Roemer, and James R. Thompson.

(P)2004 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Finalist, Achievement in Production, 2005

"The prose is free from bureaucratese and, for a consensus statement, the report is remarkably forthright. Though there could not have been a single author, the style is uniform. The document is an improbable literary triumph." (The New York Times Book Review)

A detailed snapshot of when it was written

A very thorough look at nearly every conceivable aspect of the attacks, their lead-up, the response to them, and recommendations put forward at the time. Anyone who is interested in history, government operation, international relations, preparing for attacks or WMDs, the nature of terrorism, or bureaucratic management should listen to the whole thing.

Commission Report is essential reading.

This report should be required reading in educational establishments all over the western hemisphere, as it explains how pointers were missed and/or ignored by government and intelligence agencies in the USA, with tragic consequences.

Necessary info

Tough to get through. Everything in this is important to hear but it is difficult to stay focussed. I feel much more informed having read it.

No mention of WTC 7!

If you are looking for what happened to WTC 7, the third tower that fell, its not mentioned in the 911 Commission Report. Otherwise, very insightful as to the events leading to 9/11.

Must have...gives a realistic picture

I was a bit skeptical about this 9/11 report, however after listening to the first few minutes I could not stop listening. It gives good picture of the hell that those who died went through. There are graphic descriptions of the on board struggele of passengers and victims. It tells so much about the chaos happened on that crazy day, with America's defence system. We were lucky it wasn't a nuke! Don't hesitate - buy this and listen to it.

The 9/11 Commission Report

Good and long but something everyone in America should read and NEVER forget.

Some stones are best left unturned

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Do not listen if you do not want to get angry or depressed. This book brought back too many evil memories that were best stashed away. My anger was directed at the terrorists mainly, but also at the incompetence of our government and its contractors. I could not get through it and I found that when I read it, my remaining day was ruined. Some stones are best left unturned

Great journal of the horrible attack

Surprisingly, this doesn't read like a government report at all. It's a good piece of journalism, a story of meticulously-planned terror well-told. It enlightens about the ways Al Qaeda, and our own government, operate. Many conclusions can be drawn from it, but a few are tragically unavoidable: when it came to Al Qaeda our government--under both party administrations--and its agencies were, at best, half asleep at the wheel for the 9 years leading up to the disaster. This applies to all levels of government, from national to local, responsible for our defense and safety.

I'm now listening to the part that describes the events inside the Twin Towers and in NYC's emergency services'responses to them, from the plane crashes to the collapse of the buildings. Despite real heroism by hundreds of individuals: fire fighters, police and civilians, the emergency preparedness was poor and the interagency coordination there was horrible. These definitely resulted in hundreds of deaths in NYC that could have been prevented, just as the whole attack could have been prevented by better policy, deployment, and coordination between agencies at the national level.

I'm a late-comer to this book, but find it compelling even now, after almost five years have elapsed since the attack. If you haven't read it or heard it I highly recommend you do.

Also, you might visit Google Video's collection of 9/11 videos.

Read this book

An easy listen. Well written. Informative. Wow!

The reader

The reader does a good job with narration, but absolutely butchers the Arabic pronouncement of names, words and countries.

I'm not an Arabic speaker, nor do I pretend to be. But Yemen is not 'Yay-men' and Somalia is not 'Som-ay-lia.'