“We are not safe.” That was part of the message handed down yesterday by the 9/11 commission in its 557 page report on US failures before Sept. 11.

While the commission did not say whether the attacks could have been prevented it identified 10 “operational opportunities” that were missed in detecting the plot.

In a series of recommendations, the commission called for:

• an overhaul of the U.S intelligence system
• the creation of an intelligence czar
• a shake-up of how Congress deals with the intelligence community
• the creation of national ID cards in the form of standardized driver licenses
• and for the Bush administration to reconsider how its waging its so-called war on terror including its treatment of detainees.

The chairmen of the report attempted not to place blame either on the Bush or Clinton administrations but the entire federal government.

The bipartisan commission concluded “terrorism was not the overriding national security concern for the U.S. government under either the Clinton or the pre-9/11 Bush administration.”