America Talks Live | Dick Morris and Michael Cutler look back on their 9/11 experiences
The 2015 Summer Edition of The Social Contract includes my extensive article, “The 9/11 Commission Report and Immigration: An Assessment, Fourteen Years after the Attacks.”
I have testified before more than 15 Congressional hearings in the House and Senate. Perhaps the highest profile hearing I for which I have been called to testify was conducted on March 19, 2002 by the House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims, on the topic:
The hearing was covered by C-SPAN and the C-SPAN video is one that every member of Congress should be required to watch. It is unfathomable how, more than 14 years after that hearing was conducted- into one of the most outrageous screw-ups, that virtually none of the promises to address the failures of the system that resulted in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent failures of the immigration system that enabled two of the dead terrorist/hijackers to receive authorization to attend flight school have been kept.
On July 27, 2006 I testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims on the topic:
In my testimony back then, I made my opposition to the Senate immigration bill, S.2611 abundantly clear. I noted that any member of Congress who would vote to provide lawful status and identity documents for millions of illegal aliens should be given “The MVP Award by al-Qaeda!” You can see a segment of my testimony at that hearing in a video that has been posted on You Tube.
To provide you with a bit of additional material, during my remarks at the panel discussion, I referenced an Op-Ed I had written for the Washington Times in which I articulated my concerns about the previous attempt to enact Comprehensive Immigration Reform that the Washington Times published on June 22, 2007. Senator Jeff Sessions quoted from my commentary, on three separate dates, from the floor of the U.S. Senate during the contentious floor debates. In my piece I recommended that Comprehensive Immigration Reform be given a more honest and descriptive title, I suggested that it be renamed the “Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act!”
Senator Sessions’ statement on June 27, 2007 from the floor of the U.S. Senate on the Immigration Bill made reference to my suggested new name to that disastrous legislation in my Washington Times Op-Ed. His impassioned pleas to his colleagues averted a catastrophe and that legislation was defeated. However, not unlike Freddy Krueger, Comprehensive Immigration Reform has been brought back to life through the unilateral actions of President Obama and his proposed executive actions. Furthermore, there are politicians from both parties today who are more than willing to give this legislative betrayal of America and Americans CPR!
My Op-Ed was entitled:
On December 6, 2015 I was interviewed by Tucker Carlson on Fox & Friends on the way that Tashfeen Malik, one of the two terrorists who carried out the worst terror attack in the United States since the attacks of 9/11 was able to enter the United States.
Why was it so easy for Tashfeen Malik to enter the US?
Dec. 06, 2015 – 3:23 – Retired senior special agent for INS talks need for stronger vetting on ‘Fox & Friends’
This report focused specifically on the ability of the terrorists to travel around the world, enter the United States and ultimately embed themselves in the United States as they went about their deadly preparations.
Page 54 contained this excerpt under the title “3.2 Terrorist Travel Tactics by Plot”-
Although there is evidence that some land and sea border entries (of terrorists) without inspection occurred, these conspirators mainly subverted the legal entry system by entering at airports.
In doing so, they relied on a wide variety of fraudulent documents, on aliases, and on government corruption. Because terrorist operations were not suicide missions in the early to mid-1990s, once in the United States terrorists and their supporters tried to get legal immigration status that would permit them to remain here, primarily by committing serial, or repeated, immigration fraud, by claiming political asylum, and by marrying Americans. Many of these tactics would remain largely unchanged and undetected throughout the 1990s and up to the 9/11 attack.
Thus, abuse of the immigration system and a lack of interior immigration enforcement were unwittingly working together to support terrorist activity. It would remain largely unknown, since no agency of the United States government analyzed terrorist travel patterns until after 9/11. This lack of attention meant that critical opportunities to disrupt terrorist travel and, therefore, deadly terrorist operations were missed.
Looking back, we can also see that the routine operations of our immigration laws-that is, aspects of those laws not specifically aimed at protecting against terrorism-inevitably shaped al Qaeda’s planning and opportunities. Because they were deemed not to be bona fide tourists or students as they claimed, five conspirators that we know of tried to get visas and failed, and one was denied entry by an inspector. We also found that had the immigration system set a higher bar for determining whether individuals are who or what they claim to be-and ensuring routine consequences for violations-it could potentially have excluded, removed, or come into further contact with several hijackers who did not appear to meet the terms for admitting short-term visitors.
Our 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.
Today hundreds of so-called “Sanctuary Cities” and several “Sanctuary States” boast that they refuse to cooperate with the federal government where the enforcement of our immigration laws are concerned. In effect these cities and states engage in harboring and shielding aliens who are illegally present from detection by the federal government. As a consequence they induce, encourage and aid and abet these aliens to enter the United States in violation of law and remain in the United States thereafter without authority. These actions constitute a felony under the provisions of a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act- specifically: Title 8 U.S. Code § 1324 – (Bringing in and harboring certain aliens)
On August 2, 2016 Californians for Population Stabilization posted my article, Hillary Clinton’s Immigration Goals Would Irrevocably Undermine National Security
On April 20, 2015 FrontPage Magazine published my article, “How DHS Ineptitude Facilitates Terrorist Operations » A chilling case-in-point from Ohio.”
The Winter Edition of the Social Contract includes my article, Sanctuary Cities Endanger – National Security and Public Safety
On April 5, 2016 FrontPage Magazine published my article: America Now Has an Official Language: Newspeak
The Spring 2016 edition of The Social Contract included my article:
On September 3, 2015 FrontPage Magazine posted my article:
Keeping Track of Visa Violators
The overlooked source of the nation’s illegal immigration problems that people are finally talking about.
Educating Our Adversaries
Why educating foreign STEM students is bad for American workers and national security.
How DHS is failing to heed its own warnings.
On October 7, 2015 FrontPage Magazine published my article:
Syrian ‘Refugees’ and Immigration Roulette
How the government is recklessly playing with American lives.
On November 12, 2015 FrontPage Magazine published my article:
Educating ‘Engineers of Jihad’ at US Universities
How the legal immigration system allowed four al-Qaeda-linked terrorists to attend U.S. colleges and roam free among us.
On June 13, 2013 I was interviewed by Neil Cavuto at Fox News on the topic:
The interview ran about 4 minutes and is worth watching.
The starting point for any conversation or legislation concerning immigration must be the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission which determined that a lack of border security, including the visa process. and fraud in the immigration benefits program enabled terrorists to enter and embed themselves in the United States, as they went about their deadly preparations.
In his historic speech before the 3rd Army on May 31, 1944, General George S. Patton said, on the strategy of holding a position:
“We’re not holding anything, we’ll let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly, and we’re not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy.”
Pushing back against Comprehensive Immigration Reform is the same as holding position. The time has come for us to advance by demanding that our borders be made truly secure and our immigration laws be effectively administered and enforced.
Comprehensive Immigration Reform violates all of the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission but no one is willing to even consider how the lack of real border security and the lack of real integrity to the various components of the immigration system imperil national security and public safety.
Immigration is not a single issue but a singular issue that impacts nearly every challenge and threat confronting the United States today! Simply stated, the immigration laws were enacted to save lives and protect the jobs of American workers.
It is not “Anti-Immigrant” to be “Pro-American!”
Our armed forces are charged with securing America’s borders externally while the DHS is supposed to secure those same borders from within. The failures of the DHS to live up to its half of the equation are undermining the efforts, valor and incredible sacrifices of Americas men and women who serve in our military!
If our government’s failures to protect American jobs by securing our nation’s borders and effectively enforcing our immigration laws concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!
All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-michael cutler-
Please check out my website:
https://www.michaelcutler.net/
On Friday evenings from 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM Eastern Time, I host my show, “The Michael Cutler Hour” on the USA Talk Radio Network on Blog Talk Radio.
Call in and join the conversation! The phone number is 310-982-4145
I hope you will be listening! (Please tell your friends and neighbors!)
You can find my show and archives of my previous shows here:
The interview ran about 4 minutes and is worth watching.
In his historic speech before the 3rd Army on May 31, 1944, General George S. Patton said, on the strategy of holding a position:
“We’re not holding anything, we’ll let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly, and we’re not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy.”
Pushing back against Comprehensive Immigration Reform is the same as holding position. The time has come for us to advance by demanding that our borders be made truly secure and our immigration laws be effectively administered and enforced.
Comprehensive Immigration Reform violates all of the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission but no one is willing to even consider how the lack of real border security and the lack of real integrity to the various components of the immigration system imperil national security and public safety.
Immigration is not a single issue but a singular issue that impacts nearly every challenge and threat confronting the United States today! Simply stated, the immigration laws were enacted to save lives and protect the jobs of American workers.
It is not “Anti-Immigrant” to be “Pro-American!”
Our armed forces are charged with securing America’s borders externally while the DHS is supposed to secure those same borders from within. The failures of the DHS to live up to its half of the equation are undermining the efforts, valor and incredible sacrifices of Americas men and women who serve in our military!
If our government’s failures to protect American jobs by securing our nation’s borders and effectively enforcing our immigration laws concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!
All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-michael cutler-
Please check out my website:
https://www.michaelcutler.net/
On Friday evenings from 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM Eastern Time, I host my show, “The Michael Cutler Hour” on the USA Talk Radio Network on Blog Talk Radio.
Please check out my website: https://www.michaelcutler.net/
On Friday evenings from 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM Eastern Time, I host my show, “The Michael Cutler Hour” on the USA Talk Radio Network on Blog Talk Radio.
Here is the link to my program and my archived shows:
USA Talk Radio