HART-RUDMAN COMMISSION REPORT

Formally called "U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century," it issued a report on January 31, 2001. Here's a key passage from the Executive Summary:

Securing the National Homeland

The combination of unconventional weapons proliferation with the persistence of international terrorism will end the relative invulnerability of the U.S. homeland to
catastrophic attack. A direct attack against American citizens on American soil is likely over the next quarter century. The risk is not only death and destruction but also a demoralization that could undermine U.S. global leadership. In the face of this threat, our nation has no coherent or integrated governmental structures.

[snip]

We therefore recommend the creation of a new independent National Homeland Security Agency (NHSA) with responsibility for planning, coordinating, and integrating various U.S. government activities involved in homeland security.

(You can also get the full report here.)

Now, what did the wingnuts make of this commission?

The Weekly Standard
May 29, 2000

Newt Gingrich’s Last Boondoggle
The Hart-Rudman national security commission
shows every sign of being an expensive flop.

By Tom Donnelly, deputy executive director of the Project for the New
American Century.

During the decade since the Cold War ended, the United States has searched in vain for a new national strategy. ... the most expensive failures of the past decade have been the reports of the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century, known as the Hart-Rudman Commission after its principals, former senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman.

...the Hart-Rudman commission has been something of a joke on the taxpayer almost since its inception.