WASHINGTON, July 22 (AFP) - A national commission probing the September 11 attacks on Thursday found "failures of imagination, policy, capabilities and management" by the US government and recommended a sweeping overhaul of intelligence services.
In a 567-page report concluding two years of investigation the 10-member bipartisan commission called for establishment of a "national counter-terrorism center" to unify intelligence and operational planning under a new "national intelligence director."
The panel issued a broad indictment of US intelligence and air defenses in the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that left nearly 3,000 people dead and sent the superpower reeling.
"What we can say with confidence is that none of the measures adopted by the US government from 1998 to 2001 disturbed or even delayed the progress of the al-Qaeda plot," an executive summary said.
"Across the government, there were failures of imagination, policy, capabilities and management," it said.
The commission, which interviewed thousands of witnesses and examined mountains of documents, said "we do not believe leaders understood the gravity of the threat" before September 11, 2001 but did not single out either the Bush or Clinton administrations.
"The terrorist danger from (Osama) bin Laden and al-Qaeda was not a major topic for policy debate among the public, the media or in the Congress. Indeed it barely came up during the 2000 presidential campaign," it said.
The commission said that while the 19 al-Qaeda terrorists who used hijacked airliners to demolish the World Trade Center and punch a hole in the Pentagon were determined and capable the group was also fragile and vulnerable.
"The enemy made mistakes. The US government was not able to capitalize on them," it said.
"No president can promise that a catastrophic attack like that of 9/11 can happen again. But the American people are entitled to expect that officials will have realistic objectives, clear guidance and effective organization," it added.
The commission listed several recommendations:
-- creation of a national counter-terrorism center "unifying strategic intelligence and operational planning against Islamist terrorists across the foreign-domestic divide."
-- establishment of a new national intelligence director to unify the intelligence community.
-- creating a "network-based information sharing system that transcends traditional governmental boundaries."
-- strengthening congressional oversight.
-- strengthening the FBI and Homeland defenders.
US President George W. Bush, who received a copy of the report, had insisted Wednesday there was no way he could have foiled the strikes.
"Had we had any inkling whatsoever that terrorists were about to attack our country, we would have moved heaven and earth to protect America," he said.
The president met Thursday with panel leaders to launch what he called a "full discussion about how best to coordinate the different intelligence-gathering services here in the country."
But he did not explicitly endorse calls for putting the US intelligence apparatus -- currently a hodgepodge of agencies with different missions and answering to different masters -- under a new Cabinet-level chief.
The conclusion by the 9/11 panel in previously released material that there was no operational link between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein also undermined one of Bush`s main justifications for invading Iraq last year and intensified Democratic assaults on the president`s credibility.
The White House has also been coping with the new allegations that Iran, a member of Bush`s "axis of evil" but untouched by US military action, let eight of the September 11 hijackers transit through its territory.