WASHINGTON, July 22 (AFP) - The chairman of a US commission which probed the September 11 attacks warned Thursday there could be another terror strike of even bigger magnitude and called for a swift response strategy.
"Every expert with whom we spoke told us an attack of even greater magnitude is now possible and even probable. We do not have the luxury of time. We must prepare and we must act," Thomas Kean told a press conference as the commission released the final report of its investigations.
"Put simply, the United States is faced with one of the greatest security challenges in our long history," he said.
The commission in its 567-page report found "failures of imagination, policy, capabilities and management" by the US government and recommended a sweeping overhaul of intelligence services.
In the 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.