9/11 anniversary underscores unfinished business at DHS

On the anniversary of 9/11, the 21 years since the horrible attack on our nation reminds us that we still have a great deal of work to do, particularly to protect our country from global catastrophic threats. I was honored and privileged to serve President Bush and Homeland Security Advisor, Gov. Tom Ridge, in the post 9/11 White House, a dramatic and uncertain time to say the least. After Gov. Ridge left Pennsylvania to take leadership of Homeland Security at the White House, he and our team were greeted on Day One by a burgeoning anthrax attack. We had many more questions than answers and quickly realized that our global catastrophic risk capabilities were seriously flawed.

At the time, I served as a deputy assistant to the president for Homeland Security, and as part of my responsibility, I spent time in the situation room for a year being briefed every day on national security threats as they related to the homeland.