Like most Americans, I vividly remember where I was during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks at New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania. I remember where Callista was, too. I recall how shocked, sad, and angry it made me. 

Yet as I listened this week to the various memorial services and observances, I found myself getting even angrier. 

It’s now been 22 years since a group of maniacal, evil terrorists killed nearly 3,000 Americans on American soil. We spent trillions of dollars, the lives of thousands of young Americans, and two decades of military and diplomatic activity responding to the attacks. 

Yet, the Taliban is back in charge of Afghanistan. The terrorists who plotted the attacks on 9/11 are still in prison at Guantanamo Bay. Not one of them has been tried.

We’re faced with a worldwide insurgency by Islamist militants. In places such as Nigeria, thousands are dying. We have seen chaos grow in the Middle East — in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and other countries.

We’ve seen Iran become bigger and stronger thanks to buffoonish American policy. Iran’s ability to threaten us only grows. Iran remains the largest worldwide supporters of terrorism. Despite what White House lackeys claim, the Iranians are building a nuclear capacity and a robust missile capacity. Within a few years, Iran will have an ability to reach Europe — and likely an ability to target American cities.

Similarly, the North Koreans have nuclear weapons, and they’re actively developing an ability to deliver them to American cities. Kim Jung-un’s meeting this week with President Putin bodes well for no one. 

Russia is looking for Korean munitions to continue its war on Ukraine. Mr. Kim is looking for Russian warfighting technology and funds. It is the latest example of the hermit kingdom operating despite American attempts to curtail its bad behavior. 

The Chinese have vastly more nuclear weapons — and their military is increasingly more sophisticated. Its multi-year project to effectively control the South China Sea (and therefore roughly $5 trillion in annual trade) has been virtually unchecked.

Venezuela is more anti-American than it was 22 years ago. There is turmoil throughout Latin America. There is no evidence that we could prevent another attack like 9/11 — or that we could soundly defeat an enemy who perpetrated one. 

We spend a lot of money on defense. We have huge Pentagon bureaucracies. We have the most expensive military in the world. For what?

The truth is: We’re in much greater danger than we were before 9/11. 

We have 18 intelligence services. None of them could tell you how’d they’d stop the next sophisticated attack. None of them will give an honest, objective assessment of why we lost in Afghanistan.

The national defense bureaucracy has simply avoided dealing with how dangerous the world has become. We have not confronted how much a risk America faces. Each silo of the defense industrial complex is myopically concerned with keeping itself favored and funded.

I participated in the Hart-Rudman Commission, which President Clinton and I created when I was Speaker. We worked for three years on the most complicated and sophisticated overview of American defense requirements since the late 1940s. At the beginning of our report, we said the greatest threat to America was a weapon of mass destruction going off in an American city, probably from a terrorist group.

We called for a serious Department of Homeland Security. What we have now is a bureaucratic disaster. Demonstrably, it can’t defend and control the Mexican border. It’s totally unprepared for a nuclear event inside the United States. It’s a huge mound of bureaucracy with minimal positive effect. 

I’m sad and angry to report: We are not better off. We are not safer. Worse, we’ve learned nothing from our failures. We need a real conversation. We need to take real steps to strengthen our national security system and weaken our adversaries.  

Our 9/11 observances should be about remembering and honoring the past — and about preparing for the future.