Intel lapses compared to those pre-9/11

WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Intelligence lapses before the U.S. airline bombing attempt recall those preceding the 2001 terror attacks, says the former Sept. 11 commission chairman.

"It's like reading the same script over again," Thomas Kean, a Republican who is also a former New Jersey governor, told CNN.

In the wake of a Nigerian man's alleged attempt to blow up Detroit-bound Flight 253 on Christmas Day, critics, including security experts, "are talking about the fact that intelligence agencies didn't talk to one another," Kean said.

"And that was the major fault we found in our report. And here again, we were lucky this time but again, intelligence agencies didn't seem to be talking to one another. Intelligence agencies have got to work together as one unit and they've got to cooperate with each other."

In 2002 the commission, examining intelligence before the terrorism attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, pointed to major communication breakdowns between the FBI and CIA that members said precluded effective security against international threats.

The panel urged an overhaul of U.S. intelligence, which Congress approved in 2007, The Hill said.

In the face of terrorism threats, Kean said, there's no place for partisanship.

"The parties, when it comes to national security, partisanship should end right there and we should be working together as a country, and as a people. And if we don't, you know, people are going to suffer," Kean said.