Are Intelligence Reforms Twenty-Five Years Later Still Effective?

Why It Matters

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks reshaped the American intelligence apparatus, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is holding an open hearing to assess whether the sweeping reforms that followed have actually made the country safer and whether they remain fit for the threats of 2026.

The May 20 hearing is the most visible public milestone in a year-long, bipartisan review launched on September 11, 2025, with a final report due on the 25th anniversary of the attacks this coming fall. What the committee concludes could shape the next generation of intelligence policy.

A Review Built for the Anniversary

Chairman Rick Crawford (R-AR) and Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-CT) formally launched the bipartisan review on September 11, 2025, placing it under the leadership of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) as Chair and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) as Co-Chair.

Per Stefanik's office, the review's mandate is to "evaluate the progress made on the intelligence-related recommendations made by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States in The 9/11 Commission Report, released in July 2004, and identify possible gaps or areas of improvement."

The Hill reported that the committee intends to release a final report with actionable recommendations on September 11, 2026. The May 20 hearing is a critical public-facing step toward that deadline.

What Came Before the Open Hearing

The committee has been building toward this moment through a series of closed sessions. On December 17, 2025, HPSCI held a joint briefing with the House Homeland Security Committee as part of the review, a signal that the panel is examining how intelligence-sharing reforms, one of the central mandates of the original 9/11 Commission, have functioned across agencies over the past two decades.

On February 12, 2026, the committee held a closed briefing on counterterrorism threats, explicitly framed as part of the 9/11 review effort. That classified session was designed to give members a current threat assessment before the public hearings began.

Earlier this month, Crawford hosted a roundtable in Tampa focused on Chinese Communist Party counterintelligence threats, underscoring how the post-9/11 intelligence architecture is now being evaluated against a broader range of adversaries, not just terrorism.

The Stakes of the Intelligence Reform 25 Years Review

The 9/11 Commission's 2004 report produced one of the most consequential restructurings of the American national security state in modern history. It led directly to the creation of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Counterterrorism Center, and a series of reforms intended to break down the information silos that allowed the September 11 plot to go undetected.

Two and a half decades later, the Washington Examiner reported that the review specifically intends to evaluate whether those reforms are adequate not just for today's threats, but for the next 25 years. That framing makes this hearing both retrospective and forward-looking; an accounting of what was built after 2001 and a question of whether it is still the right architecture for an era defined by near-peer adversaries, cyber threats, and artificial intelligence.

The Committee

The hearing is scheduled for 1:00 PM on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. Crawford chairs the committee, with Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS) serving as Vice Chair and Himes as Ranking Member.

The full committee includes members from both parties with significant national security backgrounds, among them Reps. André Carson (D-IN), Jason Crow (D-CO), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Darin LaHood (R-IL), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).

Looking Toward September 11, 2026

The committee's self-imposed deadline gives the May 20 session added weight. With the final report due on the 25th anniversary of the attacks, members will be under pressure to surface findings that are both substantive and actionable. The closed briefings already completed suggest the committee has been absorbing classified threat assessments that will inform, but not be fully visible in, the public record.

What emerges from the open hearing will offer the clearest public window yet into where the committee believes the intelligence reform project has succeeded, where it has fallen short, and what Congress may seek to change before September.

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