Today's Times brings details of what could only be considered a colossal failure by the FBI in the months before 9/11. The FBI joins the FAA as the two federal agencies that seem to have done virtually nothing right in the run-up to the attacks.

For those who missed it, Ernest May, senior consultant to the 9/11 Commission, penned a behind-the-scenes narrative and critique of the commission's report a couple of weeks back. The Commission's report is remarkable in many respects, but perhaps most importantly as a first-rate work of history.