On Sept. 11, 2011, I was privileged to be one of five speakers at a memorial service sponsored by the Heart of Texas chapter of the Military Officers Association of America commemorating the losses of 9/11. Several hundred patriotic individuals attended this somber, reflective ceremony.

All of the speakers that day fulfilled their duties by dignifying the memory of fallen and injured Americans in a beautiful, memorable way. Besides my own humble remarks, I offered up a series of ideas about what we’ve learned, where we’ve failed and what we need to do as we move into the second decade after the 9/11 attacks.

Some of these ideas are mine, some come from friends and some come from fellow colleagues on the Tribune-Herald editorial board with whom I meet daily. Some come from left of political center, some from right of center, some from just plain center, but they all come from the heart and they all focus on what faces us as Americans.

Several of those attending this ceremony asked that these thoughts be shared with a wider audience. Consider it done, even though these ideas may cause some to fume, some to applaud. For all I know, some folks that day may well have thought the ceremony’s free admission was most fitting considering the pearls of wisdom offered.

What did we learn from 9/11?

*  What Thomas Jefferson said: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

*  Freedom is not free. We pay a high price for liberty.

*  The world does not love America and is envious and jealous. In some respects, we are victims of our success.

*  Former administrations and intelligence agencies misjudged Osama bin Laden and radical Islam.

*  America’s intelligence agencies may have stumbled but have subsequently been fixed. We now kill al-Qaida leadership and disrupt and undermine every area of its operations.

*  America misjudged the effectiveness of low-tech weapons (roadside bombs, IEDs, etc.) in war.

*  America now knows we are vulnerable and subject to attack. Oceans no longer protect us and the skies of America are open. As a result, America is not the same anymore, anywhere, and never will be.

*  We are still at war with radical Islam and will be for years in the future.

*  Radical Islamists live in America and may be beside us every day. Example: Army Maj. Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood in 2009.

*  Measures such as the Patriot Act really are necessary to protect America in time of war.

*  Using “common sense” is essential just as long as it’s constitutional. 

*  Waterboarding and wiretapping saved American lives. 

*  America needs strong leadership.

*  We must follow and enhance the “Bush Doctrine” by (a) making no distinction between terrorists and nations that harbor them; (b) taking the fight to them to keep them from attacking us here in America; (c) confronting threats before they materialize; (d) advancing the hope of liberty over enemy ideology of fear and repression. 

*  Foreign aid should be tied to the support of America and not terrorism. Countries caught supporting or harboring terrorists should see that aid stripped.

*  Aid to countries should be carefully managed — not squandered, given to dictators or allowed to fall through the proverbial cracks. 

*  We should not cut taxes during wartime, as we unfortunately did during this past decade.

What we failed to learn

*  There are those among us who would do us great harm. People like Hasan display warning signs of their intentions, yet we too often take no action when such signs are abundant.

*  Those charged with such crimes as Hasan should be given swift and appropriate justice.

*  It’s crucial we protect our borders through comprehensive immigration reforms — and, yes, reforms targeting illegal immigration.

*  National security should always come before politics. In that regard, we may be more endangered now than we were a decade ago.

*  We should not disclose our secrets and intelligence methods to the world. Why, for instance, should we disclose every minute detail of how we succeeded in killing Osama bin Laden, including the fact we also snared valuable computer files from his lair?

*  Bureaucracy should not place undue burden on governmental expediency, especially in matters of national security. 

*  We should be totally energy independent and not import oil from Middle East countries. 

*  We must protect our skies from attack by small aircraft. 

*  What the state of Israel learned long ago. In that part of the world, it is brother against brother, son against father, family against family, tribe against tribe, state against state, but Islam against all infidels.

What we can do to fix matters

*  Clean up our own house and show the world that democracy still works. That means righting our fiscal house. It means learning to compromise and do something more than the politicians in Washington do to create national unity. 

*  Learn more about Arab culture and Islam in general.

*  Support our intelligence community in its efforts to become fully integrated, more efficient and, yes, less costly. 

*  Enhance our capability to wage war without boots on the ground, using more technology including drones as well as highly trained strike forces. Again, that means enhancing our intelligence community without letting it become a bureaucratic mess.

*  Continue to kill enemy leadership.

*  Protect our borders and tighten immigration laws.

*  Issue national identity cards. 

I conclude this column with the last paragraph of the Gettysburg Address, penned by Abraham Lincoln, who was not only arguably our greatest president but perhaps the greatest writer to ever occupy the White House.

“That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Clifton Robinson is chairman of Robinson Media, which owns the Tribune-Herald .