Investigating a Crisis: A Comparison of Six U.S. Congressional Investigatory Commissions

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Just Security
@just_security
New resource:

An in-depth report on the design and outcomes of past congressional investigative commissions (9/11 Commission and others before it).

Introduction by @AndyMcCanse

Report by @HJSzilagyi and Nick Tonckens

#CovidCommission #Jan6Commission

Investigating a Crisis: A Comparison of Six U.S. Congressional Investigatory Commissions
A report that surveys the design, powers, and outcomes of significant congressionally created investigative commissions.
justsecurity.org
9:03 AM · Apr 6, 2021

https://www.justsecurity.org/75671/investigating-a-crisis-a-comparison-of-six-u-s-congressional-investigatory-commissions/

Two national traumas — the deadly January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and the COVID-19 pandemic — have ignited calls for “9/11-style” investigative commissions to handle the primary after action inquiry reports. In August 2016, I made a similar plea for a “9/11 Commission Approach” as information began to emerge about Russian measures to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Such calls have become a standard refrain as the United States seeks to comprehend and absorb seismic events.

Commissions are far from perfect. They are not immune from partisanship. They have mixed track records at generating momentum for their policy recommendations or holding bad actors to account. They can be hamstrung by budgetary limits and arbitrary deadlines. They can face recalcitrant witnesses and inadequate tools to compel them. More cynically, they can be used as an outsourcing mechanism for political figures that want insulation from a thorny topic — otherwise known as a hot potato receptacle. And, while the 9/11 Commission is considered the gold standard, its work generated criticism from both the right and left on the political spectrum.

So what is it that gives the commission model an enduring appeal for coming to terms with great national system shocks? While there is no single answer to that question, the perceived legitimacy of an investigative commission is at its core. “Legitimacy is commonly defined in political science and sociology as the belief that a rule, institution, or leader has the right to govern,” according to the Princeton Encyclopedia of Self-Determination. “When shared by many individuals, legitimacy produces distinctive collective effects in society, including making collective social order more efficient, more consensual, and perhaps more just.” Put another way, it is the strength of why a leader has the power to hold a position of authority, and the people’s buy-in to that authority. Legitimacy enjoys an especially high premium in an era characterized by increasing partisan polarization.

The commission model of fact-development and policy inquiry offers as one of its chief design concepts a degree of insulation from immediate partisan interests of legislators who will stand for reelection during the course of an investigation. It also offers an ability to select a panel of commissioners from an array of fields with gravitas and appeal that transcends its individual members’ political orientation. That is the ideal, but opportunities to fall short abound. There is a dynamic relationship between design, personnel, and stakeholder investment that is both elusive and essential to that quest for legitimacy.

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