There was no absence of political will. It is the age-old problem of being called upon to prove a negative. That is why fire departments have a harder time getting minor funding for fire prevention than they do for expensive fire engines. A non-event is difficult to proclaim a success. Some bureaucrats resist undertaking prevention on the grounds that they are required to quantify results.
People naturally resist being set up for failure.
Likewise, we haven't yet figured out how to hold people accountable for failing to anticipate significant conflicts. And I can assure you, government officials do not wish to be held to such a standard. All three of these resources are shrinking to the point where it is admittedly a challenge to do routine foreign policy work, much less aggressive prevention efforts. The State Department has a hard time getting enough funding to keep its embassies open, much less embark on bold new initiatives. These six obstacles add up to a very large mountain that is blocking creative change within the Executive Branch.