page_title: Thomas Kean
section_title: Bush appoints Kean
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Kean / National policy leadership / Heading the September 11 Commission / Bush appoints Kean
caption_attribution_description: English: 9/11 Commision Report cover. Español: Informe de la Comisión del 11-S. Polski: Okładka Raportu Komisji 9/11.
context_page_description: Thomas Howard Kean Sr. is an American businessman, academic administrator and politician who served as the 48th Governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990 as a Republican. Kean is best known globally, however, for his 2002 appointment as Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, widely known as the 9/11 Commission, which was responsible for investigating the causes of the September 11 attacks and providing recommendations to prevent future terrorist attacks. He was appointed to this post by U.S. President George W. Bush. Upon the completion of his second term as Governor, he served as the President of Drew University for 15 years, until his retirement in 2005.
context_section_description: Bush initially selected former Nixon's Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger to head the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission). But on December 13, 2002, Kissinger resigned as the Commission's Chairman, under pressure because of potential conflicts with his global business consultancy.
  Noting Kean's post-gubernatorial foreign policy involvement and his reputation as a consensus-oriented political leader, Bush nominated Kean to succeed Kissinger in leading the important and politically sensitive Commission.  The Commission is widely considered the most important independent U.S. government commission since the Warren Commission, which was charged with investigating the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and perhaps the most important in American history given its mammoth responsibility for investigating the causes of the first foreign attack on the U.S. mainland since the War of 1812, and recommending steps to defend the U.S. from future attacks.  Kean's appointment to head the Commission, and later the work and final report of the Commission, drew substantial global attention.
caption: The cover of the final 9/11 Commission report
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