Washington ( CNN ) -- A commission set up to assess national security measures on Tuesday gave the U.S. government a failing grade in improving response time to a biological attack . `` Nearly a decade after September 11 , 2001 , one year after our original report , and one month after the Christmas Day bombing attempt , the United States is failing to address several urgent threats , especially bioterrorism , '' said former Sen. Bob Graham , chairman of the commission . `` Each of the last three administrations has been slow to recognize and respond to the biothreat . But we no longer have the luxury of a slow learning curve , when we know al Qaeda is interested in bioweapons , '' Graham said . `` The assessment is not a good one , particularly in the area of biological threats , '' the report by the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism said . `` While the government has made progress on preventing such attacks , it is simply not paying consistent and urgent attention to the means of responding quickly and effectively so that they no longer constitute a threat of mass destruction , '' the report said . The government barely got a passing grade on oversight of high-containment laboratories . The commission , headed by Graham , a former Democratic senator from Florida , and Jim Talent , R-Missouri , also gave the government failing grades in congressional oversight and in producing the next generation of security experts . Read the report card ( PDF ) The delayed response to the H1N1 influenza outbreak demonstrated the United States was `` woefully behind '' in its ability to produce needed vaccinations and treatments rapidly , the commission said . `` H1N1 came with months of warning , '' the commission 's report said . `` But even with time to prepare , the epidemic peaked before most Americans had access to vaccine . A bioattack will come with no such warning . '' The commission was set up after Congress passed a bill in 2007 to implement recommendations of the 9/11 Commission . The commission submitted its report with new recommendations in December 2008 , predicting that terrorists would use a weapon of mass destruction -- likely biological -- by 2013 unless the global community quickly launched a forceful strategy to prevent it . The report card released Tuesday is a follow-up to that report , called `` World at Risk . '' Congress took its lumps in the report as well , especially on its oversight of national security issues . `` Congress has failed to take even the relatively easy first steps to consolidate oversight authority of the Department of Homeland Security , '' the commission said . `` The estimated number of committees and subcommittees that oversee DHS ranges from 82 to 108 . Virtually no progress has been made since consolidation was first recommended by the 9/11 Commission in 2004 . '' Both Congress and the administration were faulted for not funding recruitment and training programs for national security experts . The government got an `` incomplete '' for its work on implementing a comprehensive nuclear policy toward Pakistan -- meaning that not enough time had elapsed to give a grade . Other areas in nuclear proliferation , including working with Russia , got middle-of-the-road grades . `` President Obama has undertaken substantial effort to bolster the nonproliferation regime , '' the commission said . `` From his April 2009 speech in Prague to his chairmanship of a United Nations Security Council meeting on the subject and plans for a Global Summit on Nuclear Security , he is attempting to bend current trend lines . '' But the commission said that it has concerns `` regarding the administration 's failure to prevent the lapse of verification mechanisms established under the [ Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ] . Ensuring their continuation was very important and insufficient attention was paid to it . '' The commission handed out `` A '' grades for integration of the National Security and Homeland Security councils , designation of a senior adviser for WMD proliferation and terrorism , and development of a national strategy for bioforensics .
Nation ill-prepared for biological attack , commission report says . Congressional oversight process too cumbersome , report finds . U.S. failing to produce new generation of security experts , according to report . Integration of councils , naming of WMD adviser earn better grades .