Washington ( CNN ) -- Ten years after the September 11th attacks , the nation still is n't fully prepared to handle another huge disaster , Lee Hamilton , one of the co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission , said Thursday . First responders could still have problems communicating with one another , and there is confusion in some communities about who would be in charge , Hamilton told the House Homeland Security Committee . He urged quick action to solve the problems . `` We can not permit delay of this , '' he said . `` We lost lives at 9/11 . We lost lives at Katrina because we were not able to get communication . '' The 9/11 Commission recommended concerted action to fix the problem of responder communications , but the problem persists . `` I think it 's an urgent question and shame on us , shame on us if we have not solved this problem when the next disaster strikes , '' Hamilton said . Tom Ridge , the first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security , said competing measures to deal with the problem are being considered by the House and Senate , while police and fire departments are waiting for some kind of action . `` All they want is a system , '' Ridge said , `` ... the opportunity to get voice and data and video over the broadband '' in the event of a terror attack , natural disaster or major accident . The committee 's chairman , Rep Peter King , R-New York , said he continues to believe the answer is to set aside a block of wireless telecommunication bands for an emergency communications network . Hamilton said another concern is knowing who is in charge in the event of a disaster . He called it a `` no-brainer '' but added that in metropolitan areas , where many law enforcement and rescue groups would respond in a big emergency , the lines of command are not defined . King held the hearing to assess what progress has been made since the 2001 terror attacks and what still needs to be done . He pointed the finger at Congress -- where he serves -- for not streamlining congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland Security . `` We 're sending mixed signals as far as what Congress wants in the area of homeland security , and this fragmentation , to me , is inviting , if not disaster , certainly it 's preventing law enforcement and the intelligence agencies from doing the job to the maximum , '' King said . Hamilton also said the Transportation Security Administration and other entities have done a great deal of work on technology to detect all types of explosives but `` we have to accelerate our efforts '' to be able to find bomb materials people carry or could hide inside their bodies . Ridge said the United States has been able to thwart many terror plots , but in some instances it was because the bombers made mistakes and were ineffective . `` Luck is not a strategy , '' he said , warning that the United States must adapt to detect the evolving tactics of terrorists . Hamilton told the panel much progress has been made in the past 10 years , but more needs to be done : `` We are safer today , but not as safe as we could be . ''
Communication , lines of command remain problem areas , Luck says . `` We can not permit delay , '' says Lee Hamilton , co-chairman of CNN . `` Tom Ridge is not a strategy , '' says former homeland security chief Luck .