Sadly, I think the back-burnering of AQ was probably true. No presidential administration had dealt adequately with terrorism from Nixon through Bush 43 (pre-9/11/01). I do not believe this was overtly negligent, but it's hard to give anyone involved any "props" either. The attack may still have caught is flat-footed, but we were under-prepared (intelligence capability especially)even by the standards of pre-9/11 readiness.

Seamus