There can be no doubt that we need an independent blue-ribbon commission to examine the U.S. response failure early in the coronavirus pandemic.

There must be a commission modeled after the group that examined what occurred prior to the 9/11 terror attacks. The 9/11 commission was led by Republican New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean and Democratic Indiana U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton. It picked apart the national security breakdown that led to that terrible event when hijacked jetliners crashed into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.

What is happening now? How has the United States failed to be ready for the pandemic that has killed more than 20,000 Americans?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease doctor assigned to work on the Trump administration’s pandemic response team, said that an earlier response clearly would have saved American lives.

Our government didn’t act as quickly as it should.

The New York Times detailed how Donald Trump was told in late 2019 about the threat of a pandemic. He blew it off.

Indeed, the president continued to downplay the threat for weeks after it had claimed its first victims. It wasn’t until mid-March before Trump declared the pandemic a life-and-death fight against what he called “an invisible enemy.”

A commission charged with getting to the bottom of our failure is not a vehicle designed for political retribution. Its intent should solely be to issue the sort of after-action report that can ensure we remain in a state of constant readiness when future crises present themselves.

We will get through this crisis. Our nation is likely to emerge, as Donald Trump has predicted, stronger than ever. We all want that to occur.

I also want a blue-ribbon examination that delivers a blue-ribbon report that lays out what happened, or failed to happen, as the crisis was emerging.

This effort needs the full-throated endorsement of Donald Trump, who must not be afraid of what the findings reveal.