Washington ? Family members found vindication and a call to action in the Sept. 11 panel’s report, saying they will now set their sights on persuading Congress to make sure Americans are better protected.

“The families know that this is an election year. We’re going to hold these people’s feet to the fire,” said Debra Burlingame, whose brother Charles was the pilot on the hijacked plane that struck the Pentagon.

Family members of 9-11 victims Kristen Breitweiser, left, and Lorie Van Auken look at the Sept. 11 Commission report during the final hearing in Washington. Breitweiser lost her husband, Ronald, and Van Auken lost her husband, Kenneth, in the World Trade Center attacks.

About 30 family members attended the commission’s release of its final report, which recommends sweeping changes in U.S. intelligence agencies.

The victims’ families have been both outspoken advocates for the commission and sometimes its harshest critics. They were credited by chairman Thomas Kean and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., with forcing the creation of the independent inquiry, and compelling reluctant agencies and officials to hand over sensitive data.

Kean, in a private meeting with the families, asked them to continue to help by pushing those in government to adopt the recommended changes. That may be the toughest test yet of the families’ influence.

Family members said they were eager to take up the cause, even if the report’s findings offered a dismal assessment of repeated failures leading up to the 2001 attacks.

“I had a lot of my questions answered,” said Terry McGovern, whose mother, Anne, died at the World Trade Center.

“They weren’t answered in a good way, but I think it’s really useful to show what kind of job needs to be done,” McGovern said.