Research Paper

Lessons from the 9/11 Terror Attacks and Future Terror Tactics Name American Public University System INTL613 Instructor Rank and Name Month Day, Year Abstract A country that experiences a horrifying criminal event must review its national security measures, derive lessons from the attack, and anticipate future terror tactics to avoid the recurrence of the incident. The United States was ambushed by an uneventful terror activity that left an emotional toll on the citizens and a historical legacy that will be timeless for many generations to come. The 9/11 terror attacks were consecutive attacks executed by the extremist al-Qaeda group on September 11, 2001, against the United States. This tragic event had far-reaching consequences, profoundly impacting global politics, security measures, and public perception of terrorism. The federal government, under the leadership of President George W. Bush, made a series of reforms and critical provisions to empower the intelligence agencies and national security agencies. The United States also sent troops to physically deal with terrorists in Afghanistan and other countries in the world. Despite the stringent measures that have been implemented after the 9/11 attacks and the lack of a significant terror attack reported by Homeland Security for more than two decades, terrorists have evolved their tactics with time, and there is a possibility of succeeding again. The intelligence community should focus more on cyber threats, homegrown terrorism, and biological warfare. Keywords: al-Qaeda, 9/11 attacks. Introduction Terror attacks are among the most feared criminal acts, but the situation gets even more terrifying when the terrorists decide to die together with the innocent victims. That was the situation during the terror attacks on the United States in 2001 when 19 hijackers were explicitly instructed to crash four commercial airlines at unique locations. Available intelligence at that time admits that different agencies had incomplete information on the incoming attack, and they would have figured the looming terror had they shared the information among intelligence agencies. In the aftermath of the terror attacks, President Bush made radical changes to the intelligence community and Homeland Security. The military was sent to Afghanistan to contain the popular terror groups that had taken over the nation. Even with the adherence to the key provisions and reforms that resulted from this terror attack, other threats are a concern to national security. Digital media has taken over the global communication space; hence, cybercrime is a significant threat to security. Biological wars are also an area where terrorists can target to damage a large population. This paper will discuss the 9/11 terror attacks, lessons learned from the invasion, and future trends in terror tactics. The September 11, 2001 Terror Attacks The 9/11 attacks were a series of 4 planned suicide terror activities facilitated by the Islamic Al-Qaeda gangs against the United States in 2001. On the morning of September 11th, 19 terrorists took control of 4 commercial aircraft that were ferrying passengers from the East Coast toward California. The Twin Towers in New York City was the target for the terrorists who had hijacked the commercial airlines. At that time, these two towers were among the top five tallest buildings in the world. The terrorists forced the airplanes to crash into these two towers, with the first crash happening to the North Tower located in Lower Manhattan and another airplane crash at the South Tower following this. These two twin towers were each 110-storey skyscrapers, and they collapsed together with the remaining five structures of the World Trade Complex while also damaging the infrastructures beside them (Bergen, 2024). The third flight collapsed into the Pentagon but caused just a partial infrastructure collapse. On the fourth flight, the passengers received alerts of the terror attacks and what had happened to the other three flights, and hence, they fought with the terrorists for control. The rising pressures from passengers in the commercial airline forced the terrorists to change direction from the capital and land in Shanksville, Pennsylvania (United States Navy, 2023). Considering the direction of the fourth and final airplane, the terrorists must have been aiming to crash at the White House or the United States Capitol. State Response to the Terror Attacks The Counterterrorism Center, under the facilitation of the Central Intelligence Agency, quickly identified that Al-Qaeda, under the leadership of Osama bin Laden, was responsible for hijacking four commercial airlines and utilizing them in executing the terror attacks. The citizens were horrified as they witnessed the death of 2977 people in Washington D.C., New York City, and Shanksville (United States Navy, 2023). When this information was available to President George Bush, the United States responded by launching military missions against terror, specifically in Afghanistan because it was the home country of the Al-Qaeda group (Sheehan et al., 2022). They aimed to depose the Taliban by themselves because the authorities in Afghanistan did not collaborate with their conditions of expelling Al-Qaeda from the nation and extraditing its leadership. The immediate response of Bush’s government to deploy the military to Afghanistan to contain the terrorist groups was a decision taken without the full backing of the intelligence community. Foreign intelligence was not a significant concern to the United States government, so they lacked critical details on how the war would fare. The United States grappled with the consequences of its intelligence community deficiencies as the war continued. The most lethal plane crashes had just been witnessed, and healthcare facilities were working hard to save the lives of injured victims and survivors. The first response teams, like law enforcement authorities and firefighters, also lost their lives while some were injured as they embarked on their regular rescue missions. The United States economy suffered a significant setback, with businesses counting losses and the World Trade Center seriously destroyed (Hughes, 2020). Entrepreneurs and foreign investors feared for their lives and the safety of their investments. Many other countries saw these attacks as a warning and a wake-up call to strengthen their anti-terrorism legislation. The need to invest in intelligence agencies and empower law enforcement bodies was a necessity at this time. Terror Impacts The impact of the 9/11 terror attacks is still being felt today, with vivid memories of those events still existing in observers, especially those who were close to the scene or injured during the incident. Any American citizen of at least 30 can remember where they were when they received that traumatic news. The relatives and close friends of the people directly affected by these attacks have traumatic memories of the 9/11 attacks. The citizens were horrified as they witnessed the death of nearly 3000 people in Washington D.C., New York City, and Shanksville (Hartig & Doherty, 2021). Sadness, shock, anger, and fear gave the citizens an emotional toll and a historical legacy that would last many years. However, Americans believed that the federal government did not have enough intelligence in place to predict and mitigate the terror attacks before they occurred in 2001. Intelligence Community Response After the harrowing terror attacks in September 2001, the United States embarked on a monumental journey of reviewing its intelligence and fortifying its defenses against evolving threats. Citizens in America at that time believed that the federal government should have done better and acted fast on available intelligence information. This is because there were warring nations that the government of the United States was siding with or condemning their acts, and this should have painted a future picture of possible incoming revenge (Sheehan et al., 2022). The United States was supporting Israel in its civil wars at that time, and any enemy of Israel who felt that they were unfairly disadvantaged would have a plan to attack their source of support. Moreover, President Bush was in his first year in power, and the recently highly contested elections must have affected the reorganization of the intelligence community. The Impact of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) IRTPA was a landmark legislative body that aimed to overhaul the nation’s intelligence infrastructure and enhance its capacity to combat terrorism. The 9/11 attacks exposed glaring deficiencies within the U.S. intelligence community, as fragmented agencies operated in isolation, hindered by bureaucratic hurdles, jurisdictional constraints, and a lack of coordination. It was evident that the intelligence community failed to share critical information, which minimized efforts to detect and prevent the terrorist plot. Different intelligence units had access to minor details that would have been compiled to analyze the incoming catastrophe and act accordingly critically (U.S. Department of State,2019). Against this backdrop, the IRTPA emerged as a response to the systemic failures laid bare by 9/11, signaling a commitment to addressing vulnerabilities, enhancing capabilities, and strengthening the nation's resilience against terrorism. The IRTPA introduced numerous key provisions and reforms that modernized and streamlined the United States intelligence community. First, establishing the National Counterterrorism Centre (NCTC) recognized the imperative for a centralized hub to coordinate counterterrorism efforts. NCTC oversees strategic planning, threat assessment, and operational coordination across federal intelligence agencies (The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, n.d., b). Second, IRTPA's investments in human intelligence and technological modernization aim to address evolving threats. Contemporary society has embraced technological advancements in all aspects of life, an...