How 9/11 Reshaped the Global Security Policies

On September 11, 2001, nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four fuel-loaded commercial airplanes; two of them crashed into the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City and one into the Pentagon near Washington, DC. After the attempt to retake the flight deck by the passengers and crew, the fourth plane crashed in a Pennsylvania rural area.

These attacks killed 2,977 people including nineteen terrorists. This deadliest terrorist attack was arranged by Osama bin Laden, the leader of a pan-Islamic extremist group named al Qaeda.

Most of the nations were aghast and they immediately responded to the 9/11 attack by commenting on the terror as “brutal action”.

George W. Bush, former president of the United States, declared “war on terror” on September 20th, 2001, and announced the creation of an Office of Homeland Security to protect his nation from future terrorist attacks. The U.S. used this term to describe its military responses post-9/11.

As a result of the promise from the U.S. to the citizens and the world to eliminate terrorist groups, the U.S. army invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to demolish the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. This action had a notable shift in U.S. foreign policy and impacted international military arrangements.

According to Christopher Wray, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the 9/11 attack shifted the global security system from post-event terrorist plans and attack investigations to preemptive action. Multiple nations define this act as counterterrorism, which is an act to prevent and respond to similar terrorist attacks.

Post-9/11 marks a turning point for multiple nations, as they recognize the need for collaborating with international cooperation and intelligence to prevent transnational threats.

Wray said, “We became an intelligence-based national security and law enforcement organization—one that collects, uses, and shares intelligence in everything we do.”

He emphasized the importance of sharing intelligence because the 9/11 attack exemplifies one of the most fatal mistakes regarding the lack of sharing information and communication.

Therefore, the majority of the nations significantly modified their use of intelligence in a cooperative way to prevent any terrorist attacks; not limited to the domestic intelligence community and law enforcement, but additionally to the private sector and foreign intelligence community.

The preponderance of nations implemented a whole-of-government approach to combat terrorism by prioritizing gathering and sharing intelligence with various partners in order to construct an integrated understanding of potential risks and understand how they interact among the actors who pose threats.

This deliberate strategy enables the government to notify other agencies to address the actions using the authority and to leverage the nation’s broader capabilities when confronting the danger.