9/11 Attacks

Paper 1: What are the capabilities and limitations of intelligence in supporting homeland security efforts?

Good evening to all. I hope all is well this week. As many of you have stated, I thought I had a descent grasp of the United States Intelligence oversight. However, to my surprise I found that I actually did not have as good of an understanding as I thought. My shortcoming was in understanding just how convoluted the system is. The system has evolved over the years just as many things do. However, the system still has a long way to go before it’s as effective as it could be. Former Under Secretary Charles Allen noted that “virtually any terrorist attack on the homeland that one can imagine must exploit a border crossing, a port of entry, a critical infrastructure, or one of the other domains that the department has an obligation to

Domestic terrorism is like cancer that eats away at the very values and beliefs of the American people. Instead of combining efforts to peacefully and legally enact change, domestic terrorists take the law and actions into their own hands. Groups such as eco-terrorists use firebombing to make their point that the Earth will be protected at all costs. That cost even meant human lives. Militia groups feel the same way. Their goal is not about saving the Earth but rather to change the government. They see it as too weak to handle the needs of the America people. These individuals use modified firearms, explosives, and survival tactics. Law abiding citizens are not defenseless, the FBI and NCIRC work together to help keep America safe.

The 9/11 attacks opened the avenue for a scrutiny of the performance and ability of the intelligence community to detect any threats to the safety of the United States. The media, politicians, reformists and other interested parties would not comprehend how such an attack would happen without the knowledge of the intelligence community. However, it is important to consider the fact that the attack was one of its kind and could not be approached with the resources and expertise used in other initiative such as the cold war. Therefore, the need to restructure the intelligence community arose from the view that it was still operating in the mindset and spirit of the cold war even in the modern era that had seen a revolutionary change of warfare

On September 11, 2001, nineteen militants associated with the Islamic extremist group Al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks in the United States. Two planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City. A third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Often referred to as 9/11, the attack resulted in extensive death and destruction. This triggered the major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defining the presidency of George W. Bush. Over three thousand people were killed during the attacks in New York City and Washington D.C., including more than four hundred

The attacks of 9/11 was an act of terrorism that happened in New York. Two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, one into the Pentagon in Virginia, and another one crashed into a field in Pennsylvania intended to strike in Washington D.C. Three thousand civilian lives were lost that day. It was said by Al-Qaeda group, Osama Bin Laden that the purpose of 9/11 terror was to take revenge for the United States. The typical morning which turned out the historical tragedy terror in the world, created victims by the terror, that have disturbed the peace everyone in the world. It was the start of revenge from United States to Al-Qaeda.

On September 11, 2001 terrorism became a reality! There is no way for the United States to prevent future attacks on Americans without working as a coalition force with the other nations to identify, track, and eliminate terrorist networks around the world. One of the main problems with fighting a war on terrorism is that the nations of the world have become accustomed to working alone as individuals vice working together. The United States will need to change its approach in order to conquer the worldwide threat of terrorism. The way to defeat terrorism at home and around the world is to form an international counter-terrorist task force.

To the public eye, the 9/11 attacks were unprecedented and the overwhelming fear swarmed the nation. Across the nation families, businessmen, students, as well as every other member of society witnessed the emergency news broadcasting the video of the planes flying into the Twin Towers. This attack had especially affected those with loved ones living in New York and this fear manifested itself into our daily lives and those living in metropolitan areas feared a second terrorist attack. However, hope had reappeared in the form of unified forces including first-responders, medical teams, as well as local and international groups working together to provide aid and comfort to the victims and their families. Despite staring at the face of danger,

Intelligence in this day in age is a vital component of a countries security. The newest proposal increases intelligence spending between 2 and 3 billion dollars, a total adding to nearly $35 billion. In addition to military enhancement, the FBI and other law enforcement/intelligence agencies will also be included in this proposal. A new system has been proposed by President Bush that all information be shared among all agencies. DoD, FBI, and the Department of Counterterrorist Center have drawn closer together to create a Terrorist Threat Integration Center to evaluate information blended from all sources associated with terrorism and to act upon those findings accordingly.

The United States (U.S) Intelligence community has come a long way since the revolutionary war. After winning independence from England, the U.S would not invest much into intelligence or foreign policy until the 20th century. Foreign policy was simply not a priority for our young nation, having an ocean on eastern and Western boarders of the country severely limited potential threats. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would be the first president since Washington to understand the importance of intelligence and lay the groundwork for what we now consider national intelligence. Unfortunately, it has taken two catastrophic failures in intelligence for the U.S to realize the need for good intelligence and take steps to improve itself. The

On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda, a terrorist group, hijacked four airplanes, bringing down the World Trade Center and nearly destroying the Pentagon. The attacks killed 2,977 people and started a global war on terrorism (9/11 Attacks). Since Afghanistan was training terrorist groups, our military sent soldiers over to the Middle East to help slow down the assaults on our country. The attacks on the World Trade Center affected the lives of many Americans and changed the way people see the world today, especially my cousin, Master at Arms (MAA), Robert Dempewolf.

Since the birth of America the United States has made the use of intelligence known through the purposes of warfare, defense, and diplomacy. Intelligence is the gathering of information which is analyzed and converted into data to serve as an asset to the decision making process. This is possible by identifying what the national interest is at the time. We use intelligence to provide information based off everyday observations and activities to give us a sense of patterns to form an idea of the “big picture” and identify what threats may be imminent at the time. With reference to Homeland Security Intelligence is not to solely acquire life threatening data, rather than should be to analyzes and share information between the private sector,

The Patriot Act comprises of communication tools against terrorism such as information sharing across law enforcement agencies in the United States, and new investigative tools used to find and prevent terrorism. These tools provided in this act aid to national security by finding, and terminating terrorists and terrorism conspiracies. Information sharing between Federal agencies, and state and local agencies allows state and local law enforcement to understand what terrorism entails and how to prevent and look for terrorism acts in their communities. In the same sense intelligence officers can discuss anti-terrorism efforts with federal law enforcement. They can now improve the way they coordinate how to prevent terrorism and how to appropriately stop a known plot.

Intelligence is a dependable instrument of its own to generate information that establishes the base of National Security in the United States. Intelligence has been used since the beginning of history to provide information on enemy threats and how to prevent a mass disasters. It has been used for wars, national security, military tactics, etc. Intelligence has been available since the revolutionary war and our first president George Washington and other leaders of the world have used intelligence to protect their countries. Intelligence is the dominant and the backbone of homeland Security and it is ceaseless learning about it. National Intelligence agents train tirelessly to fight and create

Intelligence collection and apprehension of criminals have occurred for many years; however, with the exception of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, these actions were performed by different organizations. Nonetheless, roles and responsibilities have changed since the attacks on September 11, 2001. Intelligence-led policing and the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing program were incorporated, and fusion centers were established to help gather intelligence from different levels of the government. Although law enforcement at the local, state, and tribal levels aid in intelligence collection, it is important to ensure that intelligence gathered to protect national security and law enforcement