9/11 Failure

The Intelligence Community has had successes and failures, many of which have made history. One of the most prominent failures in U.S history was the attacks on September 11, 2011. Now most people would start to read this essay and think they know everything about what happened that day because it has been so publicized. However, for me it was different. Yes, I was alive when it happened, but I was too young to understand. The September 11th attacks have been of particular interest to me due to the fact that they happened right in my backyard. One of them even occurred in the same state in which I live. For this reason I wanted to know why an event of this magnitude occured in the U.S. The safety of Americans has changed since then leaving many people affected. The collection and analysis of intelligence in our nation changed dramtically after the 9/11 attacks.

Beginning in 2001 Intelligence about the impending nature of an attack was increasing, not only from US Intelligence sources but also from 11 other countries such as Britain, Israel, India, Egypt, Morocco and even a top Taliban commander from Afghanistan (Thompson.) Beginning in August warnings become coming in from everywhere, foreign governments, CIA and FBI sources and so on however, next to none of this information was shared between the many intelligence agencies. In April, NORAD launched a training scenario in which the pentagon was to be incapacitated by a hijacked airliner however the Joint Chiefs of Staff disregarded the scenario as “too unrealistic” (September 11 attacks advance-knowledge debate.) On august 19th the Israeli’s gave US intelligence personnel credible information including, the list of 19 suspected terrorist’s names and the fact that a large aircraft would be the primary weapon involved. The names were not shared by the CIA with other intelligence agencies (Robinson.)

If you had that one piece of the puzzle that would have prevented the bombings of the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon on September 11 2001 would you know it? If you saw someone do something weird or suspicious before the attack on September 11 2001, would you have called the police? If someone had walked into a United States Embassy in a foreign country and said that they know someone was going to use a plane to destroy New York in two days, could this have stopped the attack? Intelligence Analysis puts the raw sources of information together, make predictions based on the data, and finally publish the results.

Dahl, E. J. (2004). Warning of Terror: explaining the failure of intelligence against terrorism. The fletcher School. Retrieved Sep 21, 2011, from, .

September 11th, 2001 is a day darkened by tragedy. This day is remembered for one of the biggest terrorist attacks the United States has ever faced on American soil. The 9/11 attacks left many hearts broken and heads spinning about the events that occurred. I personally have been very skeptical about the official version of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. There are a few reasons that made me question what started a war that has become the longest war in American History. This paper will dive into the facts behind the events of this day to uncover the truth behind what occurred that day. Some of the major aspects I will be examining are the hard facts of September 11th, who was responsible for these attacks, the political repercussions,

This report aims to provide details of a defining moment in history between 1901 and now. The defining moment in this report is the 9/11 attacks. The purpose of this report is to understand, the specifics of the 9/11, what happened on 9/11 and how it happened, the Primary factors that contributed to the outcome of 9/11 and lastly reasons why the 9/11 attack is considered a defining moment in intelligence history.

In the book, Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11, by Gerald Posner he argues that the act of terrorism that occurred on September 11, 2001 could have and should have been prevented. He presented a powerful case of how stupidity and misdirected priorities made America an easy aim for terrorists. Gerald Posner, the author of the book was a former Wall Street Lawyer, award winning investigative journalist and bestselling author. Posner purposefully wrote this book to demonstrate all the clues that were given out prior to the attack and inform us on previously undisclosed information after a thorough 18-month investigation. Posner’s goal was to discover what the CIA, FBI, and others in the Government were doing behind the scenes for at least a decade leading up to 9/11. The intended audience for this book is anyone who is willing to open their eyes on the true occurrences that happened on 9/11. The title of the piece is related directly to the book and the subject matter of it. America slept on all the clues that they received that there would be a terrorist attack and the book demonstrated how exactly they failed to prevent the acts that occurred on 9/11. Why America Slept is such a staggering book and Posner successfully demonstrates to the audience how 9/11 could have been prevented through his use of examples and facts.

On September 11’th 2001 on the morning hijacked by 19 Arab men 4 aircraft were all heading towards California, and used them as suicide missiles. They flew into the World Trade Center two twin towers, the Pentagon and after a long struggle with passengers crashed last down on a field. World Trade Center consisted of seven buildings, three of the buildings collapsed and the four others were damaged by the other collapsed. It is believed that the 19 Arab men, was led by the Egyptian Mohammed Atta (1968-2001) 5.

Before 9/11, the arduous and painstaking obstacles that many have to go through with TSA were nonexistent. In fact, according to Tom Bearden " ...airlines were given the task of providing security, and they elected to pay private security companies to run the checkpoints. The overall system was supervised by the Federal Aviation Administration." ("9/11's Profound Effects on Air Travel") The experience as a whole was completely different

September 11, 2001 forever impacted America and gave a new challenge to our government that went far beyond any challenges that a natural disaster had presented in decades. The terrorist attacks were definitely a wake up call to being more prepared for natural disasters and reevaluating our intelligence agency jobs and communication levels. In chapter 2, one of the key points that Kettl discuss is connecting the dots. We can see that in the midst of 9/11, America focused on the nation’s intelligence services for answers. As the American people we wanted to know, who were the hijackers, where was security and most importantly, and who do we hold accountable? Furthermore, that the intelligence agencies failed to piece together information that already had about terrorism speculations. In chapter 1, Kettl talks about the warnings and signs that the government has before catastrophes (such as September 11, Hurricane

The 9/11 terror attacks is one of the historical and fatal events that changed the United States of America forever, especially in relation to terrorists and terrorism. While these concepts were on the minds of very few people in America's population before the attacks, the 9/11 incident made terrorism to become one of the major concerns for the whole nation. This is despite of the fact that they were carried out in New York City, Washington, and parts of Pennsylvania. Since it was a major concern, the terror attacks dominated all kinds of media and contributed to increased security measures for average Americans. Moreover, terrorism currently provides a major threat to global security that any time in American and global history (Dyson, 2001, p.3). As a result, it has become a fundamental aspect for law enforcement agencies and their initiatives, particularly with the rapid technological advancements.

The events surrounding the September 11 attacks on the United States of America have often been shrouded in a cloud of controversy and mystery, with no one individual seemingly able to apprehend the “true” details of the terror attack. Many proposed theories have been brought forth, the most widely accepted being that of co-ordinated attacks by terrorist organisation “Al-Qaeda”. “9/11”, as the event is commonly known, is simply one of many global terrorism attacks that have seemingly consumed the contemporary world. Thus, it is up to the acts and responsibilities of governments and legal organisations to undertake action in attempt to achieve justice and equality throughout the world, ensuring the safety of all people. Although, it is

At check-in airline personnel would take your bags and load them for you. There were no metal detectors, no X-ray machines, and the only police officers stationed at the airport were there to provide basic security for passengers. They prevented stowaways from boarding planes or watching for pickpockets. They did not realize that their procedures were not effective till the first major airline was attacked in the early 1960s.That act was the first sign of organized mass aviation terrorism. Soon airplane hijackings became the method of choice for terrorists. Even though the first recorded attempts at aviation hijacking were reported as early as 1929, the '60s and '70s saw around eight airliners that were hijacked each year. (Charmichael) It wasn't until 1976 that the first major terror attack took place on board an airplane. Nine minutes into the flight, the Cabana flight 455 was bombed, forcing the pilot to attempt an emergency landing. Several minutes later, a second bomb exploded, killing all 48 passengers and 25 crew members.

“Failure to thwart the attacks using available information has been interpreted as indicating a need for a more comprehensive and strategic coordination of intelligence” (Schaible, 2012, p. 761)

September 11, 2001 marked the most horrific day in history for United States of America. The events of this day changed the lives of those residing in America forever. United States was considered somewhat safe, in regards to terrorists’ attacks. However, this all came to a screeching halt when 19 militants known to be a part of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group hijacked four planes for the purpose of destroying targeted areas in the United States. As a result of the deadly attack on the United States, security measures drastically changed. Although, security measures throughout the United States have been in place, extreme caution came into effect. All departments looked at different measures to improve preventing terrorists’ attacks.