Ps/471 Week 1 Assignment

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.)

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.

September 11, 2001 was a day that everyone who was old enough to remember will remember for the rest of their lives. I was in the fourth grade when the World Trade Centers were crashed into. I remember our principal coming on the intercom and saying that we were not allowed to turn our televisions on. I did not understand the magnitude of the situation until I got home and my parents explained it to me. I remember that every plane I saw over my head scared me and I was afraid that a plane was going to be crashed into my home or school. The general population reaction to the attack was that of hysteria and worry. People were afraid of flying. People also feared that this was only the precursor to an even bigger attack that was being planned on the United States. The public wanted someone to blame for the incident and they wanted to know why the government had not prevented the attack if they had been given intelligence that an attack might happen. The years leading up to this terrible day in history were full of tough decisions. No one can say that the government was not interested in terrorism at all. They had small departments in the FBI and CIA that looked at and interpreted terrorism related intelligence. The decisions the government had to make changed the United States forever. There was not one factor that defined how the government dealt with terrorism collectively. The government had to take into account not only the actions to take against

This week I have become even more comfortable working at the Capitol. I have also become busier since the staff has become more trusting of interns with daily tasks around the office. Specifically, this week I helped gather research for an individual that wanted more information about a certain topic and how certain constituents have responded to it. I can't describe the certain topic since I was told that the information could not leave the office. Anyways, I printed many sheets of papers that contained lots of information and compiled it in a stack to my sent out to the individual that wanted the information. Additionally, I also helped enter over 300 contacts into our database from neighborhood surveys done this year and last year. This was a lot of work since we had to put the answers to all the survey questions into categories that were simpler to comprehend and easier to enter into the system.

There have been many things that I have learned this semester from knowing what type of graphic displays my data in the best way to how to calculate the location quotient. Probably what stuck the most was the difference between race and ethnicity and calculating projections. I was surprised how many times that topic came up after we learned that. I would explain the difference in my conversations and the majority of the people were surprised to find that there are only two ethnicities, which are Hispanic or Latino and Non-Hispanic or Latino. Now I know that the races are only white, Black or African American, Asian, American Indian and Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. The only thing that I do not understand and probably

Trust in the government also changed substantially. From the days before 9/11 7% of the population claimed they had no trust in the government. Two years after 9/11 that number grew to 12%. On the other hand the 48% of the population who trusted the government a fair amount, dropped to 41%. Trust in the government fell somewhat drastically, for some to the point where they believed that 9/11 was an inside job. This theory seemed ridiculous at first but over the past 15 years it is still a very widely discussed topic. This being said, the generation too young to grasp the full horror of what 9/11 (my generation) have turned it into a joke almost. Losing most of the sensitivity towards the thousands of people who perished that day. What does this mean though? It does NOT mean that the kids born after 1997 are a generation of sociopaths for no regards for lost lives, but it does mean that we are really good at making light out of bad situations. What 9/11 jokes and memes really show are our detachment from a recent but not so recent american tragedy because it no longer affects us directly.

The Testimony of Cofer Black, the Director of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center from 1999-2002, greatly affected my thinking about the domestic intelligence ‘failures’ which led to the inability to foresee or prevent the 9/11 attacks. His testimony, paired with both concurring and clashing views from the 9/11 Commission Report, gave a persuasive ‘defense’ of the intelligence community’s actions and capabilities before September 11, 2001. Three of Black 's ‘agreements’ were particularly influential towards my understanding. First, Black presented a strong argument that the inefficiency of counterterrorism had much to do with pre-9/11 domestic priorities, which left those involved with fighting terrorism, including those acts

Subsequent to 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center (WTC), which compelled the U.S. to imagine the inconceivable, because that day things went really wrong. That was the day that terrorist decided to make their presences know by attacking us. They evolved from using bombs to using airplanes to deliver as their attack weapon because it would cause lethal fatalities on U.S. soil. This was never done before and we were not prepared to handle such a massive attack. This paper will investigate what went wrong before and after 9/11, surveillance surge, and what was the problem, with the CIA and the FBI regarding communication with each other, the dissemination of information to first responders, and recommendation for changes to policies that are obsolete. We understand that local law enforcement and state agencies will bring specific advantages (their strength) from their organizations, and they will also bring their inherited weaknesses. But, they will also bring one important thing to the table which is, how they collect local intelligence; and being able to address some of their organization’s weaknesses, and how they can fully use any data they collect before and after 9/11. This paper builds and contributes to how things were before and after 9/11, and the types of changes that were made in law enforcement, CIA.,

September 11th, 2001, alleged Al-Qaeda members attacked the United States of America with four passenger planes, Boeing 757s. Two planes flew into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, one plane flew into the Pentagon, and the remaining plane was possibly targeting the White House but was unsuccessful. People all over America felt an utter shock and disbelief after this tragic event as people demanded answers. After the terrorist attacks, a portion of Americans started to believe in conspiracies proving the government was behind it all. To add, Americans also believed that the U.S. government knew in advance of the terrorist attacks on September 11th due to the time between the attacks and the Bush administration’s attempt to investigate, the National Security Association’s lack of investigation of suspicious phone calls, and the odd “collapse” of World Trade Center Seven. However, the government tried to counter attack with the points that Al Qaeda was behind the attacks on September 11th, Khalid Mohammed was the mastermind behind September 11th, and that debris hit World Trade Center Seven.

Prior to 9/11, the structural framework of the U.S. national security apparatus was based on “organizational stovepiping.” In other words, various government agencies pursued their own goals and objectives in the absence of any real measure of synchronicity and outside of a larger strategic context. The lack of synchronization among government agencies was the main cause of the inability of the U.S. national security apparatus to prevent the 9/11 terror attacks from taking place. This is evidenced by the fact that the 9/11 Commission cited deficiencies in information-sharing and coordination among government agencies, both of which are essential to strategic agency synchronization, as the primary reasons

Congress created the Department of Homeland Security which consolidated two dozen agencies and was given the task of protecting the United States from another attack. (Waxman, 2009). By consolidating these agencies, communication paths would be greatly improved. Fusion centers were then created to enable the various agencies to share information and conduct threat assessments for events. The amount of intelligence is greatly improved by the increased participation of the numerous agencies. The agencies then have the ability to “connect the dots” and create a better picture of an incident or

Throughout the years, the intelligence community in the United States have worked diligently to provide a sense of security for the millions of Americans living in our great nation today. From the FBI to the CIA, these government agencies work around the clock to find and eliminate threats that maybe detrimental to our country. However, one event that took place 14 years ago reshaped not only the way Americans think of the intelligence community, it also reshaped the policies and procedures of institutions such as the CIA, FBI, DOD, etc. The event that caused the remodeling of our government agencies was the event that took place on September 11, 2001 or known throughout the U.S. as “9/11.” A total of 2,977 Americans lost their lives to a

In the beginning of issue guide it summarizes the Terrorist attacks of September 11th. How it set off of a chain of events and questionable efforts to deal with what occurred that day. The article explains after the attacks on the world trade center, our nation lost comfort in thinking our state of security was actually secure, that we were vulnerable. The government gave false impression to citizens that to overcome what happened that day was to come together, to show the strength and our allegiance to the U.S. This wasn’t an approach to deal with the issue but a distraction to what was really going on.

The 9/11 attacks, and the subsequent publication of The 9/11 Commission Report in short, drew significant attention to the nation’s intelligence failures and lack of a framework for preventing, preparing for, and responding to acts of terrorism. The conversation on terrorisms continues to play a significant role in discussions related to the very definition of terrorism. Additionally, it was also tasked with determining the extent and severity of the threat, and the best methods for stopping future attacks. Muhlhausen contends that in many ways, the U.S. has taken this information and acted on it—drastically reforming the federal effort on homeland

The author goes on to explain how the decisions people are making are becoming more inconsequential due to lack of research and knowledge. The unseen of a major event or the low predictability with large impact happening changes how so many people think and react. When the unexpected happens, we need to look back at history to understand why and what caused the unexpected to happen.