Counter Terrorism Since 9/11, Essay Example

An Analysis of Critical Improvement in Homeland Security since 9/11

In the 14 years since the September 11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.,  Americans have become accustomed to an entirely different approach to national security than they knew before the attacks. To understand the changes in national security since the attacks requires analysis of the development of the Department of Homeland Security and a discussion of the changes the cabinet department made over previous national security efforts.

One organization actively interested in the success of the DHS efforts is the Department of Justice. On the seventh anniversary of the attacks, the DOJ issued a fact sheet outlining its contributions to national security over the intervening years.  The wording of the document makes it clear that part of its purpose is to laude the Justice Department. However, there are some pieces of important information regarding changes in national security policy since the terrorist attacks. “Since 9/11, the FBI has undertaken the most significant transformation in its history. The FBI has completely transformed its operations to better detect, penetrate, and dismantle terrorist enterprises – part of the FBI’s larger culture shift to a threat-driven intelligence and law enforcement agency,” (DOJ, 2008). Included in their list of changes and improvements are significant increases in personnel and resources devoted to anti-terrorist activities and improved intelligence sharing.

The Justice Department further touts the availability of new enforcement options including the Patriot Act of 2001 and 2005 and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 2008 as means of improving national security.  The report also suggests another major step in terrorism prevention is the cooperative efforts between law enforcement agencies from the state, local and federal levels. Other specific programs touted as improvements are the efforts to reduce radicalization in American prisons,  better use of technology including the internet to monitor and stop threats, and outreach to Muslim, Arab and Sikh communities. In some instances, specifically when discussing better use of internet technology, the report offers specific examples of the results of these programs, including “Charged several individuals for providing material support to terrorists through websites they allegedly operated, including pending cases against Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan in connection with www.azzam.com, www.qoqaz.net, and other sites, and Oussama Abdullah Kassir, in connection with websites that contained instructions on how to make bombs and poisons,” (DOJ, 2008).

In his paper  “Police and National Security: American Local Law Enforcement and Counter-Terrorism After 9/11,” Matthew Waxman (2008) suggested that three important challenges to fighting terrorism and improving national security lie in the nature and composition of American policing at the sub-federal level.  “Sub-federal police agencies – including those at the state, county and city or town level, and which are responsible for the vast bulk of basic crime fighting and community protection in this country – are as heterogeneous and geographically dispersed as the local American populations they serve,” (Waxman, 2008, p. 3). At issue is the fact that localized law enforcement makes it difficult to organize and communicate between those agencies, local police efforts to combat terrorism may not be readily apparent to their local constituencies, and some things local law enforcement needs to do to help support national security may make it seem as if traditional law enforcement duties are being ignored.

One of the difficulties associated with critical analysis of the improvement, or lack thereof, of national security after the 9/11 attacks is an interesting shift in the national psychology after the attacks. Virginia Chanley (2002) wrote that in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, public confidence in the federal government rose to levels not seen in the previous 40 years. Public distrust earned through the Vietnam War and then Watergate evaporated as the nation rallied behind its government and against the attackers. As a result, the perception of increased national security may be a matter of viewing the nation with rose-colored glasses.

Susan Clarke and Erica Chenoweth (2006) suggested that the greater the threat to national security, the more important local law enforcement becomes in the protective effort. Specifically, the authors argue that only at the local level can law enforcement officers be aware of potential threats and make appropriate efforts to thwart them.  “Regardless of the national character of homeland security policy, the reality is that all terrorism is local. Ultimately so are all security initiatives. Paradoxically, the greater the national security threats, the more important the local role in the United States,”  (Clarke and Chenoweth, 2206, p. 95). Any attempt then to analyze the changes in homeland security since 9/11 must include an extensive look at local law enforcement efforts.

A great deal of information about the changes in national security as it relates to the development of DHS and 9/11 exists. These works offer a starting point for developing the discussion on the topic, but will need to be supplemented with additional data and analysis.

References

Chanley, V.A.  (2002, Sep.) Trust in Government in the Aftermath of 9/11: Determinants and Consequences, Political Psychology, 23 (3), pp. 469-483.

Clarke, S. E. and Chenoweth, E. (2006) The Politics of Vulnerability: Constructing Local Performance Regimes for Homeland Security. Review of Policy Research,  23 (1), pgs. 95- 115. Doi: 10.1111/j.1541-1338.2006.00187.x

Department of Justice. (2008, Sept. 11) “Fact Sheet: Justice Department Counter-Terrorism Efforts Since 9/11.”  Available at: http://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2008/September/08-nsd-807.html

Waxman, M. (2008) Police and National Security: American Local Law Enforcement and Counter-Terrorism After 9/11.  Columbia Public Law & Legal Theory Working Papers, Paper 08157.