Clear and Present Safety by Michael A. Cohen

Author:Michael A. Cohen
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300222555
Publisher: Yale University Press

The Smart Response to 9/11

One of the great ironies of 9/11 is that the initial response to the worst terrorist attack on American soil was smart, modest, and appropriate. Though the attacks seemed to be a transformative event in the nation’s history, it was neither a “strategic surprise” nor a “failure of imagination,” as the 9/11 Commission later determined. Before 9/11, political leaders were well aware of the growing problem of transnational terrorism, including the weaponization of civilian airliners.10 Scholars and experts had repeatedly warned about the threat from al-Qaeda and had called for commonsense and inexpensive counterterrorism and homeland security policies, such as better airport security, improved information sharing between intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and stronger border security.11

A tragic combination of political inertia, disinterest, and bureaucratic turf protection had made the United States needlessly vulnerable. But policy makers learned from their mistakes. Much of the negligence and policy shortcomings that predated 9/11 were addressed through new laws and regulations, increased government spending, and an expansion of America’s homeland security and intelligence infrastructure.12 These improvements ranged from the obvious and immediate to the complex and ongoing.

For example, prior to 9/11, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandated that aircrews keep cockpit doors closed and locked while in flight, but this regulation had never been rigorously observed. The 9/11 Commission could never determine exactly how hijackers accessed the cockpits of the four planes seized that day, whether they took the keys from flight attendants, forced them to open the door, or somehow lured a pilot outside.13 Had the cockpit doors remained closed, the airliners would never have been turned into flying missiles. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which was created in the wake of 9/11, updated the requirements for cockpit security, replacing flimsy doors and simple latches with hardened, bulletproof doors that had electronic locking devices. Congress provided $97 million to defray the costs for airlines—a negligible price relative to the outsized impact on airline security.14

The 9/11 Commission also proposed legislation to “set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses.”15 This led to the Real ID Act of 2005, which required states to include certain information on licenses (such as full legal name, date of birth, and signature), demand more identification material, and ensure that licenses are more securely produced. Since the implementation of the act, about 90 percent of driver’s licenses comply with these new standards and are now far more difficult to forge.16 This means that the airlines and the TSA have a far better chance of accurately detecting individuals attempting to evade no-fly lists or at least ensuring that they receive secondary screening.

The most consequential homeland security improvement originated in the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that intelligence agencies better share intelligence information and “break down stovepipes” that had previously prevented such cooperation. For example, when the CIA learned in January 2000 that an individual with al-Qaeda connections, Khalid al-Mihdhar, had been issued a U.S. visa, it kept that information from the FBI and the State Department.

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