9/11: Global Security Debate in the Aftermath - Essay Sample

Introduction

The global security debate has been intense since the unfortunate September 11, 2001 attack in the United States. Most scholars in international politics emphasize that there have been tremendous changes in global security as a response to the 9/11 attack. Without any doubt, the events of 9/11 resulted in drastic reaction around the globe since not a single country could save itself from the heat of the bombing of a nation of US' stature. On the other divide of scholarly debate, observers are keen to jump into the conclusion that the 9/11 attack altered the overall global security as a response to growing terrorism. According to this school of thought, there were significant shifts in the international political philosophy after 9/11. This observation follows an analysis of the response by various significant powers towards the increasing threat of terrorism. At home, however, the United States had to come up with a strategy to ensure that either this generation or the one to come does not witness a repeat of the same. A lot of issues changed from foreign policy to US troop's presence in the Middle East and increased security through the formation of the Department of Homeland Security, among others. Every American was horrified by the event of 9/11, and the public demanded more from the government to protect the country from terrorist attacks. As a response to the growing demand and overpowering sentiments from the public, President Bush's administration came up with a set of measures to answer the citizens' concerns and to increase the US' ability to cope with terrorism. The programs and agenda that followed were programs under homeland security, a move that was regarded as a priority to the US. Since the September 11, 2001 attack, the US' response to terrorism threats has directly affected the Middle East through a host of global security changes highlighted herein.

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Security Changes in the US

Two US senators, McCain and Lieberman, were responsible for the formation of the 9/11 Commission to assess why the US' defenses failed to thwart these deadly attacks and how to prevent any possibility in the future. The legislation was later proposed to implement recommendations from the 9/11 Commission and has since been in place to ensure that every American is safe. The advice from the Committee was passed as bipartisan laws aimed at prevention, preparation and if necessary, timely response to any terrorists or natural disaster occurrence. These recommended security changes also empowered the local and state authorities, the private sector, and any responders. In 2004, the Congress passed, as approved by the 9/11 Commission, the Intelligence Reforms, and Terrorism Prevention Act, a bill that resulted in the creation of Director of National Intelligence (Bakalian & Bozorgmehr, 2009, pp. 312). The function of the Director was the coordination of the fifteen federal intelligence agencies and to come up with the National Counterterrorism Center, where analysis intelligence information would take place.

The intelligence analysis would allow the government to connect loose ends to assist them in taking relevant actions like detection, prevention, or disruption of any form of terrorist activities. As explained, the United States, through bipartisan politics, made changes to the homeland security to make it possible to handle both natural and terrorism acts. The 9/11 Commission was a critical committee of expert that came up with many recommendations that would forever alter the security system in the country. The Commission recommended mergers and coordinated security features since lack of the same was partly the cause of the disaster witnessed in the past (Ravich, 2005, p. 162). The Department of Homeland Security, for instance, engages in intelligence collection and analysis, which has been a success since it was formed almost two decades ago.

The formation of the Department of Homeland Security was an essential reaction to the security situation in the US. As Smith and Zeigler (2017, pp. 4) put it, the core functions of homeland security are captured in three main terms, prevention, protection, and response. Aside from responding to natural disasters, the main aim of the department is to prevent terrorist attacks at home. The DHS ensures that any potential areas of attack by terrorists are not left unmanned and vulnerable. The protection of civilians and property should increase to any possible extent. In the event of a failure to prevent an attack, the response to terror attacks should be sufficient to reduce the extent of damages. Jamal (2008, pp. 133) believes that consequence management principle after a disaster or terrorists' attack will minimize the possible adverse effects. In broad terms, the primary function of the department is to eliminate terrorists strikes in the US soil and also to limit the impact in any isolated scenarios. As a preventive measure, the DHS identify and thwart possible terror attackers and limit their options on the means of attack.

The critical changes in homeland security after 9/11 led to improved anti-terrorism intelligence gathering. The administration believed that the best way to prevent future attacks is to gather intelligence. It is not easy to plan and organize an attack with hidden intention. The best way to stop such activities is through intelligence gathering and analysis. Surveillance across the country also became more extensive after the September 11 attacks (Bakalian & Bozorgmehr, 2009, pp. 312). Any suspicious groups would be under scrutiny since the al Qaida members who carried out the bombing had traveled, lived, and trained in the country and some had been marked as possible suspicious figures. The government was now more aggressive and intrusive in carrying out surveillance. Changes to improve monitoring at all points of entry were also enhanced after the attacks. Before the events of 9/11, many people and materials quickly poured into the country without strict monitoring. In the past, a terrorist could enter the country legally without keen surveillance. However, this has since changed as the process of obtaining visas, particularly from some regions, has been tightened. Besides, the department improved the protection of critical infrastructures from potential attacks by these insurgent groups. After bombing the tween towers, it was clear that terrorists were not only after killing Americans but also driven to cause destruction. Through the National Strategy for Homeland Defense, thirteen critical areas of the US economy are covered. These areas, i.e., banking and finance, energy, water, and chemical industry, among others, are protected from terror activities. Finally, the homeland security strategy also ensured that the US borders became less porous. Illegal entry of goods and people was a worrying issue before the attack. Upon empowering the homeland security after September 11, it was now a big challenge for illegal items and individuals to enter through various points quickly.

Improved Aviation Security

The other security act passed by Congress after the September 11 attack was in the field of aviation. For long, even before 9/11, Rabasa et al. (2004, pp. 142) posit, terrorists had targeted airplanes because the extremists believe that they would kill many people from a single hijacking. The Congress, for the first time, passed into law the Aviation and Transport Security Administration, an act that birthed the now-famous Transport Security Administration (TSA). The TSA would employ federal workers in all airports for security screening. Since it was formed, the TSA has carried out thousands of screening procedures on luggage and passengers as well. For example, every passenger is expected to go through a metal detector the luggage or carry-on bugs are exposed to x-rays and huge ones through a device that detects explosives. Over the years, some minor changes have also been witnessed within the TSA, such as the prohibition of carrying liquid substances or removing shoes upon request by the officers. TSA officers' presence outside and inside the airport is a considerable achievement in ensuring that the major airports are safe from terror activities.

Aside from the mentioned screening of luggage and passengers, TSA does another essential function of prescreening the travelers. All airlines operating in the US must present a list of names to the TSA. From this list, the TSA makes a comparison of titles to its watch list. Despite the practice being problematic over the years, criticized explicitly by civil liberty groups, TSA continues to improve the security in the airports (Gillum, 2018. pp. 331). To achieve such a milestone, TSA came up with the Secure Flight Program, a plan to prescreen without breaching the civil liberty of the people. The other program is known as the Registered Traveler, who is volunteering personal information and background data among those who frequently travel to assist the organization.

Immigration Policies Targeting Muslims

The immediate days after 9/11 was characterized by speculations from policy analyst about the possible effect of terrorism on immigration plans targeting on Muslim nations. Many analysts believed that the 9/11 event would result in a political situation that would create broad new immigration restrictions among the individuals entering the US. From the public opinion to polls carried out by Fox News, up to 65 percent of Americans wanted immediate stop on immigration, at least some few years after the deadly attack. According to Durrani (2002, pp. 29), the September 11, 2001 attack led to several changes in immigration policies, if not explicitly, then at least in practice, targeted at Muslim immigrants. More than three-quarters of the well-known United States' government security initiatives under implementation since the 9/11 attacks directly or indirectly target the Middle Eastern or any other Muslim nations. The writers further point out that these policies were not grafted and adopted through the reasonable legislative standards which would have exposed them for public debate and scrutiny to establish their viability. Instead, most immigration policy changes, regulation, and enforcement processes took place through executive fiat through the State Department, Attorney General's office and the little known Immigration and Neutralization Service. Some scholars are keen to point out that because these immigration policy changes did not follow the normal legislative process, they may not be permanent or legitimate.

A lot of loopholes existed in the immigration policy of the country before the September 11 attacks. In a report presented by the 9/11 Commission Report in 2004, it was clear that ambiguities and cracks in border control and the nation's policies on immigration contributed to the ease of entrance to the US by the terrorists. The report indicates that all the nineteen hijackers had documentation and visas that allowed them to enter the country. Of the nineteen, eight had forged documents while others were known to the US government to be Al Qaeda operatives, but the government did not include them on the watch list. Broadly, therefore, it is clear that terrorists did not only exploit the loopholes and cracks in immigration policies but had also been able to enter the state by taking advantage of the channel entry. The Department of Homeland Security recognized immigration as the potential vector for the spread of terrorism in the country (Saurette, 2006, p. 520). Consequently, implementing tight control on the entry of any person is the best way of defense for the interest of Americans and homeland security. The need for change in immigration policy and tighter border control impacted en...