January, 2002

The 11 September events and US National Security: an Overhaul of Policies and Institutions

Dr. Mohammed Kamal

The events of 11 September posed a great challenge to US national security. Consequently, the United States began a process of reviewing its policies and institutions in order to prevent similar terrorist attacks in the future. The US efforts are twofold: to secure the homeland, and to confront terrorism abroad.

Domestic measures include:

1 The creation of the Office of Homeland Security, which will coordinate the activities of the several federal agencies involved in combating terrorism and upgrade the nation's state of readiness for any future terrorist attacks.

2) The enactment of anti-terrorism and airport-safety laws:

- The US Patriot Act of 2001 allows the government to detain non-US citizens for as long as seven days before charging them if investigators suspect their involvement in terrorist activities. It permits federal authorities to tap the telephone communications of suspected terrorists, and to obtain subpoenas to get records from Internet service providers about the e-mail activities of suspected terrorists. The law also gives the treasury department new authorities to track bank accounts suspected of financing terrorist activities.

- The Airport Security Bill increased the number of air marshals aboard planes, and created a federal agency to oversee airport screeners.

- A presidential decree prepared military courts to be used to try captured foreign terrorists.

3) Overhaul of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with the aim of focusing on combating terrorism.

4) Other internal measures include creating a no-fly zone over nuclear reactors, and increasing security along the northern borders, and oil and gas pipelines.

The United States' external efforts to combat terrorism include:
1) A review of the intelligence community, which failed to predict or prevent the attacks, emphasising the importance of human intelligence in any overhaul of intelligence activities.

2) A review of US defence policy, with the aim of increasing the defence budget, focusing on precision weapons and aircraft carriers, providing freedom of action for military commanders, increasing anti-terrorist training, obtaining more high-tech weapons, and creating a mobile force, drawn from all armed services divisions, to engage terrorists.