American Influence On 9/11

The September 11th attacks came as a surprise to all Americans and would affect security in America forever. The 911 Memorial Organization has a section on their website with frequently asked questions and answers. It all went down on the morning of September 11, 2001, the extremist terrorist group, known as Al Qaeda, hijacked four American airlines and flew them into the Pentagon and World Trade Center towers. The fourth plane was downed by the heroic passengers into a field in Pennsylvania, and the plane was believed to be headed for either the White House or the Capitol Building. Al Qaeda was very resentful of the Western influence on their own culture and wanted to try to stop it (“FAQ”, para. 17). They stood close to no chance against …show more content…
Domestic surveillance was then concerning to the government because of how easy it was for the terrorists to stay and communicate within the United States. Gale’s Online Database has an updated article on the Department of Homeland Security and the role it has played in the United States. The Office of Homeland Security was then created in October 2001 by President George Bush. Later in 2003, the “office was upgraded to … the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with Ridge as its first secretary” (“Homeland Update”, para. 1). Richard Panchyk wrote an article titled “Homeland Security”, in which he analyzes the effects of September 11th on Homeland Security in the United States. The Homeland security included many new layers such as a “created and updated a national terrorism ‘threat advisory’, featuring a color coded alert system” (Panchyk, para. 5). The color level moves with the information, which includes imminence and nature of the attack, gained by United States Agents (Panchyk, para. 5). A universal system like this that could be broadcasted across the country with ease provided a system that could let everyone know the state of emergency that the United States is …show more content…
Congress very quickly “passed transportation security legislation … [and] It established a new federal agency, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the Department of Transportation (DOT)” (Seidenstat, para. 59). This was brought about with new security measurements for airports and even on airplanes. In fact, “passengers could no longer carry scissors, screw drivers, wrenches, pliers, box cutters, bats, golf clubs, or pepper spray on board” (Panchyk, para. 4). The absence of blunt or sharp objects makes it much more difficult for a terrorist or anyone to get into the cockpit and hijack the plane. Even the overall amount of security officers has increased “with approximately 51,000 security officers employed at more than 450 U.S. airports” (“Homeland Update”, para. 10). The state of airport security has made huge improvements over the last decade with more effectively enforced laws and a greater amount of security