How 9/11 attacks reshaped national security

23rd anniversary prompts look back at tragedy, security failures

By: Rafael Carranza
and Raphael Romero Ruiz
Arizona Republic
USA today Network

..... Wednesday [09/11/2024] marks the 23rd anniversary of the al-Qaeda terrorist attack in which 19 men hijacked four planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and a field in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.
..... The attacks upended national security in the United States, especially along the U.S.-Mexico border as investigators puzzled how the attackers orchestrated their plot that killed, 2,977 people.
..... None of the terrorist crossed the southern U.S. border, but they exploited weaknesses in national security, fueling probes in the aftermath about the preparedness and effectiveness of U.S. intelligence services in identifying and stopping threats.
..... The attacks led to major reforms at the border and within national security that remain in place to this day.
..... A great deal of the information that we know about the men involved in the terrorist attacks comes from a report published by the 9/11 Commission, which investigated the planning, the plot and the aftermath of the attacks.
..... A total of 26 people were involved in planning the attack, although only 19 of them participated, according to the commission. Fifteen of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, two from the united Arab Emirates, and one each from Lebanon and Egypt. They began applying for visas to enter the United States in April 1999.
..... U.S. and allied governments tracked their movements for months and recorded 364 aliases between them, according to the commission report. Three of them had known and suspected links to al-Qaeda, but intelligence services at that time did not have enough information about them to place them on watch-lists, and many U.S. agencies shared limited information with each other.
..... Consulates in the Middle East that processed the visas were unaware and untrained about al-Qaeda's fraudulent visa practices, and the hijackers' application raised no flags.

How did 9/11 hijackers enter US?

..... In the 21 months preceding to the attacks, plotters legally entered the United States 33 times via nine U.S. airports, the 9/11 Commission found. Airport officials at the time did not know and were not trained on suspected terrorism links.
..... The four pilots began arriving in January 2001, while the remaining hijackers entered the U.S. between April and June of that year. [2001]
..... U.S. border inspectors admitted 17 of the hijackers on tourist visas; they automatically received a six-month permit that allowed them to stay in the country legally. The two others overstayed their visas in violation of U.S. immigration laws.
..... While in the United States, several of the hijackers petitioned INS and successfully extended their legal stays. The pilots of the two planes that crashed into the twin World Trade Center towers in New York, an Egyptian and an Emirati, charged their visitor visas to student visas so they could attend flight school in Florida. The four pilots also received flight training in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Arizona.
..... Those details were seen as major failures at the Mitigation and Naturalization Service agency that promoted major changes.

What changed after attack?

..... Eight days after the attacks, President George W. Bush announced the creation of the Office of Homeland Security, a Cabinet-level position reporting directly to the president.
..... Bush appointed Tom Ridge, then the governor of Pennsylvania, to lead the newly established office as the assistant to the president on homeland security. He was sworn in on October 8, 2001, and PHS was cerated by executive order. The office managed and coordinated a broad national strategy to protect the country from terrorism and respond to potential future attacks.
..... A year later, the Homeland Security Act established the Department of Homeland Security, consolidating the executive branch's efforts into a single agency that brought together federal government's main law enforcement branches. Ridge became the first secretary of DHS in January 2003, and the department opened its doors on March 1 that eyar. [2003]
..... DHS incorporated 22 agencies, including the U.S. customs Service - originally part of the Department of the Treasury and now know as U.S. Customs and Brod err Protection - and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Immigration and Naturalization Service formerly part of the Department of Justice, became U.S. citizenship and Immigration Services.
..... Other notable agencies brought under the DHS umbrella include the Transportation Security Administration, formerly under the Department of Transportation and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
..... The Department of Homeland Security's founding principle to "(protect) the American people from terrorist and other threats," according to DHS's website, included implementing the recommendations made in the 9/11 Commission Report.
..... At the border, DHS was tasked with creating a secure, standardized way to identify travelers entering the country and to create a network of screening points. Congress also passed the Secure Fence Act in 2006to fund the construction of 700 miles of new border fencing and hire more agents.
..... In 2009, the department implemented the Western Hemisphere T Ravel Initiative, which made it a requirement for "U.S., Mexican and Canadian citizens to present a passport or other secure travel document that denoted identity and citizenship when crossing the border."
..... That same year, the Obama administration launched the Southwest Border initiative, which borough in up to $184 million in federal funding to upgrade security along the U.S. -Mexico border.
..... Perhaps the most viable change was at airports. After September 11, [2001] the newly cerated TSA implemented restrictions such as requiring passengers to take off their shoes, limited liquids in carry-on bags and allowing only ticketed passengers to the gate areas.

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