The 9/11 Attacks

Many of the current differences we see today between the federal, state and local law enforcement intelligence stemmed from prior to the September 11 attack. Prior to this attack many states lacked a robust intelligence capability, as it was the primary role of federal agencies to protect the United States from both foreign and domestic terrorist threats. In an attempt to mitigate future attacks of this nature state, local, and

Good evening to all. I hope all is well this week. As many of you have stated, I thought I had a descent grasp of the United States Intelligence oversight. However, to my surprise I found that I actually did not have as good of an understanding as I thought. My shortcoming was in understanding just how convoluted the system is. The system has evolved over the years just as many things do. However, the system still has a long way to go before it’s as effective as it could be. Former Under Secretary Charles Allen noted that “virtually any terrorist attack on the homeland that one can imagine must exploit a border crossing, a port of entry, a critical infrastructure, or one of the other domains that the department has an obligation to

September 11, 2001 forever impacted America and gave a new challenge to our government that went far beyond any challenges that a natural disaster had presented in decades. The terrorist attacks were definitely a wake up call to being more prepared for natural disasters and reevaluating our intelligence agency jobs and communication levels. In chapter 2, one of the key points that Kettl discuss is connecting the dots. We can see that in the midst of 9/11, America focused on the nation’s intelligence services for answers. As the American people we wanted to know, who were the hijackers, where was security and most importantly, and who do we hold accountable? Furthermore, that the intelligence agencies failed to piece together information that already had about terrorism speculations. In chapter 1, Kettl talks about the warnings and signs that the government has before catastrophes (such as September 11, Hurricane

Upon analyzing 9/11 it was clear to focus on the limitations that the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Central Intelligence Agency had faced. Security breaches and poor intelligence sharing were just some of the critical failures that were encountered. Moreover, the main focus is pointed towards the miscommunication between these two agencies. Evidently, the execution and tactical strategies went unnoticed despite the apparent red flags that presented themselves, in addition to the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Central Intelligence Agency failure to pursue threats and establish a baseline of security resulted in the disaster of 9/11. In conjunction to these mistakes, the restriction of shared information

The government became consciously aware of what could possibly happen. Work was done to improve our Intelligence Agencies policies and procedures to allow for them to work together. Emphasis is placed on the observation of the various

Subsequent to 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) and the Pentagon which compelled the U.S. to imagine the unconceivable. That day things went really wrong, because that was the day that terrorist decided to make their presences know by attacking us. They evolved from using bombs to using airplanes to deliver as there attack weapon because it would cause lethal fatalities on U.S. soil. This was never done before and we were not prepared to handle such a massive attack. This paper will investigate what went wrong before and after 9/11, the effects of post 9/11, surveillance surge on state and local policing, what was the problem why the C.I.A. and the F.B. I. did not communicate with each other, analyze our current and past laws in regards to the dissemination of information between state, local authorities, and federal authorities, and to recommend changes or reforms to policies that are obsolete. We understand that local law enforcement and state agencies will bring specific advantages (there strength) from there organizations, and they will also bring their inherited weaknesses. Thereby, they will bring one important thing to the table which is how they collect local intelligence; as well as them being able to address some of their weaknesses. For example, lack of analytical capacity in order to fully use the data they collect. This paper builds and contributes to how things were before and after 9/11, and the types of changes that were made within law

The best way to prevent terrorist attacks in the future is by the gathering of information about terrorist schemes while they are in the planning process. The CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) is the agency responsible for gathering this information. Since the Watergate scandal of the 1970’s, it has been hindered both in the planning of intelligence operations and in tactics used to gather the intelligence. Intelligence operatives can never effectively help in the prevention of future attacks if they do not have the leeway necessary to gather information about such attacks while the terrorists are in the process of planning them.

After 9/11, an event so shocking, and humiliating to both the American people, and the U.S. Government, vast reforms were identified to ensure that an attack of this magnitude never happened again. From the ashes of this despicable act came two major pieces of Intelligence reform. These documents were the 9/11 Commission Report and The Intelligence Reform Act and Terrorist Prevent Act of 2004 (IRTPA). Both documents worked to reform the Intelligence Community (IC), and streamline current processes to improve the sharing of intelligence information, and products. With the sweeping changes

In September of 2001, the worst terrorist tragedy that has ever occurred on American soil, and quite possibly in the world, rocked the foundations of the United States of America. The unimpeded destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center led many to wonder how an event of such magnitude could not have been foreseen and prevented. Later, many sources led us to believe that it was not that the information was not there, but rather, it was the inability of intelligence communities and law enforcement agencies to communicate the data among themselves that resulted in the greatest security breach in American history. To combat this inability to coordinate use of data and information, the Defense Advanced

National security and the other intelligence agencies have played a major role in today’s society in regards to protecting our country. In this analytic paper I will discuss and reflect on the personal skills, abilities, and benefits of the five different intelligence community agencies that operate under their own instruction and training, but serves as the same purpose of defending the United States of America. The five different intelligence agencies are the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Navy Intelligence, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

After 9/11 we continued even harder than before to watch and listen for terrorist chatter, so much so that our public safety, law enforcement and governmental agencies begin to see the urgent need to formulate a plan for strategy, so that they could deal with terrorisms worldwide. In order to accomplish this, we would need to implement our policymakers’ so that they will be able to help in the planning stages. The Intelligence Community has shifted its resources to join the fight against terrorism. According to Hass (2007) states that our social factors, economic, political, and cultural decisions that was made or fail to make it, what we say or do not say, will create widespread repercussions that will dictate how the CIA, FBI, DHS and other governmental agencies preparing to respond to any type of other terrorist acts.

Terrorism has become a far reaching threat especially in the United States. Gathering intelligence on these terrorist groups has proven to be problematic for the intelligence community. Compartmentalized security measures have led to difficulty in detecting the intentions of the terror groups. Intelligence is a key aspect in the counterterror operations in order to prevent terrorists from conducting attacks against intended targets. The troubling aspect of counterterror operations is gathering intelligence on terrorist intentions due to the compartmentalized nature of their operations. Clandestine nature of terror operations and compartmentalization allow for a greater ability to coordinate attacks. Counterintelligence operations had been used

Intelligence collection and apprehension of criminals have occurred for many years; however, with the exception of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, these actions were performed by different organizations. Nonetheless, roles and responsibilities have changed since the attacks on September 11, 2001. Intelligence-led policing and the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing program were incorporated, and fusion centers were established to help gather intelligence from different levels of the government. Although law enforcement at the local, state, and tribal levels aid in intelligence collection, it is important to ensure that intelligence gathered to protect national security and law enforcement

September 11th changed the world and the United States in regards to how safe and well protected the world really is against a determined enemy that has an unpredictable mind. The Department of Homeland Security was formed in 2003 and has changed the way the United States operates in regards to protecting the United States against future attacks. The Department of Homeland Security as well as other agencies are providing real time intelligence to many different agencies as well as local law enforcement in the United States. Prior to September 11th lack of sharing intelligence among federal and state agencies was one reason the events of that day where not discovered or disseminated, the information of a possible attack existed in bits and pieces but was not shared overall to “connect the dots” (Blum, 2010 pg. 78).

After the September 11 attacks, George Bush decided that twenty two separate domestic agencies needed to be brought together to better protect the United States against threats. The agencies help with analyzing threats and intelligence, guarding borders and airports, protect critical infrastructures, and coordinate responses to emergencies (Cybercrime).