W1 Terrorism – Michaela Wentz
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My apologies for the late post! It was just one of those weeks!
The reality is that no matter how “adequate” our laws and legislative process are terrorists will always slip through law enforcement’s fingers. Legislation like the USA PATRIOT Act has removed barriers for law enforcement agencies to more easily pursue terrorists and stop attacks before they occur. Legislation like the SAFETY Act encourages private sector companies to develop anti-terrorism technologies such as explosive detection devices and cyber security tools without being held liable.
Although not legislation, I would also like to consider Executive Order 13769, aka the Muslim Ban. This executive order temporarily prohibited entry to non-citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen (predominantly Muslim countries) citing heightened concerns of terrorism. However, none of the deadly terrorist attacks since 9/11 have been carried out by persons who “emigrated or came from a family that emigrated from one of these countries nor were any of the 9/11 attackers from the listed countries.”1
As we assess if legislation such as these is adequate 20+ years after the USA PATRIOT Act was enacted, let’s consider the data. Between 1987 and 2010, at least 176 attacks were unsuccessful or were thwarted by U.S. law enforcement.2 I say “at least” because we cannot actually fully measure something that did not take place. This equates to approximately 7 unsuccessful terrorist acts per year on average, with the peak being 2001-2005. Over that same period, the United States averaged about 28 terrorist attacks per year, but if we look closer, in 1987-2001 we averaged 38 attacks per year compared to 18 per year in 2002-2010.3 Of course, there are nearly innumerable factors contributing to these numbers other than legislation, such as advancements in technology, training, and the many factors of the adversary. However, I think the many efforts, including legislative, by the federal government almost certainly resulted in the post-9/11 decrease.
Now, we as society, the people of this republic, are faced with the question of whether we are okay with giving up some rights for these and future results. I, personally with my current understanding of the federal government, am willing to give up some freedoms in order to be safer from terrorists. Checks and balances exist to protect citizens from overreach by the government. If people think legislation is encroaching too much on their freedoms, they may elect new representatives.
Unfortunately, since 9/11, only one attack inside the U.S. was coordinated by a jihadist foreign terrorist organization. That was the December 2019 attack on Naval Air Station Pensacola. The terrorist was a Saudi Arabian flight student in the class below mine. He sat next to us in class every day and trained with us. I think the families of his victims and my friends who were in that building and locked down elsewhere on base that day would rather the government more stringently monitor who we allow into this country and who is interacting virtually with terrorist organizations. Statistically, terrorists are American citizens and legal residents. Legislation like the USA PATRIOT Act is necessary to enable law enforcement and intelligence agencies to protect us. We as citizens have already agreed to exchange some liberties for the government’s protections.
References:
1 https://www.newamerica.org/future-security/reports/terrorism-in-america/who-are-the-terrorists
2 Dahl, Erik J., The Plots That Failed: Intelligence Lessons Learned from Unsuccessful Terrorist Attacks Against the United States, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, vol 34, no 8, 621–48, (2011).
3 https://ourworldindata.org/terrorism
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