WGBH, September 2024
Wednesday, September 11, 2024, marks the 23rd anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in history — 9/11. In the wake of the four coordinated attacks carried out by the Islamist extremist group, Al-Qaeda, America went after the attackers and moved to reshape its strategy for national security. As a shocked and grieving America came to grips with terrorism, President George W. Bush’s administration moved to put protective security measures in place, creating the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, and a year later, the Department of Homeland Security.
And the attacks didn’t just stun average Americans — they left national security and military experts just as shocked. “To say we were caught off-guard was an understatement,” said General Jack Weinstein, professor of the practice of international security at Boston University and a retired Lieutenant General of the United States Air Force who was with President Bush during the 9/11 attacks. “In 1990, 1991 with Desert Shield and Desert Storm, it looked like the United States military was invulnerable,” he said. “If we wanted to go and do something, the United States military could do that. And then all of a sudden we were caught completely off-guard on 9/11.”
