Prospectus on Post September 11 Sustainability Challenges

Abstract or Introduction

September 11, 2001 remains an historic phenomenon in the history of the United States, as well as the whole world. In retrospect, the 9/11 terrorists’ attack on Pentagon and the World Trade Center changed the perception on terrorism and national security. In the pre-9/11, the aspect of homeland defense did not receive immense attention from a majority of people, and even some security agencies.

Grannis (2002) reaffirms this aspect by stating that approaches to counter terrorism were relatively missing. Only few government officials, think tank experts and academia showed interest in programs that focused on maintaining sustainability on domestic preparedness. Consequently, the U.S. Government in entirety did not consider domestic preparedness as one of the key priorities. However, the unprecedented terrorists’ attack by the nineteen hijackers in New York and Washington, as well as the subsequent biological attack, raised concerns on instruments of national power including intelligence, diplomacy and law enforcement. Prior to the attacks, al-Qaida’s were training thousands of terrorist recruits in Afghanistan under Iraq’s sponsorship, yet such aspects that threatened international security received little attention from the global security agencies. As such, it is apparent that sustainability on both domestic and international preparedness encompassed several challenges. In contrast, this aspect has changed in the post-9/11 in which the U.S. spending on homeland security has been increasing every year since 2001. However, the exclusive focus on counterterrorism approaches, in order to avert other terrorist attacks seems to have diverged the focus to domestic preparedness. It is explicit that the current security climate is characterized by extensive national security programs with a decreased focus on dual-use and all-hazard approaches to domestic preparedness. This presents a significant post-9/11 sustainability challenge.

Therefore, this paper aims at providing a comprehensive analysis on post-9/11 sustainability challenges and present appropriate recommendations.