It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Today, Americans are recounting their memories of horror, sadness and heroics on that fateful day when al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes and used two to destroy the World Trade Center towers in New York City and another to damage the Pentagon.
The images remain stark, from the burning and eventual collapse of the twin towers to the scenes of smoke billowing from the Pentagon. We remember the heroism of passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 who rushed the cockpit — and kept the flight from heading to Washington, D.C. We remember the sacrifice of those who lost their lives trying to help as many people as they could.
In all, nearly 3,000 innocent people lost their lives. For older Americans, these were life-changing events which played out live on television, while younger Americans have come of age in a post-9/11 world that was never the same.
In today’s hyper-online world, conspiracy theories continue to flourish about what exactly happened that day. But there’s little debate that the day’s events changed the psychology of our nation. The attacks directly sparked two wars, one in Afghanistan and another in Iraq, while also setting in motion a series of questionable interventions throughout the Middle East and beyond. Our nation also greatly enhanced federal surveillance and security powers in ways that have eroded our liberties.
As the Orange County Register’s late editorial writer Alan Bock noted 10 years after 9/11: “The Patriot Act was passed in a flurry of panic, and the privacy of every American was compromised, with little or no impact on terrorist activities. … Americans have become accustomed to removing their shoes and not putting shampoo in their carry-on bags and waiting in long lines to travel. Many Americans justify torture and indefinite detention without trial.”
It was a bipartisan effort — and now it’s just the way things operate.
Americans have put up with an airline process that seems like security theater, given that so many of the rules make little sense. In 2015, federal tests found that agents were able to smuggle weapons past TSA guards 95% of the time. The Patriot Act gave the feds vast powers to monitor all Americans’ emails, phone calls and other communications, track our financial transactions and spy without a warrant. It has done little to stop terrorism, but a lot to undermine privacy.
A quarter of a century later, new technologies have only ratcheted up mass surveillance. Currently, the nation is engaged in a debate about Flock Safety cameras, which are automated license-plate readers that can track our every movement — and build profiles of our whereabouts without a warrant.
A recent report from The New Republic reveals that “The Department of Homeland Security is running a police unit that uses Americans’ financial records to predict whether they could commit crimes.” These latest examples aren’t a direct result of 9/11, but a predictable outcome after a quarter century of a growing surveillance state. As Bock noted in 2010, Democrats made their peace with these policies when a Democrat was in the White House — and now vice versa for Republicans.
On this day of commemoration, Americans should mourn the senseless death and destruction. They should also commit themselves to rolling back many of the post-9/11 security expansions that promise safety, but mainly undermine our liberties. Perhaps those who came of age after 9/11 will have the emotional distance to create a bipartisan coalition to do so.