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Brayden Nichols

Mr. Yula

U.S. History

12 September 2016

How the 9/11 attacks changed America

Many things happened in the aftermath of the horrible attacks orchestrated by al Qaeda

on September 11, 2001. These attacks changed the morale of all the citizens, not just those

involved directly with the attacks but those all around the country. The president at the time,

George W. Bush changed many policies, both foreign and domestic. These changes didn’t stop

with the end of Bush’s presidency, his successor president Barack Obama carried on the current

war on terrorism. The aftermath of the attacks involved enhanced surveillance, large scale

security measures, and a shift towards combatting terrorism in the Middle East.

After the attacks, president George W. Bush and his advisors focused the fight overseas

against the terror group, al Qaeda and all countries harboring the said terrorists. At the time of

the attacks the government was not focused on terrorism and they were working on relations

with world powers such as Russia and China. This proved successful in 2011 when the U.S.

military infiltrated, then leader of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden’s compound and killed him. Thus

beginning the downfall of al Qaeda. Bush and his advisors also moved away from the reliance on

deterrence and containment and embraced transformational policies of preemptive action and

regime change under certain circumstances.

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Many policies changed in the country after the attacks too. These changes included

increased security screening at airports, major sporting events, and most populous attractions.

Before the attacks, many practices that we commonly see at airports were nonexistent, blades up

to 4 inches were allowed, liquids were allowed, less intensive scanning machines, and less pat

downs. One could say that if we had those measures before the attacks we could’ve prevented

this tragedy. These measures are now regulated by the TSA, transportation safety administration,

which was founded after the attacks.

The morale of the country was shaken both during and after the attacks. After the attack,

people went into a metaphorical shock, the attack disrupted their lives. People couldn’t believe

that this atrocity could happen to the U.S. Not so much after the attacks but during many people

had loved ones in the area and were worried about them. They were frantically calling and

texting them to make sure they were ok.

These attacks effectively changed the course of United States history. These were

heinous attacks on many innocent civilians, they didn’t deserve to die. After the attacks, we did

the right thing, we made it safer on the homefront and we asserted our dominance as the greatest

nation on earth. Years down the road we have moved on, we haven’t forgot what happened. We

have prospered while we got our ‘revenge’. We remember all those brave people who lost their

lives in those events 15 years ago. After the cleanup was over and we got back to the grind, the

words “Never Forget” were used by many, so on this day 15 years later may we never forget

what happened to us.