9/11

The Attacks on  September 11th, 2001

CONTENT ELABORATION: The post-Cold War period and the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, presented new domestic challenges for the United States. Issues impacting national security include:

• the dynamic of balancing national security with civil liberties (USA PATRIOT Act);

• the creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA);

• an increase in Islamophobia and xenophobia;

 • increasing fears of domestic terrorism

​USA PATRIOT ACT = antiterrorist bill; The law made it easier to wiretap suspects, track Internet communications, and seize voicemail.  Authorities were permitted to conduct secret searches and seizures.

• Proponents of the Patriot Act claim it provides necessary tools to law enforcement in combating terrorism.

• Critics of the Patriot Act say the law infringes on constitutional rights of privacy.

TSA = Designed to prevent similar attacks in the future. 

Islamophobia = is an extreme fear of and hostility toward Islam and Muslims which often leads to hate speech, hate crimes, as well as social and political discrimination.

Xenophobia - extreme dislike or fear of foreigners, their customs, their religions, etc.

Multiple Select

Throughout its history, the United States has had to confront serious challenges. Identify the challenges faced by the United States since the September 11, 2001, attacks. Select all that apply. ​ • You do not need to use all the challenges.

• competing in the space race

• countering the use of terrorism

• Balancing national security and civil liberities

• protecting aginst possible attacks in the United States

• preventing the spread of communism

Multiple Choice

An excerpt from a speech by President Barack Obama at the Department of Justice is shown.​

Relationships with foreign intelligence services have expanded, and our capacity to repel cyber-attacks have been strengthened. And taken together, these efforts have prevented multiple attacks and saved innocent lives--not just here in the United States, but around the globe. And yet, in our rush to respond to a very real and novel set of threats, the risk of government to overreach . . . also became more pronounced. We saw, in the immediate of 9/11, our government engaged in enhanced interrogation techniques that contradicted our values. As a Senator, I was critical of several practices, such as warrantless wiretaps. And all too often new authorities were institute without adequate public debate.  ​​-- President Barack Obama, January 17, 2014

​​​Which challenge facing the United States in the post-9/11 era does President Obama address in this excerpt?

• the unwillingness of countries to share surveillance data in the war against terror

• the obstacle of obtaining congressional approval to engage in preemptive wars

• the difficulty in balancing national security needs with the protection of civil liberties

• the international objections to U.S. development of advanced cyber-warfare capabilities

Multiple Choice

Which is one of the arguments that some people have against the Patriot Act?

• It makes the prosecution of suspected terrorists more difficult

• It limits the civil liberties of Americans

• It provides funding for domestic terrorist groups

• It reduces the power of the federal government

Multiple Choice

 In 2001, Congress passed the Patriot Act. Which was one of the powers granted as result of this act?

• increased authority to use electronic surveillance

• the right to draft people into the military

• federal funding for patriotic groups

• the right to create new taxes to fund anti-terrorist activities

Multiple Choice

​The cartoonist is critiquing 

• Increased government surveillance of U.S. citizens under provisions of the Patriot Act 

• The failure of the Department of Homeland Security to gather information about terrorism

• Terrorists were infiltrating U.S. security forces

• Citizens security was too dependent on electronic innovation

​The post-Cold War period and the attacks on September 11, 2001 impacted the military in the following ways: 

• increased defense spending as a result of the war on terrorism;

 • role of the United States and United Nations in addressing political and social unrest in the Middle East;

 and • the control of weapons of mass destruction in areas of the world perceived as a threat to world stability (President Bush warned the United States “will not permit the world’s most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world’s most destructive weapons.”)

Multiple Choice

How did the United States respond to the events of September 11, 2001?

• by increasing the size of its nuclear weapons stockpile

• by ending its economic partnerships with former Soviet countries

• by adopting isolationist policies to insulate itself against further aggression

• by pursuing military action in countries that were accused of supporting terrorists