Intelligence Success or Failure of Terrorist Attacks of 9-11 - Research Paper Example

?Implications of an intelligence success or failure of Terrorist attacks of 9/11 Introduction: The terrorist attack of 9/11 was a great hit upon the pride of America. Osama Bin Laden led terrorist group, al Qaeda unleashed war against America on September 11, 2001. They aimed at the central and key areas of America. The agenda of the group was to create maximum havoc uponAmerica. The 110 storied Twin Towers of TheWorld Trade Center and the Pentagon were the symbols of American hegemony over the other nations. The Pentagon was the core of American military power, and the Twin towers, the epitome of economic stability. The Twin Towers at New York City were perished into powder. The great agony fell on the land of America. The attacks on the Twin Towers and thereafter at the Pentagon were never expected. The belief among the people- America is unconquerable- was doomed on that day. In considering the efficiency of national intelligence wing of USA the citizens became skeptical after the attack. . The attacks were the clear cut result of lose intelligence capability of both CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation. The attacks had multiple levels of impact on the United States of America. It made new foreign policies of the nation,changed to fight against the terrorist elements, new strategies against terrorism were taken, and the pitfalls of the intelligence were rectified. The present essay tries to analyze the intelligence failure of CIA and FBI on the 9/11 incident and further it takes out the different measures to reform the agencies. History of the attack The terrorists hijacked the US Flights and they at first aimed at the 110 floor Twin Towers at New York City. The biggest towers of the world were waking up for the busy business deals and at 8.46 A.M. the hijacked American flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the Trade Center. At 9.03 A. M. United Flight 175 crashed against the South Tower. Very soon the place became quite similar to that of battlefield. Many tried to escape by jumping from the Towers. Panic stroked everywhere. All feared about the doom of the nation. At about 9.40 the hijacked American Flight 77 crashed into Pentagon. It partially destroyed the core military area of the US. The fourth attack was with the United Flight 93 which was crashed in Shanksville near Pennsylvania before it could reach Washington. All these attacks caused the death of 3000 and injuring many more. It was unbelievable for the world. The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat thus spoke, “We are completely shocked, completely shocked. Unbelievable” (Fox news, 2001). The Intelligence Failure The attack has paved the way for various discussions overtime and majority of these discussions have been identified as accusing the American Intelligence for its failure. The attack has had deep-rooted impact among the Americans that they took considerable amount of time to recover from its devastating effects. The peaceful eyes of the Americans were filled the shadow of death soon after the attacks. The people of America turned against their intelligence agencies. As Richard L. Russell puts, “The intelligence failure of 9/11 was arguably the greatest debacle in the history of U. S. intelligence” (Russell, 2007, p.71). The writer says that the CIA had anticipated that al-Qaeda may have their attacks on US assets on abroad; not in their own land. There was a notion for both agencies (CIA and FBI) that Al-Qaeda would not dare to fight directly against America. The writer further accuses the CIA as they “failed to have access to human intelligence assets who could have penetrated the Al-Qaeda conspiracy to allow for U.S. disruption of the plot” (Russell, 2007, p.72). Both CIA and FBI are equally responsible for the failure of intelligence in the attacks of Al-Qaeda. The wide notion of ‘unconquerable America’ had made both these agencies to neglect all the warnings against Al-Qaeda in America. It is said that “In July 2001, the FBI’s field office in Arizona, for example warned FBI head quarters about Bin Laden’s efforts to send students to USA in aviation related courses” (Russell, 2007, p.72). The coping up of the plot against America was underestimated by the authority. They have not taken ample measures to prevent such movements to American soil. The payment for this negligence was heavy upon the land. The whole world was shaken by the new wave of terrorism led by Osama Bin Laden and their war for holy ‘jihad.’ They made use of the shortcomings of the American intelligence agencies and thus America witnessed ‘the second Pearl Harbour attack’. The psychological impact was even heavier than the physical loss. For months Americans faced a shadow of death by the unknown agents inside and outside the land. It was found out by the researchers that, “Forty-four percent of the U. S. adults we surveyed reported at least one of five substantial stress symptoms since September 11, 2001” and further they said that “68 percent experienced at least one symptom “moderately” and 90 percent experienced at least one symptom “a little bit” (The New England Journal of Medicine, Nov 15, 2001). American Intelligent agencies like CIA and FBI, and innumerable private agencies could not implement a clear plan against the attacks of 9/11. Even though some minor warnings were given here and there no one noticed the havoc would have been such a fearsome as occurred. There are different reasons put forward for the failure of intelligence over the attacks. The reports of 9/11 and Senate Intelligence Committee agree that “there were points of vulnerability in the 9/11 plot and there were opportunities to disrupt the plot, which, tragically, were missed” (Wilkinson, 2007, p.265). In the analysis of the opportunities the key points are negligence of watch list of the suspects, lose handling of emigration check at the airports and the less sharing of information between CIA and FBI. Further the writer puts “There was an acute shortage of high- quality intelligence on Al- Qaeda”(p.265) as the key reason for the intelligence failure of the 9/11 attack. Both CIA and FBI had not taken care of such an attack from al Qaeda. There was free flow of foreigners to the land without proper checking. The terrorists entered the land under the pretext of students and they joined together and plotted against America. The intelligence agencies of America had watched the progress of the terrorist movement towards America but could not make a clear watch list of the persons. For example, Khalid al Mihdhar, one of the hijackers who worked behind the attack of Pentagon, was clearly noticed by CIA as there had a meeting of Al-Qaeda operators at Malaysia, and had taken a photograph of the person but could not continue to watch him thereafter. The incident had taken place twenty months before the attack (Zegart, 2005, p.78). The writer further says, “ George Tenet, the director of central intelligence (DCI), later admitted that the CIA should have placed al- Mihdhar on the State Department’s watch list denying him entry into the United States (Zegart, 2005, p.78). The unnoticed terrorists got united in US from different ways and they executed the most formidable incident ever in the modern world by attacking the pride of America over the world. The dominant intelligence departments of the nations had to put their heads down in utter shame and inability. The attacks on America had been called as the most brilliant plot against the most powerful nation of the world. So it can be said that the attacks happened due to the negligence of both the intelligent agencies of America. The need for Intelligence reform The incidents on September 11, 2001 witnessed the fall of the greatest nation’s intelligence agency. In the book, ‘The CIA and the culture of failure, the writer , John M. Diamond rightly puts, “No official body had unequivocally said that better intelligence could have prevented the 9/11 attacks, but an overwhelming consensus formed around the idea that massive intelligence failure had preceded 9/11 and that massive intelligence reform must follow it” (Diamond, 2008, p.8). For the common people in America the attacks of al Qaeda were considered to be the failure of intelligence wing of the nation, even though the wings had their justifications. They upheld a cry for the reform of the intelligence wing in America. The president of America, George W Bush had made his consent for the reform of the intelligence wing soon after the attacks. It has become a need to reform the intelligence to regain the American supremacy over the nations. The governments after the incident had insisted on the reform of the American intelligence agencies. Both CIA and FBI had progressed a lot in its reforms. The attacks were lessons for its reformations. The shortcomings of these two agencies met with joint venture of these two and later it could be seen that the intelligence agencies worked well to put an end for the terrorism in Iraq and in Afghanistan. The greatest work of these two can be attributed for the killing of Osama Bin Laden, the most dreaded terrorist and the supreme head of al Qaeda. Conclusions The 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon had made Americans panic and fear stricken. There was no doubt that the inefficiencies of the intelligence wings in America caused for such havoc in the land. So the US had taken different measures to end such kinds of war on humanity soon after the attacks. The American foreign policy had seen rapid changes and American government had learnt from its pitfalls. The American President Bush had shared his thoughts to destroy the elements of terrorism from the world. He said, “We're determined to destroy terror networks wherever they operate, and the United States is grateful to every nation that is helping to seize terrorist assets, track down their operatives, and disrupt their plans” (The White House, 2004). The war against terrorism was well received by all over the world. The terrorist Bin Laden and terrorist supporter Saddam Hussein were killed with the brilliant works of the intelligence agencies and thus America could bring back democracy and peace at the cause of some causality inside and outside the nation. The failures of intelligence on the attacks of 9/11 could later brought good fruits to American supremacy and its ideals for establishing democracy in the world. Works Cited Diamond J.M. (2008). The CIA and the culture of failure: U.S. intelligence from the end of the Cold War to the invasion of Iraq. Illustrated edition. Stanford University Press. Fox news. (2001). Chronology of the key events of Sept. 11. Fox news.com. Retrieved October 7, 2011 from http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,62184,00.html Russell R.L. (2007). Sharpening strategic intelligence: why the CIA gets it wrong, and what needs to be done to get it right. Rev.edn. Cambridge University Press. The White House. (2004). President Speaks to the United Nations General Assembly. The White House. Retrieved October 7, 2011 from http://merln.ndu.edu/merln/pfiraq/archive/wh/20040921-3.pdf The New England Journal of Medicine. (November 15, 2001). A National Survey of Stress Reactions after the September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks. N Engl J Med 2001; 345:1507-1512 Retrieved October 7, 2011 from http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200111153452024#t=articleDiscussion Wilkinson P. (2007). Homeland security in the UK: future preparedness for terrorist attack since 9/11.Illustrated Edition. Taylor & Francis. Zegart A.B. (2005). September 11 and the Adaptation Failure of U.S. Intelligence agencies. MIT Press Journals. Retrieved October 7, 2011 from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/isec.2005.29.4.78 Read More