9/11 Changed the U.S. Can It Change Back?

The September 11 attacks brought out moments of unity in the United States that did not last, while the security changes introduced afterward became part of everyday life, journalist and former Carter White House speechwriter James Fallows writes on the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

Fallows recalls the international solidarity that followed the attacks. France’s Le Monde declared, “We are all Americans,” and, for the only time in NATO’s history, all member countries voted to defend an ally under attack. In the United States, first responders and ordinary citizens who showed courage received widespread recognition.

President George W. Bush visited Washington’s Islamic Center days after the attacks and warned Americans not to treat Islam as the enemy. “In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect,” he said. Fallows argues that this unifying sentiment disappeared too quickly.

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We are all Americans.

He focuses instead on the changes that endured. Before 9/11, the United States had no Department of Homeland Security, TSA, or ICE. Those functions existed in more limited forms. The country also had no Patriot Act and little of the modern surveillance system that followed. Fallows points to contemporary automated license plate reader cameras as an example of the privacy concerns now surrounding mass surveillance and the collection of motorists’ location data.

He also links the post-9/11 era to the militarization of local policing and the “forever wars” that followed. The Iraq war, he writes, used 9/11 as its excuse even though no Iraqis were involved in the attacks. Looking back, he says the United States survived the assault and avoided another such attack, but its daily life and civic culture still changed. He hopes future generations will examine those changes and decide what should be changed back.

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In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect.