Constraints on the U.S. Response to the 9/11 Attacks

Abstract

The American government's response to terrorist threats has had three features: a reluctance to restrict the civil liberties of American citizens; an unwillingness to invest heavily, or exercise regulatory authority, to ensure domestic security; and a preference for a militarized response to perceived threats, evidenced in US campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. Four features of the American political system explain this response: the increased complexity of the policy network interested in civil liberties; the persistence of populist anti-statism; the militarization of the American polity; and the susceptibility of the American political system to corporate influence. The consequence is a policy response that fails to take adequate measures to assure domestic security. This recent experience in responding to terror threats also suggests larger lessons about the political system's capacity to respond to policy shocks.

Keywords: United States, 9/11, national security, crisis response