Aftermath of 9/11; Congress Acts

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On September 11, 2001 a national tragedy struck the nation. The terrorist group, al-Qaeda, hijacked 4 passenger airlines and performed multiple suicide attacks at locations such as New York and Washington, D.C. This event struck fear in the American people as this was the largest event that caused the highest lost of lives from a foreign attack on the country. Following the event, the national government was forced to act quickly. The incumbent president at the time, George W. Bush, was left with a difficult task on how to deal with this threat and possible future threats. He worked with Congress to come up with multiple measures they could implement to prevent future events of terrorism.
In the documentary “Are We Safer”, Richard Clarke is the former counter-terrorism czar and said in an interview that “President Bush said to us in the basement of the White House on the night of 9/11, ‘You have everything you need’“ (Clarke). It was a desperate time for the national government as everyone needed to do the most they can. All the counter terrorism agencies received an increased funding after the event of 9/11 as Congress also threw in tens of billions of dollars to deal with the al-Qaeda threat. However one of the most significant action, by far, Congress took was the passage of The Homeland Security Act in 2002. The passage of this Act allowed for the creation of The Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The DHS is the “largest merger in government history. There were 17 agencies from multiple departments . . . all being fused together into one organization and all at once” (Clarke). The main responsibility of the DHS was to prevent future terrorism events from happening in the United States. Officials believed that the reason ...

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