Twenty-five years after 9/11, the United States faces a disquieting paradox. On the one hand, the country has largely been spared another major terrorist attack. Only one lethal incident directed by a foreign terrorist organization has succeeded on American soil since 9/11: the 2019 shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola by a Saudi al-Qaeda operative, which killed three sailors and wounded eight others. This record is a towering achievement. In the dark and fearful days after 9/11 and during the early years of the war on terror, such an outcome was a matter of hope rather than certainty. The horrific attacks in Madrid in 2004, London in 2005, Mumbai in 2008, Paris in 2015, Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday in 2019, and Moscow in 2024 underscore the importance of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 in keeping the United States safe from another catastrophic attack.
The Shifting Landscape of Islamist Terror Since 2001
Protecting the United States has been a success, but defeating the movement that made 9/11 possible has not.
