Strategic Insights, Volume Iv, Issue 2 (february 2005)

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 illustrated in graphic terms the vulnerability of the United States to asymmetrical attack. The relative ease with which the nineteen Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four airplanes and used them as deadly ballistic missiles was inconceivable to the citizens of the world’s only remaining superpower. In an instant, it became painfully clear that despite its nuclear missiles, tanks and aircraft carriers, America was absurdly vulnerable to attacks coming from “below the radar.” Al Qaeda proved terrorist attacks could come from unexpected directions, using more imagination than conventional power. This new sense of insecurity has defined the post-11 September world for the U.S.