The Three Failures of 9/11

Failure of the Customer to Act on Intelligence

The 9/11 attack by Osama Bin Laden on US soil was a success because of the failure of the agents to act on intelligence. Before 1997, several media reports indicated that Bin Laden had plans to attack the United States. Additionally, in 1998 Bin Laden proclaimed to lay his attack to follow the example set by Ramzi Yousel in the World Trade Centre bombing. The US was also aware about Bin Laden’s plan to exploit the operations of the operatives in US to mount a terrorist attack: an Egyptian Islamic Jihadi operative had informed on this plan. More pieces of intelligence that gave clue on a possible attack were also available in the domain of the FBI, but still they were not acted upon with the seriousness they deserved. For instance, in 1998, Ressam had informed on the plan by Abu Zubaydah to attack the US after he was convicted for the Los Angeles International Airport terror attack (Moyers, 2012). Therefore, based on these pieces of intelligence, the United States government should have prepared for the attack, and more so implement strategies to combat and prevent the disaster of 9/11.

Failure to Analyze Collected Material Objectively

US intelligence failed to take a serious note on reports of the failed attack in Canada by Bin Laden in 1999, whose in-depth analysis would have been a key informant on the possibility of future attacks on US soil by the terrorist group. Also, it was imminent for Bin Laden to plan a retaliation after the bombing of his military base in Afghanistan by the United States in 1998. From a logical point of view, it only makes sense to expect a retaliation from an enemy after attacking them. Therefore, the government of the United States should have made considerations for a possibility of a retaliation by Bin Laden. Additionally, the intelligence unit in government had the information that Laden had told his followers he would be attacking Washington DC to counter the US attack on his base (FBI, 2001). Therefore, it is expected that the government should have identified possible targets by the terror group under Bin Laden’s command, input required resources, and anticipate the attack. Additionally, the government should have ensured a complete successful attack on Bin Laden’s base in Afghanistan to thwart possible planning and reorganization of the terror group militants to attack US.

Failure to Share Information

The problem of communication asymmetries within the intelligence units and the citizens also proved a failure in the 9/11. Information on the existence of the Bin Laden cell in New York used to recruit American-Muslims into the Al-Qaida was in public domain but was not shared with concerned intelligence units by the citizens who were aware. Additionally, citizens affiliated to Al-Qaida members who were US citizens, that is through family ties, friendships, among other forms of human relationships, failed to share that information with the authorities. According to evidence submitted after the 9/11 bombing, most Al-Qaida members were US citizens who participated in several ways to help Bin Laden in planning and executing attacks on US soil and other states affiliated with the US. In fact, this aspect was a major advantage of the Al-Qaida over the US government in the sense that these members who were also US citizens had good knowledge of the geography of terrorist targets and daily operations in these specific places (National Commission of Terrorist Attacks, 2002). Also, it was easy for these citizens to move around the country unsuspiciously to execute Bin Laden’s efforts. For instance, the two Al-Qaida members responsible for the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were US citizens. 

References

FBI, (2001). Bin Laden determined to strike in US. FBI report : Declassified and approved for release, 10 April 2004 . 

National Commission of Terrorist Attacks (2002). The 9/11 commission report.

Moyers, B. (2012). 9/11 for the record. Bill Moyers Journal . Retrieved from BillMoyers.com