9/11/2001 attacks
On September 11th 2001, al-Qaeda’s masterstroke consisting of four coordinated attacks against the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C., of which three were successful, resulted in major damage to the Pentagon and the destruction of both Twin Towers and nearby buildings.
The attacks caused 2,977 casualties, of which 88% of casualties were American citizens. (CBC News, 2009, par. 17) That same day, the Plan for the Security Control of Air Traffic and Air Navigation Aids (SCATANA) plan was put into application for the first time grounding all U.S. air traffic and leaving thousands stranded at airports internationally out of fear of further attacks
The American people were angry and confused at who could mount such an attack, and hate crimes against Arabs, Sikhs and Hindus were on the rise during the next few weeks.(CNN, 2001, par. 1) On September 20th, U.S. President George W. Bush gave a speech before Congress declaring his global War on Terror that would start first with those directly responsible for the 9/11 attacks, which the government considered to be foremost al-Qaeda and the Taliban. (Bush, 2001)
United States law enforcement agencies around the world were rapidly involved in this new global endeavour and airport security was drastically increased in the years following 9/11. Air marshals were also more common on U.S. flights.