25 years after 9/11, a world reshaped by the attacks

A NEW ERA OF SURVEILLANCE

America’s response to 9/11 also changed the way its intelligence agencies operated.

“Terrorism had been a function that the intelligence community had looked at for many years prior to that, especially in the years after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing,” said David Viola, an adjunct professor at the Center on Terrorism at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

“But it was never a ‘priority one’. It wasn’t even priority two or three.”

“Following September 11th, counterterrorism and exploring terrorism became almost the sole focus of the intelligence community,” he added.

At the same time, technological advances have transformed how surveillance is carried out.

“Surveillance has become much easier, frankly, because of the advances in technology and also because we as citizens are more willingly sharing much more of our information,” Viola said.

Social media, smartphones that track their users and the widespread use of public surveillance cameras have also made it easier for authorities to access information, he added.