ABSTRACT
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 left Americans feeling vulnerable as never before. For weeks thereafter citizens on the streets of the nation’s capital glanced nervously skyward in response to noises from above. Even in seemingly safe communities across the heartland people thought twice before going out to shopping malls or restaurants. A year later Americans were still on edge. Comments by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created mass purchasing of duct tape and plastic sheeting, and Washington suburbanites brooded over whether the Washington sniper was the tip of alQaeda’s latest plot. Arrests of shoe-bomber Richard Reid (2001), the Lackawanna Group (2002), terrorist cells in Toronto and Miami (June 2006), the UK-based group plotting to blow up US-bound airplanes (August 2006), the Times Square bomber (May 2010) and most recently the Boston Marathon bombers (April 2013) were reminders that the threat to the US homeland has not gone away.
