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Tristan Walkington

Dr. Kittell

ENGL 1010 C25

11/12/2018

Is America Safer now than Before 9/11

America is not safer now than before 9/11. The risk for a terrorist attack is about

the same, however people think there is a greater risk because they are afraid and

therefore more alert. This fear caused the TSA to be created, and they are meant to be

a scare tactic used to dissuade terrorists. However, the TSA does not protect the people

as much as they are credited for, as they are mostly just a scare tactic.

The 9/11 attacks have caused Americans to fear Muslims more than we ever did

in the past. This fear keeps us from learning about their culture and accepting them into

our society. Muslims have taken most of the heat for terrorism even though recently

most terrorist attacks are from our own country. Americans have school shootings,

shootings at concerts, shootings at clubs, and bombings. People need to stop accusing

Muslims of all being terrorists and learn the difference between Islam and Islamic

extremism.

After the attacks of 9/11, the TSA was created to combat terrorism in places of

public transportation, such as planes. However, the TSA is only used to scare of

terrorists and would be terrorists, but it is all just for show. According to an article by

Christopher Elliott, “TSA screeners missed 95 percent of mock explosives and banned
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weapons smuggled through checkpoints by screeners testing the system.” Granted, the

testers knew where to hide them and where they would be least likely to check for

harmful material, but it is still alarming they did not find 95 percent of these weapons

and mock explosives. The TSA workers are not meant to protect anyone from actual

threats, they are used to cause fear in terrorists. So, in a way they are doing their job

exactly how it is meant to be.

The odds of anyone in America dying in a terrorist attack are extremely low.

From Fall 2001 through April 15, 2013, there were 35 deaths from terrorist attacks,

making the total around 3 deaths per year. This is using the NCTC’s definition of

terrorism as “politically motivated violence”. According to an article by Paul Brandus,

“Your odds of getting killed in a terrorist attack are absurdly low: about one in 20

million.”. As stated earlier, these odds are about the same as before. However, as of

recently, there have been many terrorist attacks, with multiple shootings each year and

large-scale terrorist attacks, and almost all of these are being caused by Americans.

Another form of protection needs to be put into place to protect us, increasing security

at public events, getting more officers at schools, training TSA workers more than they

are currently trained, and making it harder to obtain weapons would all influence the

rising amount of terrorist attacks happening.

There are some people that might argue that America is now safer than before

9/11, some of the arguments might include that the TSA is stopping terrorism, the odds

of dying in a terrorist attack is lower because of the extra protection, and that there are

more cameras and tracking in place to keep an eye on anything that could be

suspicious. The TSA might be scaring terrorists, however, if someone knew what they
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were doing, they would have a high chance of succeeding their attack. The odds of

dying in a terrorist attack is not lower, maybe attacks on planes, but it is about the same

even with the extra protection due to the increasing number of Americans causing

terrorist attacks. Lastly, cameras are more readily available to pick up on anything

suspicious that could be happening, but they are not always going to pick up everything,

and if they do pick up on something, it might be too late to stop an attack.

Americans are in more danger from terrorist attacks now than before 9/11, and

things need to change, or attacks will keep happening. Better training for those

protecting us, more officers in schools, more cameras, harsher gun laws, and harsher

punishments would all contribute greatly. Our society is being desensitized to things like

this because of how often they happen, and that is a problem we need to fix.
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Works Cited

Ashmawy, Omar. “Ten Years after 9/11, We’re Still in the Dark” Practical Argument,

edited by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell, 3rd ed., Bedford/St. Martin's,

2017, pp. page 714

Brandus, Paul. “Remembering 9/11: How Safe are we Today?” Practical Argument,

edited by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell, 3rd ed., Bedford/St. Martin's,

2017, pp. page 716

Elliott, Christopher. “ The TSA has Never Kept you Safe: Here’s Why” Practical

Argument, edited by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell, 3rd ed., Bedford/St.

Martin's, 2017, pp. page 722