airports, allegedly carrying knives, box cutters and concealed weapons on their person or in carry-on luggage. Lead up to 9/11: The hijackers passed through security checkpoints at four U.S. In addition, the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative helps to train state and local law enforcement to recognize behaviors and indicators related to terrorism, crime and other threats while standardizing how those observations are analyzed and disseminated.įinally, state and local law enforcement officers can determine whether an individual is on a watchlist through the National Crime Information Center. Today, fusion centers throughout the country serve as focal points at the state and local level for the receipt, analysis, gathering, and sharing of threat and vulnerability-related information. law enforcement for various traffic violations. Lead up to 9/11: Several of the hijackers were apprehended by U.S. TSA performs background checks, including government watchlist matching, a criminal history check, and an immigration status check. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has responsibility for ensuring that foreign students seeking training at flight schools do not pose a threat to aviation or national security. Lead up to 9/11: The hijackers enrolled in flight schools and conducted cross-country surveillance flights in order to identify aircraft that would produce their desired impact. Today’s travel related databases along with threat-related intelligence have been essential in identifying, targeting, and interdicting known and suspected terrorists as well as suspicious cargo before it enters the United States. TodayĭHS partners with the Terrorist Screening Center, the National Counterterrorism Center and other federal entities to analyze travel-related data in order to better understand and anticipate the travel patterns of known or suspected terrorists. on tourist visas with cash and travelers checks acquired in the Middle East. Lead up to 9/11: The hijackers began arriving in the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in collaboration with the Departments of Justice and State, has signed Preventing and Combating Serious Crime Agreements with 18 countries, including Germany, to share information about terrorists and criminals. Lead up to 9/11: Many of the hijackers prepared for the 9/11 attack while living in Germany. TodayĭHS and other federal partners have built a capacity to more extensively vet those individuals applying for visas or travel to the U.S.įor example, through the Visa Security Program, which did not exist on 9/11 and is now operational at 19 posts in 15 countries, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in conjunction with the State Department, deploys trained special agents overseas to high-risk visa activity posts to conduct targeted, in-depth reviews of particular visa applications and applicants before they reach the United States. Lead up to 9/11: The hijackers began to obtain passports and visas for travel to the United States. Today, in concert with public and private sector partners as well as international allies, this Administration has developed a multi-layered information sharing security strategy to target and identify both known and unknown individuals that may pose a threat to the United States wherever the operational planning might occur with the goal of preventing such persons from entering the country. Lead up to 9/11: Osama Bin Laden summoned operatives to Afghanistan to discuss using commercial aircraft as weapons and developed a list of potential targets in the United States. DHS and its many partners across the federal government, public and private sectors, and communities across the country and around the world have worked since 9/11 to build a new homeland security enterprise.īelow we've laid out some of the concrete measures that have been put in place since 9/11.