War on terror describes efforts by the United States to combat terrorist activities in the years following the September 11 attacks of 2001. The September 11 attacks, commonly called 9/11, were the worst acts of terrorism ever carried out against the United States. Days after the attacks, U.S. President George W. Bush delivered a speech before Congress in which he called for a global “war on terror.” The United States and its allies soon launched military strikes against terrorist strongholds in Afghanistan. That country’s ruling group, the Taliban, had hosted the terrorist network believed to be responsible for 9/11. American and allied intelligence agencies also worked to disrupt the communications and funding of terrorist groups around the world. Antiterror efforts became the subject of ongoing debates over how best to balance security and individuals’ rights.
Background.
On Sept. 11, 2001, members of the terrorist network al-Qa`ida (also spelled al-Qaeda) used hijacked commercial jetliners to attack U.S. targets. Nearly 3,000 people were killed. On September 18, President Bush signed a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress giving the president the “Authorization for Use of Military Force” against the nations or organizations responsible for the attacks. In a speech two days later, Bush called for a “war on terror” to destroy international terrorist networks. “Our war on terror begins with Al Qaida, but it does not end there,” he said. “It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated.”
Bush called for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to close al-Qa`ida’s camps and turn over al-Qa`ida’s founder, Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden. Taliban leaders refused.
The Afghanistan War.
On Oct. 7, 2001, the United States and its allies launched a military campaign to remove the Taliban from power and to destroy Qa`ida camps in Afghanistan. By December, major fighting had ended, and the Taliban had been driven from power.
The U.S.-led coalition killed or captured many opposing fighters. Agents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also captured suspected terrorists in other locations throughout the world. The Bush administration then faced the question of how to handle the detention, interrogation, and potential prosecution of captured terror suspects. Bush called the suspects “illegal combatants,” a status that disqualified them from protections given traditional prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. In 2002, many terrorist suspects were moved to a detention center at a U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. United States and allied forces remained in Afghanistan until 2021.
Unconventional war.
The campaign to oust the Taliban had many of the characteristics of a conventional war. Beyond Afghanistan, however, the “war on terror” differed greatly from traditional warfare. In general, the enemy operated in secret, did not have traditional bases, and did not use conventional military tactics. American counterterror strategy soon centered on the use of preemptive military strikes—that is, aggressive strikes intended to prevent future attacks. American efforts included the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called drones. Drones fired on suspected terrorists in remote areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and elsewhere.
In the years following 9/11, CIA agents working overseas often flew terror suspects to secret CIA-run prisons or transferred them to the custody of foreign governments. The practice of sending terror suspects to foreign or secret prisons to be interrogated became known as extraordinary rendition. In their quest to uncover information, CIA agents subjected many suspects to brutal interrogation practices. Such practices included waterboarding—a technique in which suspects are made to believe that they are drowning.
Controversy related to the war on terror arose in 2003, in the months leading up to the Iraq War (2003-2011). While making a case for an invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration alleged—but did not prove—that Iraq had cooperated with al-Qa`ida and could potentially provide the group with weapons of mass destruction (biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons). Many observers felt that the efforts to link Iraq to the war on terror were misleading or dishonest. The United States quickly toppled the Iraqi government, but the war continued. A radical militant group called al-Qa`ida in Iraq began fighting U.S. troops and the forces of a new Iraqi government. The group later fought in a civil war that erupted in Syria in 2011, and it eventually adopted the name Islamic State. By 2014, the group had established control over parts of Iraq and Syria. The United States and its allies then began launching air strikes against Islamic State strongholds.
Barack Obama succeeded Bush as president of the United States in 2009. Obama sought to recast the manner in which the nation addressed the terror threat. “We must define our effort not as a boundless ‘global war on terror,'” he said, “but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America.” Obama sought to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, and he banned the use of controversial interrogation tactics that many critics had described as torture. Critics of U.S. counterterrorism programs contended, however, that little had changed under the new president. They noted that Obama had maintained surveillance programs begun under Bush and expanded the use of drone strikes against terror suspects. In 2011, Obama authorized a U.S. military operation that killed al-Qa`ida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
Donald Trump succeeded Obama as president in 2017. He lifted some Obama-era restrictions on drone strikes against terror suspects. Trump pledged to make greater use of the Guantánamo prison but later criticized the facility’s high operating costs. Joe Biden succeeded Trump as president in 2021. He continued Obama-era efforts to transfer some Guantánamo prisoners to the custody of their home governments.
Legal measures and government reforms.
Following 9/11, the U.S. government sought to increase its ability to investigate and detain suspected terrorists. In October 2001, Congress passed the Patriot Act. The act gave law enforcement the power to detain any noncitizen suspected of being a risk to national security. It also granted authorities greater freedom to conduct searches and use wiretapping (the interception of communication through electronic listening devices). Critics argued that the law threatened civil liberties and violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. When Congress renewed the act in 2006, it included new safeguards for civil liberties.
In mid-September 2001, President Bush announced the creation of a new federal Office of Homeland Security to oversee the protection of the United States. In 2002, Congress expanded the office into a new executive department, the Department of Homeland Security.
In 2004, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which reorganized the U.S. government’s intelligence community. The act created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to coordinate intelligence collection, analysis, and sharing among agencies.
Controversies.
Many civil rights activists argued that the Patriot Act and other antiterror policies gave the government too much power and threatened individuals’ privacy and civil rights. Critics also targeted drone programs. Many observers cited reports that civilian casualties caused by drone strikes often led to increases in terrorist recruitment. In addition, some critics argued that intelligence gained through brutal interrogation techniques proved to have little or no value.
Surveillance programs conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA)—an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense—became the subject of international controversy in 2013. That year, NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed documents showing that the NSA spied on both U.S. allied and enemy countries around the world.
In 2014, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report examining the interrogation practices used by the CIA in the years after 9/11. The report documented numerous brutal practices. It also found that the CIA routinely misled the White House about the effectiveness of such methods in uncovering terror plots.
