The Threat summary

Even though almost two decades have passed, most people vividly remember September 11, 2001. When New York’s Twin Towers collapsed after being struck by hijacked aircraft, everybody watching knew this was a momentous event. Even so, few could’ve predicted just how radically it would alter American society and the wider world.

One organization, in particular, changed irreversibly and almost overnight: The Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI – the US federal law enforcement agency.

To be clear, the FBI has always investigated terrorist threats. The Counterterrorism Division and its criminal and counterintelligence equivalents have long been the Bureau’s three main branches. The agency mainly concentrated on high-level criminal activity, however, like organized crime and drug trafficking.

This is still a crucial function of the FBI, but 9/11 completely changed the rules of the game and the Bureau shifted its central focus to protecting American citizens by preventing acts of terrorism.

Overnight, counterterrorism operations took precedence, and funding and human resources for the division responsible grew quickly.

This meant, among other things, a growth in the number of units within the Counterterrorism Division. Before September 11 there were only two within the Counterterrorism Division – an Osama bin Laden Unit and a Radical Fundamentalist Unit. After September 11, dozens of counterterrorism units were created, including those dedicated to the financing of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. But these changes went further than simple resource allocation or restructuring: 9/11 transformed the Bureau’s internal culture.

Before the attacks, the FBI was riddled with division along both departmental and interpersonal lines. There was a fierce rivalry between the criminal and counterterrorism divisions, for example, with each believing they did the “real” work. And the FBI employs over 30,000 people, which requires a diverse range of skills, from bulky strongmen who excel in hand-to-hand combat to computer science experts working on cybersecurity. Often, those with different specializations couldn’t find common ground.

Again, 9/11 changed this. The day after the attacks, it was like a gust of air had blown through the stuffy corridors of the FBI’s Washington headquarters. There was a new sense of unity – everyone there was FBI, and everyone was in it together. The attacks were a watershed moment: The Bureau would never be the same again, and neither would its methods.