Terrorist organizations are far more interested in the reaction a terrorist attack evokes than with the actual physical destruction caused by the attack itself. It is critical we keep terrorism in perspective, so we don’t overcompensate and over-reach like we did after the September 11th terrorist attacks, when our leaders charted a course in foreign policy that cost trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives.

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Back then, several policies were enacted that challenged our core values.  In addition to “enhanced interrogation techniques” – what we believe to be torture – President George W. Bush and Congress authorized several activities that went far beyond the parameters of traditional law enforcement, including things like the USA PATRIOT Act, which significantly increased the federal government’s authority to gather, analyze and investigate private information related to U.S. citizens.

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​Although most terrorist activity is not an existential threat to the United States, attacks can be extremely disruptive, can kill American citizens in small numbers, and can take a tremendous physical and psychological toll on our society. Therefore, the most important thing we as citizens can do – by far – is continue to reinforce our resilience. Bad things will happen on occasion and, as a society, we need to have the capacity to quickly absorb the event, recover, then move forward.  

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Although terrorists do not have the power to eliminate the United States, they do possess the capacity to fundamentally change who we are as a nation if we are not very careful.