Prior to 9/11, terrorism was just another key problem in American policy and different agencies were tasked to curtail its growth and influence – whether it is domestic or international terrorism. 9/11 changed the landscape to the point of having an all-source, central governing body that ensures 24/7 monitoring, prevention and stopping of all terrorist activities. The agency is the Department of Homeland Security tasked "to coordinate defense against, and responses to, terrorist attacks on U.S. soil combining border control and consequence management functions as well as a coordinating entity – the National Office for Combating Terrorism – with broad international responsibilities (Perl, 2003)." By aggregating the counterterrorism and anti-terrorism functions into one superbody, the previous problems with jurisdiction and "turf wars" amongst the FBI, DEA, ATF and other state and local police, intelligence and law enforcements agencies were solve. Hence, American policy in combating terrorists and terrorism responded with a centralized collection, investigation and implementation agency that ensures all avenues are managed to contain the global threats of this 21st century menace.
By combining all its resources into a single cabinet-level agency, the U.S. administration has been seen to have instituted a "swift, wide-ranging and decisive (Perl, 2003)" action plan that best responds to terrorist threats. The campaign involved rallying the international community, especially law enforcement and intelligence components (Perl, 2003). But despite this noteworthy action, American policy should still look at the root causes of some of the terrorist actions against itself and its citizens. Some sectors in the society – especially Muslims and Arabs – state that; "The method the American administration has used in the war against terror may have complicated the situation even mor...