Abstract:
This thesis considers the value and productivity of the extensive measures taken in the
last twenty years by the United States government while it waged a global ‘War on
Terror’ in response to the 11 September 2001 attacks. These measures, implemented by
the Bush administration in the aftermath of the attacks, and continued by the subsequent
Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations, appeared in the form of widespread
policies, acts, military interventions, displays of force, sanctions, enhanced
interrogations, and surveillance activities at massive financial and human cost, as well
as the invasion of privacy. The actions implemented were justified in the name of
security, sold to the American people and the world as the means by which the U.S.
would neutralize the threat of ‘terrorism’ and prevent a future attack. In passing the
Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), Congress authorized President Bush
to “use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or
persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the ‘terrorist’ attacks
that occurred on 9/11, or harbored such organizations or persons,”1 granting the White
House the full freedom to implement measures that targeted the greater Middle East,
Africa, and Asia and its people, under the guise of a ‘terrorist’ threat. After nearly two
decades and four administrations, it is crucial that the widespread measures taken, in the
name of security, be examined to determine what this massive securitization of America
has actually accomplished and whom it has benefitted.
