{"id":2658228,"date":"2026-09-11T08:25:56","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T12:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignwe-are-no-safer-25-years-after-9-11\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T08:29:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T12:29:58","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignwe-are-no-safer-25-years-after-9-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignwe-are-no-safer-25-years-after-9-11\/","title":{"rendered":"We Are No Safer 25 Years After 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignwe-are-no-safer-25-years-after-9-11%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2658228&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>This article reflects on the missed opportunities and failures in the U.S.security efforts surrounding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It details the case of Mohammad Ahmad al-Qahtani, who was briefly detained at Orlando International airport just before 9\/11 but was not investigated thoroughly. If deeper investigation had occurred, authorities might have uncovered his links to the 9\/11 hijackers and terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, possibly preventing the attacks.Michael Lebowitz, an expert on national security and former prosecutor, emphasizes how critical intelligence lapses allowed key terrorists to slip through the cracks, highlighting that the attack coudl have been foiled if authorities had connected the dots.<\/p>\n<p>The piece also discusses the broader context of the post-9\/11 era, including the rapid military and security responses such as the creation of DHS and expanded counterterrorism measures.Despite these efforts, new terrorist groups have emerged, and systemic issues like complacency, political divisions, and policy failures have made America vulnerable again. Lebowitz warns that internal divisions and erosion of American values weaken national resilience, leaving the country susceptible to future threats. The article concludes with a recounting of the 9\/11 courtroom proceedings,illustrating the heinous behavior of terrorists and the ongoing threat from those who continue to plot against the nation. it underscores the importance of vigilance and the risks posed by internal vulnerabilities, stressing that the terrorists&#8217; ideology persists and they are still waiting for their next opportunity to strike.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>They had their man. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.war.gov\/News\/Releases\/Release\/Article\/2957801\/guantanamo-bay-detainee-transfer-announced\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mohammad Ahmad al-Qahtani.<\/a> It was Aug. 4, 2001. <\/p>\n<p>The Saudi citizen had flown into Orlando International Airport. He was briefly detained after acting like a complete ass to a U.S. Customs agent. He was cagey, squirrelly. So agents took him into a room and started asking questions. <\/p>\n<p>Ultimately,\u00a0 al-Qahtani\u2019s interrogators determined he was just another \u201cmigrant.\u201d A migrant with $2,800 in cash coming in to the United States on a one-way ticket. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey didn\u2019t view him in the counterterrorism prism,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/stores\/author\/B0G5TLFGB9\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Michael Lebowitz<\/a>, a former senior attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s National Security Division. \u201cIf they would have, those investigators \u2014 a few weeks prior to 9\/11 \u2014 would have had their hands on a travel itinerary with the phone number and contact information for a guy named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/national-news\/articles\/2026-09-10\/25-years-after-9-11-victims-families-still-waiting-for-trials\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mustafa al-Hawsawi <\/a>who was the main 9\/11 conspirator, clothing and feeding the hijackers within the United States.\u201d <\/p>\n<h2>\u2018It Fell Through the Cracks\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Lebowitz is an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/stores\/author\/B0G5TLFGB9\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">authentic expert<\/a> on the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The combat veteran, who served in a U.S. Army Pathfinder unit post-9\/11, was tapped as a special counsel and war crimes prosecutor in Guantanamo Bay matters. In fact, he helped prosecute the 9\/11 case, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/history\/cases-and-criminals\/uss-cole-bombing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">USS Cole bombing case,<\/a> and a case against al-Qaeda\u2019s top commander in Afghanistan. <\/p>\n<p>He knows counterterrorism. He wrote the book on it, <em>Second Wave: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Second-Wave-Inside-Qaedas-Americas-ebook\/dp\/B0G59G3HW3?ref_=ast_author_mpb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Inside Al Qaeda\u2019s Post-9\/11 Attack Plan and America\u2019s Secret Effort to Stop It<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Lebowitz joined me on the latest episode of <em>The Federalist Radio Hour<\/em>, set for release on Friday. We discussed the state of national security 25 years after radical Islamists struck America and forever changed the world. <\/p>\n<p>Had authorities in Orlando probed a little more deeply, they would have learned that the rude Saudi they briefly detained possessed a prepaid calling card with the phone number of the horrid and hairy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.war.gov\/News\/Advisories\/Advisory\/Article\/4591182\/media-invitation-announced-for-united-states-v-khalid-shaikh-mohammad-et-al-pre\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Khalid Sheikh Mohammad<\/a>, the mastermind behind 9\/11. <a href=\"https:\/\/oig.justice.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/archive\/special\/0205\/exec.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mohamed Atta,<\/a> the lead hijacker, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickorlando.com\/news\/local\/2021\/09\/10\/orlando-airport-inspector-credited-with-denying-entry-to-the-20th-hijacker-of-911-terrorist-attacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">waiting at the airport.<\/a> He was al-Qahtani\u2019s ride. Atta got a parking ticket waiting for his man, Lebowitz said. <\/p>\n<p>The agents in Orlando had \u2014 briefly in their custody \u2014 the terrorist who was meant to be the <a href=\"https:\/\/icct.nl\/event\/terrorists-trial-case-20th-hijacker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">20th hijacker,<\/a> and the fifth hijacker on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/flni\/learn\/flight93nps.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">United Airlines Flight 93.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Instead, they fingerprinted al-Qahtani and told him to use that $3,000 he was carrying to buy a ticket and get the hell out of the country. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis whole confluence of events caused the vital information that I believe could have potentially foiled 9\/11,\u201d Lebowitz said. \u201cIt fell through the cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd the fear is that we are at the same position where we were prior to 9\/11 where vital information can fall through the cracks.\u201d <\/p>\n<h2>We are at War with Ourselves<\/h2>\n<p>Much immediately changed after those hijacked jets slammed into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and crashed into that quiet farm field just outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The \u201cWar on Terror\u201d quickly punched the Taliban in Afghanistan, which gave sanctuary to Osama bin Ladin and his al-Qaeda hell hounds. Then the Pentagon and President George W. Bush decided to tangentially launch the War in Iraq to purge the country of Saddam Hussein and his government. Weapons of mass destruction, and all that. <\/p>\n<p>They created the Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Safety Administration, the Office of the Director Of National Intelligence. The idea was to secure the homeland from another 9\/11, secure the skies so air travelers would feel safe to fly again, and share intelligence so the United States wouldn\u2019t be caught sleeping again. <\/p>\n<p>Along the way, one terrorist group after another filled the vacuum left by the of the previous terrorist groups. <\/p>\n<p>We got longer lines and shorter leashes on our civil liberties. We got a 20-year war that chaotically ended with the Taliban back in power in Afghanistan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/afghanistan-taliban-using-american-weapons-25-years-after-september-11\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">using the billions of dollars of weapons<\/a> the U.S. military abandoned in its haste to leave. We got a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/03\/09\/deep-state-has-faced-zero-accountability-for-a-decade-of-spying-on-team-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Deep State and a broken Congress<\/a> more interested in imprisoning and killing political opponents at home than stopping foreign enemies at our gates.  <\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the \u201cHate America\u201d Americans have vilified and called for the dismantling, the defunding, of the post-911 agencies actually protecting the homeland \u2014 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In the 25 years since the terrorists struck, just one president has seriously enforced the laws Congress passed barring illegal aliens entry into the United States. <\/p>\n<p>Lebowitz said there are many reasons why we are no safer than we were on Sept. 10, 2001. Complacency, misplaced policy priorities, the gutting of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/imagine-if-our-intel-agencies-targeted-more-actual-terrorists-instead-of-conservative-americans\/\" title=\"Imagine if our intelligence agencies focused on targeting real ... rather than conservative Americans.\">effective intelligence gathering<\/a>, a broken immigration system, a failure of Democrat and Republican administrations to heed the lessons learned through suffering and history. <\/p>\n<p>But what makes us most vulnerable to the next 9\/11 is that we are at war with ourselves, in so many ways. The erosion of faith, family, and foundational American values has left America weak and exposed to evil, to enemies laughing at and preying on our division and our \u201cinclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Paper Airplanes<\/h2>\n<p>The monsters who murdered nearly 3,000 innocent people in New York City and Washington, D.C., and rural Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001 have been replaced by the next generation of monsters. They rejoice on this solemn anniversary, laying in wait for their next opportunity to strike.<\/p>\n<p>Lebowitz, a 20-year-plus veteran of the Army, is steeped in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armyupress.army.mil\/Journals\/NCO-Journal\/Archives\/2018\/January\/Military-Bearing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Military Bearing,<\/a> the way service members are taught to conduct themselves. It\u2019s standing tall, with confidence, a disciplined confidence, carrying oneself with professionalism and exuding calm, particularly in hostile situations. Military Bearing is a mental shield that is indispensable in combat and, for a war crimes prosecutor, in the courtroom. <\/p>\n<p>Lebowitz needed every bit of that bearing during the marathon arraignment of 9\/11 conspirators held at Guantanamo Bay. The court proceeding, at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/world\/us\/corrected-accused-911-plotters-defiant-at-guantanamo-arraignment-idUSBRE84812B\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">13 hours,<\/a> was the longest arraignment in American history. It was grueling. <\/p>\n<p>Lebowitz vividly recalled the despicable behavior in the courtroom of one of the suspects, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.war.gov\/News\/Releases\/Release\/Article\/3857257\/plea-agreements-reached-with-911-defendants-khalid-shaikh-mohammad-walid-bin-at\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Walid bin Attash,<\/a> the Yemeni foreign national who allegedly tested out whether razor knives and box cutters could be carried onto commercial airplanes. They could, no problem. The hijackers would use the blades to take control of the jets they used as suicide missiles. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had victim family members in the back of the courtroom,\u201d Lebowitz recalled. \u201cAttash made a paper airplane, held it up and, showed it to the family members and smiled as he threw it across the courtroom.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOutwardly I was cool and collected, but inwardly I was like, \u2018What a psychopath,\u2019\u201d the war crimes prosecutor said. <\/p>\n<p>More terrorists cut from the same cloth are being created every day, in foreign lands and inside the nation they hate. <\/p>\n<p>They know just how vulnerable the Land of the Free is 25 years later. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-knew-100-percent-he-was-fighting-for-the-little-guy-former-top-trump-economic-adviser\/\" title=\"Trump Knew \u2018100 Percent\u2019 He Was \u2018Fighting for the Little Guy\u2019: Former Top Trump Economic Adviser\">award-winning investigative reporter<\/a> and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They detained al-Qahtani in 2001, but missed key links<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":656,"featured_media":2658229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-10-at-11.34.20-PM-1024x575.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[56199,63168,50611,85496,6039],"class_list":["post-2658228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-9-11-2","tag-9-11-anniversary","tag-national-security-2","tag-safety-evaluations","tag-terrorism"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-10-at-11.34.20-PM-1024x575.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2658228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2658228"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2658228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2658232,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2658228\/revisions\/2658232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2658229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2658228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2658228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2658228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}