We've given bin Laden what he wanted...

[sexobon]

OTOH if we had begun increasing security measures incrementally 10 years prior to 2001 we would have gradually became accustomed to them, we may not have experienced the loss in 2001, we may not have gone to war abroad, and we'd probably be patting ourselves on the back for our proactive savvy while other countries suffered loss.

That; however, is not America. It would have been political suicide for leaders at the time to have funded the security measures we now have in place. We are a reactionary country: that's our system for prioritizing ways and means as it gives us more freedoms between incidents. After an incident occurs, we're subject to the manifestations of financial and culture shock. Still, we wouldn't have it any other way.

Ted Koppel has excellent hindsight; but, offers no new direction ... only reflection. He presents with a late-in-life attitude that I doubt is shared by parents with young children when they have to board an aircraft, are approached by anyone with concealed identity; or, when a fight is brought to the homeland and we don't take it somewhere (anywhere) else.