After terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 George W. Bush, having been the president of the country took extensive measures to guard and secure the territory of the United States. Seaports, bridges, U.S. harbors and sites such as Empire State Building, were instructed to be under constant guard.
Before the attack the U.S. border security was focused on limiting the inflow of drugs and immigrants into the country. After the attack these measures were adapted to counter terrorism efforts. Random ships, trucks and airplanes were constantly inspected by government officials.
Unfortunately, additional measures led not only to extra costs but also to enormous trade delays with foreign countries. Such tightened security measures added arrival time to every ship, airplane or truck entering the country. People who did not have any link to the terrorist attack had to go through long, tiresome and stressful check. These measures were understandable but had a considerable impact on legitimate travel and trade.
America’s prosperity relies on its ready access to global networks of transport, energy, information, finance, and labor, according to what analysts say. Measures taken by the government can be called “self-defeating”, talking about security measures that isolated the country from these networks. This kind of security has become a trade barrier that the United States created unwillingly. The U.S. response following the terrorist attack in 2001 is compared to the “imposing a trade embargo on itself”. The question is: How much is too much? How could government be so concerned with security of the country that completely forgot about other major industries, like tourism and global trade?
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