Cover Story Overview
American Perceptions of Terrorism in the Post-9/11 Decade
By Paul R. Pillar
The tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks has become an occasion for reevaluating the terrorism threat to the United States. This article examines a set of questions. How has 9/11 molded American attitudes about terrorism during the subsequent decade? To what extent do popular attitudes and perceptions conform with, or differ from, actual threats of terrorism today? Have counterterrorism policies been driven more by public perceptions than by the terrorist reality?
