America has undergone tremendous change since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The U.S. government has kept its citizens on attack alerts fluctuating from elevated to severe. Departments of counterterrorism and homeland security have worked to assess potential terrorist targets and figure how to prevent further attacks.
Airports passed security-screening responsibilities to the federal government, and armed pilots with guns. Has all of this made the United States immune from another terrorist attack on the scale of Sept. 11?
T.J. Allard, director of homeland security at Sandia National Laboratories, said no. He said the country is safer than it was before Sept. 11, but it is not completely safe.
"There is still a lot of work that needs to be done," he said.
One of the challenges in preventing another major terrorist attack, Allard said, is keeping the U.S. government on top of the situation all of the time. A terrorist only needs to be successful once for another major disaster to occur, he said.
Allard said staying one step ahead of the terrorists is another challenge.
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"You don't ever stop because they're changing their methods too," he said. "If we improve our air transportation security, then they'll look at a different target. When we improve that target, they'll look at another target."
Allard said work is done to understand the motivation and intent of terrorists to help prevent attacks from taking place.
"Otherwise, we will always be reacting, and we will always be late in the process," he said.
On Nov. 19, 2001, President Bush signed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act into law requiring all U.S. airports to replace private security screeners with federal government screeners. ATSA also required all checked luggage be screened, which was not done before Sept. 11.
Maggie Santiago, from the Transportation and Security Administration at the Sunport International Airport in Albuquerque, said the airport's security system is multi-layered.
"Some of those layers are very visible to the flying public, and some of those layers are just not detectable to anyone other than people that are in the business," she said.
Santiago said some of the security measures that aren't visible to the public include the federal flight deck officer.
"That program was to arm commercial pilots of aircrafts," she said. "This was a controversial program though, unfortunately, because there were a lot of people against pilots having guns."
Santiago added the program has been successful because of its strict guidelines.
Federal air marshals have also been a significant presence on commercial planes since Sept. 11. Santiago said prior to Sept. 11, the United States had less than 36 air marshals and now has thousands.
Santiago couldn't comment on the number of security staff members at the Sunport, but said the country has 45,000 screeners - a number mandated by Congress.
While the TSA programs seem to make the airways safer, screeners at the Sunport still confiscate prohibited items daily. Screeners detected 15 million prohibited items across the nation in the three years since Sept. 11. Santiago said the bulk of the items taken have been knives, box-cutters and firearms.
John German, who specializes in nonproliferation and international programs technologies at Sandia Labs, said it has looked at security measures against terrorism for decades. German didn't comment on whether a terrorist attack could take place now, but said the labs are always prepared.
"When 9-11 happened, we were already ready," he said.
