Public concern over safety, which was fueled by the rhetoric and misinformation of the Bush administration and others, enabled swift and sweeping reforms in the way the federal government and the military conducts itself both at home and abroad. The recently released torture memos are emblematic of the shift in attitude that took place amid the power structure of the national government of the United States, and to a large degree among the people of this country as well.

The most obvious structural change that took place during the years immediately following the attacks was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, which comprised the biggest reorganization of the federal government since Roosevelt's New Deals in the 1930s. The newly formed Department, which has itself already undergone several massive internal reorganizations, functions as the hub of all intelligence and defense agencies, both at home and abroad. Even the Coast...
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