Failure of imagination

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"Failure of imagination" is a phrase indicating a circumstance wherein something undesirable yet seemingly predictable (particularly in hindsight) was not planned for. [1] [ failed verification ] The idea was invoked by the 9/11 Commission and other U.S. government officials as a reason that intelligence agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the NSA, failed to prevent the September 11 attacks.

Contents

September 11 attacks

"Failure of imagination" has been invoked as a reason that intelligence agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the NSA, failed to prevent the September 11 attacks. During the summer of 2003, after the now-declassified report about the September 11 attacks, Senator Bob Graham stated the attack might have easily been predicted and even prevented. [2] Following these criticisms, President Bush declassified the August 6, 2001 President's Daily Brief, Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US , which indicated that hijackings might be one possible mode of attack. [3]

After the attacks, representatives of the Bush administration claimed in early 2004 that "nobody could have imagined that ... hijackers would intentionally crash ... hijackers usually want to live." [4] To the contrary, the apparently intentional crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 by its co-pilot on October 31, 1999, [5] and a similar intentional crash of PSA Flight 1771 by a disgruntled former airline employee on December 7, 1987, [6] and especially the case of AFR 8969, offered precedents that indicated otherwise. Similarly, nobody imagined that hijackers would use commercial aircraft as weapons. In 1997, The Gore Commission, created by President Clinton in 1996 as a result of the TWA Flight 800 crash, published a report on the shortcomings in aviation security in the United States. [7] The report focused mainly on the dangers of placing bombs on aircraft and did not mention suicide hijacking or the use of aircraft as weapons. [8]

Prior to the 9/11 attacks, a number of foreign nationals were taking pilot training in the U.S. and raised suspicion by being uninterested in learning how to land safely.[ citation needed ] The 9/11 Commission found that this failure to "connect the dots" and imagine what was being planned was an important contributing factor to the September 11 attacks, stating "the most important failure [concerning the 9/11 attacks] was one of imagination." [9]

Other incidents

"Failure of imagination" has also been invoked in regards to the Apollo 1 fire by astronaut Frank Borman in 1967 when he spoke at the Apollo 1 investigation hearings (dramatized in the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon in 1998).[ citation needed ] It has also been mentioned in reference to design flaws in the RMS Titanic. Donald Rumsfeld, in the documentary The Unknown Known , suggests that the failure of the United States to anticipate the attack on Pearl Harbor was a failure of imagination. [10] [ verification needed ]

The phrase has also been used to describe Israel's lack of preparedness for the 2023 surprise attack by Hamas. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Airlines Flight 11</span> Flight hijacked in September 11 attacks

American Airlines Flight 11 was a domestic passenger flight that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The hijacked airliner was deliberately crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in New York City, killing everyone aboard the flight and resulting in the deaths of more than one thousand people in the top 18 stories of the skyscraper in addition to causing the demise of numerous others below the trapped floors, making it not only the deadliest of the four suicide attacks executed that morning in terms of both plane and ground fatalities, but also the single deadliest act of terrorism in human history and the deadliest plane crash of all time. The aircraft involved, a Boeing 767-223ER with 92 passengers and crew, was flying American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental service from Logan International Airport in Boston to Los Angeles International Airport in California.

At around 9:30 pm on September 11, 2001, George Tenet, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) told President George W. Bush and U.S. senior officials that the CIA's Counterterrorism Center had determined that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda were responsible for the September 11 attacks. Two weeks after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation connected the hijackers to al-Qaeda, a militant Salafist Islamist multi-national organization. In a number of video, audio, interview and printed statements, senior members of al-Qaeda have also asserted responsibility for organizing the September 11 attacks.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the September 11 attacks and their consequences:

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., by the al-Qaeda terrorist group, a number of investigations were conducted to determine what intelligence may have existed before the attacks and whether this information was ignored by authorities.

References

  1. ↑ "Definition of Black Swan, BuzzWord from Macmillan Dictionary". www.macmillandictionary.com. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
  2. ↑ Mother Jones interview with Graham
  3. ↑ National Security Archive
  4. ↑ White House briefing with Condoleezza Rice
  5. ↑ NTSB report
  6. ↑ Answers.com report
  7. ↑ https://www.aopa.org/advocacy/advocacy-briefs/gore-commission-final-report The Core Commission Report
  8. ↑ https://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf 9/11 Commission Report
  9. ↑ "Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Executive Summary". National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. 2004-01-27. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  10. ↑ "The Unknown Known". IMDb .
  11. ↑ "Israel's failure of imagination on Hamas". 7 October 2023.
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