¶ … terrorist attacks of 9/11, the security of the United States of America has been transformed into the utmost priority of the presidential administration. Aside from the political rules however, more and more individuals place an increased emphasis on issues of security, especially the prevention of terrorist attacks. And in this setting of increasing focus on terrorist attack prevention, the literature in the field has also expended. Numerous books have been written on the topic, such as Preventing surprise attacks: intelligence reform in the wake of 9/11by Richard Posner (2005), Human security, law and prevention of terrorism by Andrej Zwitter (2010) or Cybersecurity: preventing terrorist attacks and protecting privacy in cyberspace by the United States Congress, under the United States Government Printing Office (2010).

Alongside with the books, the number of articles on the topic of terrorist attack prevention has also increased. While the books require longer time periods to be researched and edited, articles are normally written in a quicker manner, and they are relevant since they approach issues of increased current relevance. One relevant example in this sense is represented by Erik Dahl's (2008) article on the prevention of terrorism through the implementation of a new approach.

Dahl's article is generally different from other articles on the prevention of terrorist attacks, which are available within the internet sources. Most of the other articles for instance point out the need to develop...

He as such point out the various sections in the Patriot Act, which create opportunities for counter terrorism, such as the sharing of information or disclosure of data (Noor, 2007).
In the case of Dahl's article however, the approach implemented is a more informal one, in the meaning that the author is more objective. Unlike Noor -- who is part of the police force -- Dahl is part of a research and educational institution, which grants him and his article increased credibility, as well as the decreased expectation of bias.

Dahl commences his article by stating that after a terrorist attacks, the signs of it become retrospectively visible. The question raised then is then why were these signs not recognized in the first place, so that the attacks could have been prevented. In some instances, the signs are recognized and the attacks are stopped before they are able to cause any harm. Such is the case of the New York City "Day of Terror" Plot, the Lackawanna Six or the Fort Dix Plot.

When the attacks are identified and stopped beforehand, they are seldom remembered; but some of the attacks are never prevented and they come to materialize and cause unquantifiable damage. The common belief is that the attacks were not prevented because the existent system had failed…