America Has Forfeited Its Greatest Strength
This article argues that the United States has suffered a critical decline in institutional trust, fulfilling a long-term goal of Osama bin Laden. The author contends that failures in intelligence cooperation and the erosion of democratic norms have weakened America's global standing.
Why it matters
It offers a critical perspective on national security and the long-term sociopolitical consequences of the post-9/11 era.
Osama bin Laden wanted to eradicate faith in American power. Twenty-five years later, his dream is on the verge of coming true.
Illustration by Ben Hickey September 11, 2026, 8:20 AM ET Share Save P erhaps the most famous conclusion of the 9/11 Commission Report is that America’s inability to prevent the September 11 attacks resulted from a “failure of imagination.” With respect to the 9/11 Commission, that is not quite right.
Long before September 11, members of the U.S. intelligence community understood the awful scale of Osama bin Laden’s ambitions. The presidential daily brief on August 6, 2001, included an item titled “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US,” which even referenced al-Qaeda’s desire to hijack an American aircraft. This was just one of 36 articles in presidential briefings that year that mentioned bin Laden or al-Qaeda.
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