Project Summary: The Pre-9/11 Approach to Terrorism Prior to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, terrorism was treated primarily as a law enforcement problem and secondarily as a national security problem. Traditionally, law enforcement reacts to crimes after they happen. But this approach is the complete opposite of counterterrorism methods of prevention. In addition, a law enforcement approach treated terrorists as criminals. As a result, a warrant was required to issue arrests and all incriminating evidence was held by police for future court hearings. This directly impacted the amount of time it took to capture known and suspected terrorists. It also impacted the ability of national security agencies to review evidence for vital information regarding terrorist activities.