# 20 Years of Cato Research on the Global War on Terror ![New York City at night with the twin towers 9/11 memorial ](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_3x/public/2021-09/GettyImages-486901670-min.jpg?itok=25VFGApT) ## 20 Years of Cato Research on the Global War on Terror Immediately after the September 11th terrorist attacks, Cato scholars began researching the rapidly unfolding global war on terrorism. Although they supported a robust response to the attacks, Cato’s researchers warned of the dangers of threat inflation and nation building, and opposed the damage done to civil liberties and republican institutions. The selection of articles below highlights Cato’s research across the first 20 years of the war on terror. #### War and Strategy [![President George W. Bush and his national security team gather in the Pentagon's Executive Support Center for briefings on the latest developments in Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terror on Jan. 4, 2006.](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-09/Defense.gov_News_Photo_060104-N-0696M-014.jpg?itok=g01Q9pA3)](https://www.cato.org/outside-articles/unipole-twilight-american-strategy-9/11-present) The Independent Review ## [The Unipole in Twilight: American Strategy from 9/11 to the Present](/outside-articles/unipole-twilight-american-strategy-9/11-present) By [Justin Logan](https://www.cato.org/people/justin-logan) Fall 2021 In the absence of major international or domestic constraints, policy can become extravagant. The period from 2001 to the present represents a promiscuous waste of money, lives, and diplomatic attention, for which almost no one in charge of the policy has paid serious consequences. [![Department of State building in Washington DC](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-09/Department_of_State_Washington_DC.jpeg?itok=lacD3jpY)](https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/failed-states-flawed-logic-case-against-standing-nation-building-office) Study ### [Failed States and Flawed Logic: The Case against a Standing Nation-Building Office](/policy-analysis/failed-states-flawed-logic-case-against-standing-nation-building-office) By [Christopher A. Preble](https://www.cato.org/people/christopher-preble) and [Justin Logan](https://www.cato.org/people/justin-logan) January 11, 2006 Before embracing a policy of nation building, America should at least have a meaningful debate over whether that approach to security policy is the best course. As seen above, failed states are almost always no or a negligible security threat. [![afghanistan](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/wp-content/uploads/afghanistan.jpg?itok=eh-GMTPi)](https://www.cato.org/commentary/why-middle-east-still-doesnt-matter) Commentary ### [Why the Middle East Still Doesn’t Matter](/commentary/why-middle-east-still-doesnt-matter) By [Justin Logan](https://www.cato.org/people/justin-logan) October 9, 2014 The Middle East, from a military point of view, is little more than a waste of time. [![Former Cpl. Edward Chin places the U.S. Flag over a statue of Saddam signifing the liberation of the Iraqi people in 2003 during Operation Iraqi Freedom.](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-09/512px-USMC-20496.jpeg?itok=AMVA0zbS)](https://www.cato.org/commentary/overthrow-saddam-be-careful-what-you-wish) Commentary ### [Overthrow Saddam? Be Careful What You Wish For](/commentary/overthrow-saddam-be-careful-what-you-wish) By [Ted Galen Carpenter](https://www.cato.org/people/ted-galen-carpenter) January 14, 2002 Ousting Saddam would make Washington responsible for Iraq’s political future and entangle the United States in an endless nation‐​building mission beset by intractable problems. [![war-in-afghanistan.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-04/war-in-afghanistan.jpg?itok=c0UbCUYs)](https://www.cato.org/commentary/flirting-nation-building-afghanistan) Commentary ### [Flirting With Nation-Building in Afghanistan](/commentary/flirting-nation-building-afghanistan) By [Ted Galen Carpenter](https://www.cato.org/people/ted-galen-carpenter) November 2, 2001 America’s security interests do not require the existence of a stable, democratic government in Kabul, and such a regime is not likely to emerge in any case. #### Threat Assessment [![A wall of TVs with news promos](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-07/News-screens-black-backround-1.jpg?itok=LnRGXX2N)](https://www.cato.org/white-paper/public-opinion-war-terror) Study ## [Public Opinion on War and Terror: Manipulated or Manipulating?](/white-paper/public-opinion-war-terror) By [John Mueller](https://www.cato.org/people/john-mueller) August 10, 2021 There were quite a few reasons to expect that public fears about terrorism would wane in the years following the 9/11 attacks, including the fact that elite alarmism on the issue became much less strident; but mass anxiety remained unchanged. [![patriot-day-911.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-08/patriot-day-911.jpg?itok=B53e0_PI)](https://www.cato.org/commentary/9/11s-20th-anniversary-approaches-world-dangerous-should-not-be-particularly-dangerous) Commentary ### [As 9/​11’s 20th Anniversary Approaches, the World Is Dangerous: But Should Not Be Particularly Dangerous for America](/commentary/9/11s-20th-anniversary-approaches-world-dangerous-should-not-be-particularly-dangerous) By [Doug Bandow](https://www.cato.org/people/doug-bandow) August 4, 2021 The world is a dangerous place, the upcoming anniversary of 9/11 reminds us. And that is true, though not, paradoxically, so much for the U.S. At least, if Washington didn’t attempt to reign over everyone else. [![Bin Laden is interviewed by a Pakistani journalist](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-09/512px-Hamid_Mir_interviewing_Osama_bin_Laden_and_Ayman_al-Zawahiri_2001.jpeg?itok=wGJ9RgA2)](https://www.cato.org/commentary/9/11-anniversary-15-years-alarmism-counting) Commentary ### [The 9/11 Anniversary: 15 Years of Alarmism–and Counting](/commentary/9/11-anniversary-15-years-alarmism-counting) By [John Mueller](https://www.cato.org/people/john-mueller) September 12, 2016 A poll conducted asked the 83 percent of its respondents who said they closely followed news stories about ISIS whether the group presented ‘a serious threat to the existence or survival of the US.’ A full 77 percent agreed—more than two‐​thirds of them strongly. That’s got to be sweet music to alarmist ears. [![Soldier with Gun ](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2020-04/GettyImages-675897430%20%282%29-min.jpg?itok=VAO9_C6_)](https://www.cato.org/regulation/fall-2004/false-sense-insecurity) Regulation ### [A False Sense of Insecurity](/regulation/fall-2004/false-sense-insecurity) By [John Mueller](https://www.cato.org/people/john-mueller) Fall 2004 Assessed in broad but reasonable context, terrorism generally does not do much damage. The costs of terrorism very often are the result of hasty, ill-considered, and overwrought reactions. [![9/11 Memorial Flags](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-09/GettyImages-1317799751.jpg?itok=Bqgu3R2C)](https://www.cato.org/outside-articles/harbinger-or-aberration) The National Interest ### [Harbinger or Aberration?](/outside-articles/harbinger-or-aberration) By [John Mueller](https://www.cato.org/people/john-mueller) Fall 2002 A case can be made that rather than foreshadowing the future, the attacks may turn out to have been a statistical outlier, a kind of tragic blip in the experience of American national security. #### Civil Liberties [![Security camera](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-09/GettyImages-1214093147.jpg?itok=HZoVHTtM)](https://www.cato.org/cato-handbook-policymakers/cato-handbook-policy-makers-8th-edition-2017/11-reforming-surveillance-authorities) Cato Handbook for Policymakers ## [11. Reforming Surveillance Authorities](/cato-handbook-policymakers/cato-handbook-policy-makers-8th-edition-2017/11-reforming-surveillance-authorities) By [Julian Sanchez](https://www.cato.org/people/julian-sanchez) 2017 The United States, perhaps uniquely among nations, owes its existence in no small part to its people’s outrage against government invasions of privacy. [![Media Name: 201609_911.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/homepage-images/201609_911.jpg?itok=mJfabwWe)](https://www.cato.org/commentary/twilight-liberty-9/11s-legacy) Commentary ### [Twilight of Liberty: 9/​11’s Legacy](/commentary/twilight-liberty-9/11s-legacy) By [Patrick G. Eddington](https://www.cato.org/people/patrick-g-eddington) September 10, 2021 Twenty years after the event, I can recall with perfect clarity where I was the morning Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda suicide hijackers changed all our lives. [![The NSA sign in front of their headquarters](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-09/512px-Nsa_sign.jpeg?itok=uJTT4Po_)](https://www.cato.org/commentary/wheres-oversight-nsa-spying) Commentary ### [Where’s the Oversight on NSA Spying?](/commentary/wheres-oversight-nsa-spying) By [Julian Sanchez](https://www.cato.org/people/julian-sanchez) August 16, 2013 Perhaps the real value of these leaks… is making clear how thoroughly the intelligence community’s appointed watchdogs have become its most devoted lap dogs. [![obama](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/wp-content/uploads/obama.jpg?itok=9rQyCPby)](https://www.cato.org/commentary/9/11-its-legacy-fear) Commentary ### [9/11 and Its Legacy of Fear](/commentary/9/11-its-legacy-fear) By [Gene Healy](https://www.cato.org/people/gene-healy) September 11, 2012 September 11th has changed America radically — and not for the better. [![President George W. Bush signs the Patriot Act](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2022-04/bush_signing_patriot_act-min.jpg?itok=UoJTnJWK)](https://www.cato.org/commentary/usa-patriot-act-we-deserve-better) Commentary ### [The USA Patriot Act: We Deserve Better](/commentary/usa-patriot-act-we-deserve-better) By [Robert A. Levy](https://www.cato.org/people/robert-levy) November 1, 2001 If you think the Bill of Rights is just so much scrap paper, and the separation of powers doctrine has outlived its usefulness, then the USA PATRIOT Act is the right recipe to deal with terrorists. #### War Powers and Bureaucracy [![Media Name: 201908_afghanistan.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/raslider/201908_afghanistan.jpg?itok=hwP5RsqN)](https://www.cato.org/commentary/dont-just-end-war-afghanistan-repeal-resolution-authorized-it) Commentary ## [Don’t Just End the War in Afghanistan, Repeal the Resolution That Authorized It](/commentary/dont-just-end-war-afghanistan-repeal-resolution-authorized-it) By [Gene Healy](https://www.cato.org/people/gene-healy) and John Glaser May 27, 2021 No current threat remotely justifies roving presidential authority to wage war on multiple continents. To end the Forever War, end the Forever Authorization. [![A Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council meets](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-09/DHS%20Advisory%20council.jpeg?itok=FdiQuKdL)](https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/abolish-department-homeland-security) Study ### [Abolish the Department of Homeland Security](/policy-analysis/abolish-department-homeland-security) By [David Rittgers](https://www.cato.org/people/david-rittgers) September 8, 2011 Abolishing DHS and reorganizing its components can save billions annually and alleviate the mounting pressure on civil liberties that we have experienced under everexpanding homeland security bureaucracy.