9/12, 2001 and years to follow : we can never let this happen again. That became the theme of the Bush administration. 
Before 9/11 we actually didn't know it was coming.
9/11, 2001 was a period of great fear and blindness in terms of what Al Qaeda might be planning next. 
Looking at the calendar and each month that was passed, without an attack, I was counted as a lucky month. 
One of the important themes at that moment: how blind the American government felt as to what was coming next. 
The very notion of actionable intelligence became sort of a coin of a realm (gebied/koninkrijk) in this period.