We spent decades preparing for another 9/11. Another attack may look totally different

The attacks of September 11 fundamentally changed how the United States thinks about national security. Over the past 25 years, we've invested enormous resources in aviation security, intelligence, and counterterrorism to ensure it never happens again.

But threats evolve.

We don't get to choose how our adversaries attack us. History suggests they'll look for the vulnerabilities we've overlooked. And while we’ve bolstered our security and response capabilities, it’s very likely the next major conflict will find its way to our shores again with unconventional attacks on our homeland.

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As we become more electronically interconnected and dependent, regardless of where the physical battles occur, the conflicts will extend domestically intent to cause disruption, panic, chaos and potential loss of lives.

The U.S. must be prepared for the evolution of threats. Not designed to destroy buildings or critical infrastructure but instead designed to disrupt the core systems that allow the country to function. There is no need to physically destroy our economic, emergency response, transportation, and agriculture systems if a single act can render them severely compromised.

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Our vulnerability is well documented because so much of modern life depends on a foundational core: knowing where things are. In fact, it is an assumption so deeply embedded in everyday life that it is almost invisible. Position underpins how trucks move across the country, how food is planted and harvested, how utilities restore power after disasters, how emergency responders reach people in need, and how military forces maneuver, coordinate, and sustain operations. The world does not simply run on roads, communications, banking systems or the internet. It runs on position.

GPS performs so reliably that we've built both military and civilian systems around the assumption that it will always be both available and trustworthy. That assumption is becoming harder to defend.

Recent conflicts have demonstrated that GPS interference, spoofing, and electronic warfare are no longer isolated events. They have become recurring features of modern conflict. So common that the Department of War has made the ability to function without position (contested logistics) one of its top priorities. According to the U.S. Space Force, China is actively developing and fielding counterspace capabilities intended to disrupt and degrade U.S. space-enabled capabilities. Those include anti-satellite weapons, electronic warfare systems, and technologies designed to interfere with satellite operations. Our enemy is giving us their future playbook.

Governments have publicly warned that adversaries continue expanding their ability to jam, spoof, and disrupt satellite-based positioning. The methods vary, but they expose the same underlying dependency: countless systems rely on information that originates thousands of miles above the Earth. In June, researchers linked several brief, widespread GNSS interference events across Europe to transmissions from Russian satellites. They identified at least three incidents lasting up to 10 seconds.

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The reality is that every mile between the vehicle and space is another opportunity for an adversary to disrupt position. The vulnerability is not GPS itself. It is the assumption that vehicles — on the battlefield, on our highways or on city streets — foundationally depend on an external system to function.

The very techniques used in conflict zones can, and likely will, also be used domestically and at large scale. And, unlike our warfighters, we are not prepared.

During COVID, we experienced just a shadow of how quickly uncertainty surrounding essential goods affected public behavior and exposed the fragility of supply chains. A widespread disruption to positioning would not necessarily stop every vehicle or shut down every road. It would, however, introduce uncertainty into transportation, emergency response, fuel distribution, logistics, and commerce at precisely the moment continuity matters most. While not physical terrorism, this economic terrorism would have profound implications for military mobility, emergency response, logistics, and the broader economy.

According to a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-commissioned study, a nationwide loss of GPS services would cost the U.S. economy an estimated $1 billion every day. That figure reflects direct economic impacts. The broader effects on emergency response, logistics, transportation, and public confidence are far more difficult to quantify.

At the same time, the United States is investing billions of dollars in autonomous systems, robotic logistics, AI-enabled command and control, and next-generation military capabilities. Much of the public discussion focuses on what those technologies will eventually do. Far less attention has been paid to what they fundamentally require before they can do any of it. Whether a vehicle is operated by a soldier or independently, it must continuously know its position and remain capable of accomplishing its mission.

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The United States should continue investing in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, robotic logistics, and the technologies that will shape the future battlefield. But preparing for tomorrow cannot come at the expense of preparing for today. Twenty-five years after 9/11 , the lesson is not simply that we must prepare for another attack. It is that we must prepare for the next kind of attack. The vulnerabilities are different, but the objective is the same. Strengthening the foundations that keep military forces, emergency responders, and critical infrastructure moving should be treated as a national priority, not an afterthought.

Innovation and readiness are not competing priorities. The best innovation strengthens readiness.

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As we build the next generation of military capability, we cannot afford to overlook the assumptions that make every future capability possible. The enemy gets a vote. Twenty-five years after 9/11 , our responsibility is not simply to prepare for the last attack. It is to question the assumptions that could define the next one.