Citizens adapt to living with insecurity post 9/11

By Conor Hallahan Sep 11, 2006, 10:52 GMT

London - Fresh off the 15:30 flight from London Heathrow, passengers trundling their luggage through the arrivals hall at Cork airport, Ireland, report little or no disruption due to enhanced security measures.

'No, it was very smooth,' explains Tim Clear from western Australia. 'We had expected some disruption but there were no problems at all.'

Investment banker Philip Behan has a similar tale of non-woe. 'Of course I had arrived an hour early in case of delays ... and taking your shoes off is new ... but apart from that nothing.'

'You just have to get there an hour earlier,' underlines frequent flyer Mairead Flynn. 'They have to make it safe for people.'

In the face of such calm acceptance, and with airport procedures apparently normalizing after the massive disruption with followed the foiled August 10 terror plot in Britain, it appears that things are returning to normal.

Yet that is only allusion, many analysts disagree, arguing that the post 9/11 security climate has gradually created a heightened awareness of risk that in some cases, may lead to fear, disruption and increase social tensions.

A recent survey by the British YouGov research firm revealed that some 46 per cent of those polled now feel 'less safe' than before the 9/11 attacks. Indicating a general fear of Islamist terrorism, 21 per cent said in a different poll they were 'concerned about the impact' of Islam.

A majority of survey respondents also predicted that the risk of terrorist attacks, and the frequency of terror alerts, was likely to increase. Some 44 per cent estimated that the so-called 'war on terror' would be likely to last for more than 20 years.

The most immediate effect of the terror threat on ordinary people is the gradual adoption of a 'zero-risk' mentality, according to security analyst Charlie Edwards of the London-based think tank Demos.

'You can see this in the trends we are experiencing,' he says, referring to a recent incident in which British holidaymakers refused to let their aircraft take off until two men of Asian appearance, apparently speaking Arabic, were removed.

'People have developed subconscious instincts ... they are now more likely, for example, to get off the Tube if they see a man of Asian appearance who to them looks suspicious.'

However at the same time, Edwards is keen to stress that the risk of being caught up in a terrorist attack, compared for example to that of being involved in a road accident, remains low. 'We understand that the risk is minimal and we trust the police and government to do their jobs.'

'You saw this after Heathrow - people were worried and relieved that the plot had been foiled but above all were angered by the inconvenience,' he said.

British Home Secretary John Reid, however, presented a different picture. In a speech on the eve of the foiled Heathrow terror plot, he desribed the extent to which security concerns may in the future encroach on the lives of ordinary people, and on the freedoms that they today take for granted.

'The word 'security' has changed in everyday meaning from being the desirable objective of financial comfort in old age or the formal description of military power, to being one of the highest concerns for daily living,' Reid said.

'Sometimes we may have to modify our own freedoms in the short term in order to prevent their misuse by those who oppose our fundamental values and would destroy all of our freedoms.'

Edwards, an expert on counter-terrorism and public security issues expresses concern about that particular vision. The level to which freedoms will be curtailed, he says, will correspond to the level of threat which is faced.

This, however, is something that the future actions of the government and of the various security agencies in countering terror attacks will play no small part in, he argues, criticizing bad government communications and in-fighting which has prevented security and intelligence agencies from working effectively.

'I wouldn't want to over-egg the risks, but unless the government is prepare to be more open, and to engage in better leadership, people are going to be increasingly worried about how they live their lives, and that can only be a bad thing,' says Edwards.

In the meantime, people adjust to the new realities of the post 9/11 world, where news of terrorist attacks against Western citizens pepper the headlines on an almost daily basis.

'I was on the Tube three minutes before the Liverpool St station bombing last year,' says Philip Behan. 'People still used the trains in July 8. People have very short memories. They tend to just get on with things.'