Narrowing Terrorists' Destructive Capability in the U.S.

In the fifteen years since 9/11, the U.S. has successfully prevented terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction, using territory as a base to attack the U.S., and has prevented successful coordinated attacks in the U.S. Terrorists are forced to resort to the least complex kind of attack: the lone-wolf attack—which is the most difficult to prevent and will require increased focus as the U.S. makes it harder for terrorists to use more destructive means. Below we review U.S. counterterrorism efforts to prevent attacks in order of decreasing destructive power.

JPGs of our infographics are available on Flickr.