Are We Safer from Terrorism? No, but We Can Be

A veil of secrecy shrouds intelligence work and makes it difficult to assess whether Americans actually are safer because of the reforms implemented since September 11, 2001. The fact that no successful acts of terrorism by foreign nationals against U.S. civilians have occurred on American soil since 9/11 suggests we might indeed be safer, but one must be cautious when attempting to assert a nonevent as a success.