Perceptual Framing of Homeland Security

INTRODUCTIONWe see the world, not as it is, but as we are--or, as we are conditioned to see it.Steven R. Covey in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective PeopleSurprise occurs the moment we realize our view of the world no longer matches reality.Wayne Burkan in Wide Angle Vision"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. "I don't much care where," said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat. "So long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation. "Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."From Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis CarrollAt 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001, American Airlines flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Initial reports by the media stated that an airplane had crashed into one of the towers in what to many appeared to be an accident of some kind.1 This belief was supported by eyewitness accounts that described the airplane to news reporters as a small commuter plane or "a smaller plane."2 Sean Murtagh, a CNN producer, stated minutes after the attack, "I just witnessed a plane that appeared to be cruising at slightly lower-than-normal altitude over New York City, and it appears to have crashed into - I don't know which tower it is - but it hit directly in the middle of one of the World Trade Center towers."3 When Murtagh was asked about the type of aircraft he reported it was a "two engine jet, maybe a 737...a large passenger commercial jet."4 In attempting to explain what was happening from an accident narrative, the CNN reporter asked Murtagh if the plane had difficulty flying in which he responded, "Yes, it did. It was teetering back and forth, wingtip to wingtip, and it looks like it crashed into, probably, twenty stories from the top of the World Trade Center."5 President Bush also reported that he thought the initial crash was an accident: "I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower - the TV was obviously on, and I use to fly myself, and I said, "There's one terrible pilot." And I said, "It must have been a horrible accident."6The idea that this event could have been a terrorist attack was not evident in the initial news reports of the 9/11 attacks, even though in 1993 Ramzi Yousef, a nephew of Khalid Sheik Mohammad (the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks) and six co-conspirators had detonated a 1,500 pound bomb in the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center that killed six people and injured more than 1,000.7 The goal of this attack was to devastate the foundation of the north tower in such a way that it would collapse onto its twin, thus causing the collapse of both.8 As a nation we initially did not perceive that we were under attack by al Qaeda although this organization was responsible for carrying out a number of highly destructive suicide bombing attacks against the United States before 9/11 including the 1998 attacks against the American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the attack on the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen on October 12, 2000. This perception rapidly changed, however, when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m. on September 11, 2001.Immediately after the second airplane crashed into the WTC, reporters on ABC, Fox, and NBC news began talking about a deliberate attack. Charles Gibson of Good Morning America stated, "It looks like a concerted effort to attack the World Trade Center in New York... A concerted attack is underway."9 One of the first witnesses of the event interviewed by CNN reported, "I believe it was intentional. It was flown deliberately into the building... There was nothing wrong with the airplane. …