As the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks approaches, Americans continue to examine whether the U.S. response over the past decade has made the homeland safer. While the government has taken a variety of measures to defend against similar attacks, legal questions over the treatment and prosecution of terror suspects have ignited longstanding debates over the legitimacy of the U.S. approach to the "war on terror" launched by President George W. Bush and continued by President Barack Obama. Meanwhile, with the country at war in Afghanistan and intent on dismantling Al Qaeda, policymakers are asking whether it remains a credible threat to U.S. national security after the killing of Osama bin Laden. Inside the United States, though, a domestic jihadist subculture has arisen -- against the backdrop of anti-Muslim sentiment among many Americans -- that some say could also pose a threat to U.S. security.

Kenneth Jost is Supreme Court editor, CQ Press; associate editor, CQ Researcher; and author of The Supreme Court Yearbook since the 1992-1993 edition.