On September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers seized four planes in the United States, causing nearly three thousand deaths. Twenty-five years later, an attack of this scale would be harder to carry out due to significant changes in security and surveillance systems implemented since then.
Nuno Miguel Lemos, a security specialist, explains in the first of three Executive Digest interviews on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 that the security measures adopted after the attacks made it much more complex to repeat a similar plan. The coordination between agencies, the reinforcement of airport controls, and intelligence sharing among countries created significant barriers to this type of operation.
However, the specialist warns that the threat has evolved in unpredictable ways. The next threat no longer needs 19 men and four planes, making it harder to detect and predict. The fragmentation of extremist groups and the ease of communication through digital platforms have profoundly changed the nature of the danger.
Lemos also points out that Portugal may find new vulnerabilities in this new threat scenario. The country's geographical location and lesser experience in facing this type of risk may represent weak points that need to be addressed.
