Events, Verisoph

2001 Bush's secret directive unleashes the CIA ai_extracted 1 cit. no story President Bush issued a top-secret directive ordering the CIA to hunt, capture, imprison, and interrogate suspects worldwide with no limits. It became the foundation for a system of secret prisons and torture. ●●

2001 Bush orders warrantless eavesdropping ai_extracted 1 cit. no story President Bush ordered the NSA to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists' communications inside the United States without judicial warrants. General Hayden said he could not not do it. ●●

2001 Taliban leadership toppled in Afghanistan ai_extracted 1 cit. no story The American military knocked out the Taliban's political leadership and paved the way for a new government in Kabul. Tens of thousands of Taliban loyalists melted into the villages to fight another day. ●●

2001 Year 2001: 2 (Summer 2001). Abramson, Rudy. Spanning the Cent rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story 2 (Summer 2001). Abramson, Rudy. ●●

2001 Enron reveals massive loss and accounting fraud ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Enron announced $681 million third-quarter loss and $1.2 billion shareholder equity reduction, revealing magnitude of its fraudulent accounting scheme. ●●

2001 Bush asks George Tenet to stay as CIA director ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Just after New Year's Day 2001, President-elect George W. Bush called Senator David Boren about George Tenet. ●●

2001 Taliban announces plan to destroy Afghan statues ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On March 1, 2001, the Taliban announced its intention to destroy all statues in Afghanistan. ●●

2001 Mullah Omar warns Musharraf in private letter ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On January 16, 2001, Taliban leader Mullah Omar wrote a private letter to General Musharraf. ●●

2001 Deputies committee prioritizes bin Laden and Afghanistan ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On April 30, 2001, the Bush administration's deputies committee held its first meeting on bin Laden and Afghanistan. ●●

2001 State Department meets Taliban in Pakistan ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On June 26, 2001, State Department diplomats met with Taliban representatives in Pakistan. ●●

2001 CIA warns Bush of imminent al Qaeda attack ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On July 10, 2001, the CIA prepared a briefing paper warning of imminent al Qaeda attack. ●●

2001 CIA threat reporting about bin Laden surges to extraordinary levels rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story In spring 2001, the CIA's threat reporting about bin Laden reached levels the Counterterrorist Center had rarely seen. CIA director Tenet considered the threat intelligence from intercepts and human agents as exceptionally frightening. ●●

2001 Abdul Haq leads resistance mission into Afghanistan ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Afghan rebel commander Abdul Haq crossed into Afghanistan from Pakistan with twenty fighters in October 2001 to lead a political and military campaign against the Taliban regime. ●●

2001 US launches Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan ai_extracted 1 cit. no story The United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom on October 7, 2001, with air strikes against Taliban military installations and Al Qaeda training camps. ●●

2001 September 11 attacks on the United States ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people. ●●

2001 CIA team deploys to the Northern Alliance with cash ai_extracted 1 cit. no story A ten-person CIA team carrying $3 million in cash departed Washington on September 20, 2001, to provide direct military funding to Northern Alliance commanders fighting the Taliban. ●●

2001 Iraq Becomes Priority for Bush Administration rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Iraq was immediately placed at the top of the White House national security agenda when President Bush took office in January 2001, even before the September 11 terrorist attacks. ●●

2001 Like the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001. rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Like the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001. ●●

2001 US-led intervention in Afghanistan ai_extracted 1 cit. no story After September 11, the American-led intervention in Afghanistan used military force to topple regime protecting terrorist attackers ●●

2001 body was exhumed in October 2001. rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story body was exhumed in October 2001. ●●

2001 Blow film released ai_extracted 1 cit. no story The drug-themed film Blow, starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz, was released based on the true story of cocaine trafficker George Jung. ●●

2001 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider released ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Laura Croft: Tomb Raider starring Angelina Jolie was released with a 94 million budget involving tax shelters in Germany and the UK. ●●

2001 A Beautiful Mind released ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind depicted John Nash, a figure with possible NSA connections, portrayed as paranoid schizophrenic. ●●

2001 2001: Throughout 2001 Williams worked around the clock from his ap... rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story ger’s software for $40,000, thus keeping it alive. Bricklin was, above all, a nice guy. Throughout 2001 Williams worked around the clock from his apartment or in borrowed space to keep Blogger running ●●

2001 2001: Dan Bricklin (1951– ) and Ev Williams (1972– ) in 2001. rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Dan Bricklin (1951– ) and Ev Williams (1972– ) in 2001. Jimmy Wales (1966– ). Sergey Brin (1973– ) and Larry Page (1973– ). ●●

2001 2001: But the wiki concept was not widely known beyond software en... rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story to his software. But the wiki concept was not widely known beyond software engineers until January 2001, when it was adopted by a struggling Internet entrepreneur who was trying, without much success, ●●

2001 2001: Cunningham was supportive, indeed delighted when Wales calle... rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Cunningham was supportive, indeed delighted when Wales called him up in January 2001 to say he planned to use the wiki software to juice up his encyclopedia project. Cunningham had not sought to paten ●●

2001 2001: By September 2001, after eight months in existence, it had t... rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story d articles, approximately seventy times the number that Nupedia had after a full year. By September 2001, after eight months in existence, it had ten thousand articles. That month, when the September ●●

2001 2001: A vivid example was Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 movie, 2001: A Sp... rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story enstein motif became a staple of science fiction. A vivid example was Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey , featuring the frighteningly intelligent computer HAL. With its calm voice, H ●●

2001 2001: Sources for this section include author’s interviews with No... rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story dle edition); Steven Kent, The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon (Three Rivers, 2001); Scott Cohen, Zap! The Rise and Fall of Atari (McGraw-Hill, 1984); Henry Lowood, “Videogames i ●●

2001 2001: Mitchell Waldrop, The Dream Machine (Viking, 2001), 279. rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story I was an editor of Time and remember the dispute. 81. Mitchell Waldrop, The Dream Machine (Viking, 2001), 279. 82. Stephen Lukasik, “Why the ARPANET Was Built,” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing ●●

2001 2001: Linus Torvalds with David Diamond, Just for Fun (HarperColli... rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story ://www.linfo.org/linus.html . 128. Linus Torvalds with David Diamond, Just for Fun (HarperCollins, 2001), 4. 129. Torvalds and Diamond, Just for Fun , 74, 4, 17; Michael Learmonth, “Giving It All Away ●●

2001 2001: 15, 2001, http://danbricklin. rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story And Then There Was One.” 75. Dan Bricklin, “How the Blogger Deal Happened,” blog posting, Apr. 15, 2001, http://danbricklin.com/log/blogger.htm ; Dan Bricklin, Bricklin on Technology (Wiley, 2009), 20 ●●

2001 2001: , 257 Tomlinson, Ray, 384 Tom Swift Terminal, 303 Tools f... rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story n), 120 Turing Test, 124 –28, 478 Watson and, 470 Turner, Ted, 391 Twitter, 433 , 479 –80, 485 2001: A Space Odyssey , 311 , 468 , 477 TX-2, 243 U-2 planes, 155 UCLA, 253 , 255 –56, 259 Ulam, Stanisla ●●

2001 2001: ization.” He called Kleinrock’s claims “ludicrous.” 71 The backlash ag rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story ization.” He called Kleinrock’s claims “ludicrous.” 71 The backlash against Kleinrock was so bitter that it became the subject of a 2001 New York Time ●●

2001 2001: Ken Kesey (1935–2001) holding a flute on the bus. Stewart Brand (1938– rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Ken Kesey (1935–2001) holding a flute on the bus. Stewart Brand (1938– ). The first issue, fall 1 ●●

2001 2001: ing it alive. Bricklin was, above all, a nice guy. Throughout 2001 Wil rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story ing it alive. Bricklin was, above all, a nice guy. Throughout 2001 Williams worked around the clock from his apartment or in borrowed space to keep Bl ●●

2001 2001: Dan Bricklin (1951– ) and Ev Williams (1972– ) in 2001. Jimmy Wales (1 rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Dan Bricklin (1951– ) and Ev Williams (1972– ) in 2001. Jimmy Wales (1966– ). Sergey Brin (1973– ) and ●●

2001 2001: well as open-source improvements to his software. But the wiki concept rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story well as open-source improvements to his software. But the wiki concept was not widely known beyond software engineers until January 2001, when it was ●●

2001 2001: Cunningham was supportive, indeed delighted when Wales called him up i rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Cunningham was supportive, indeed delighted when Wales called him up in January 2001 to say he planned to use the wiki software to juice up his encycl ●●

2001 2001: mes the number that Nupedia had after a full year. By September 2001, rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story mes the number that Nupedia had after a full year. By September 2001, after eight months in existence, it had ten thousand articles. That month, when ●●

2001 2001: kenstein motif became a staple of science fiction. A vivid example was rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story kenstein motif became a staple of science fiction. A vivid example was Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey , featuring the frightening ●●

2001 2001: 11. Sources for this section include author’s interviews with Nolan Bu rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story 11. Sources for this section include author’s interviews with Nolan Bushnell, Al Alcorn, Steve Jobs (for previous book), and Steve Wozniak; Tristan Do ●●

2001 2001: s an editor of Time and remember the dispute. 81. Mitchell Waldrop, Th rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story s an editor of Time and remember the dispute. 81. Mitchell Waldrop, The Dream Machine (Viking, 2001), 279. 82. Stephen Lukasik, “Why the ARPANET Was B ●●

2001 2001: n Project, http://www.linfo.org/linus.html . 128. Linus Torvalds with rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story n Project, http://www.linfo.org/linus.html . 128. Linus Torvalds with David Diamond, Just for Fun (HarperCollins, 2001), 4. 129. Torvalds and Diamond, ●●

2001 2001: How the Blogger Deal Happened,” blog posting, Apr. 15, 2001, http://da rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story How the Blogger Deal Happened,” blog posting, Apr. 15, 2001, http://danbricklin.com/log/blogger.htm ; Dan Bricklin, Bricklin on Te ●●

2001 2001: 265 , 378 Toffler, Alvin, 394 Tolkien, J. R. R., 257 Tomlinson, Ray, 3 rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story 265 , 378 Toffler, Alvin, 394 Tolkien, J. R. R., 257 Tomlinson, Ray, 384 Tom Swift Terminal, 303 Tools for Conviviality (Illich), 302 –3 TOPS-10, 321 ●●

2001 Information history in 2001 rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story antum generalization of classical information has led to a cleaner and more powerful theory, both of computing and communication. ” Shannon lived till 2001, his last years dimmed and isolated by the d ●●

2001 loped any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to projec rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story loped any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors.”26 On July 29, 2001, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice stated that “We are able to keep his arms ●●

2001 September 11 Terrorist Attacks Transform Privacy Debate rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story The September 11 attacks led to a dramatic shift in political priorities, with privacy legislation disappearing from conversation. ●●

2001 Estonia launches the Estonian Genome Project ai_extracted 1 cit. no story elhi and Tokyo. The name of the company is IBM. Its Iceland project operates under a division known as “Life Services-Nordic.”32 Estonia became the second nation to databank its entire population. In 2001, Estonia created the Estonia Genome Project to capture the genetic profiles of its 1.4 million ●●

2001 NSA mass surveillance of Americans after 9/11 ai_extracted 1 cit. no story And, as the world has come to know through the revelations of Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency has been given broad leave to collect data not just on foreign activities but also on American citizens since September 11, 2001. ●●

2001 Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001 rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001); Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the Revolution, Vol. ●●

2001 Kagan, Adversarial Legalism: The American Way of Law (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001) rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Kagan, Adversarial Legalism: The American Way of Law (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001). ●●

2001 “Agenda, Meeting of Board of Trustees,” October 19, 1960, RAC, RG IV3B4.2, Population Council, Ge... rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story “Agenda, Meeting of Board of Trustees,” October 19, 1960, RAC, RG IV3B4.2, Population Council, General File, box 36, folder 507; McCarthy, “Ford Foundation’s Population Program,” 21–22; Radhika Ram... ●●

2001 , Political Parties and Democracy (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001) rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story , Political Parties and Democracy (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001). ●●

2001 Italy and Its Discontents: Family, Civil Society, State, 1980–2001 rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Italy and Its Discontents: Family, Civil Society, State, 1980–2001. ●●

2001 °° The American bombing of Afghanistan, begun on rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story °° The American bombing of Afghanistan, begun on 7 October 2001 and followed by a nilitary occupation of much of the cou ●●

2001 At the time of the first anniversary of rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story At the time of the first anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack and subsequently as well, the Department ●●

2001 bombing and special forces attacks, October 7, 2001 rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story bombing and special forces attacks, October 7, 2001 until present day” For further discussion, see essay by William Blum ●●

2001 Germany), 116 Instituto Cultural Trabalho (Brazil), 168 Inter-American rejected ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Germany), 116 Instituto Cultural Trabalho (Brazil), 168 Inter-American Police Academy (Panama), 234 International Police ●●

2001 Clinton pardons Patty Hearst ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Levenda notes that in January 2001, President Bill Clinton pardoned Patty Hearst as one of his last official acts as President. ●●

18 February 2001 Robert Hanssen arrested for espionage 0 cit. FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union and later Russia over more than 20 years, one of the most damaging espionage cases in US history. He pleads guilty and receives a life sentence. The case exposes major gaps in the FBI's internal counterintelligence vetting. politics ●●

c. October 2001 Stellar Wind warrantless surveillance program begins 0 cit. Weeks after the September 11 attacks, President Bush authorizes the NSA to intercept international communications of people inside the United States without the warrants ordinarily required under FISA. The program, code-named Stellar Wind, remains secret until reported by the press in 2005. politics / technology ●●●

26 October 2001 USA PATRIOT Act signed 0 cit. President Bush signs the USA PATRIOT Act, expanding the surveillance and investigative powers of the FBI and NSA in the wake of the September 11 attacks, including broadened use of national security letters and roving wiretaps. Several provisions face repeated legal and congressional challenges over the following two decades. politics ●●●

c. 7 October 2001 First armed drone strike by the CIA and Air Force 0 cit. Shortly after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan began, an armed MQ-1 Predator drone was used in one of the first strikes carried out by an unmanned aircraft in the history of warfare. The Predator had earlier been fitted with Hellfire missiles in 2000-2001 tests, converting a reconnaissance platform into a strike weapon. Armed drones went on to transform air power and counterterrorism operations over the following two decades, including thousands of strikes across the Middle East and South Asia. technology / war ●●

2001 Wikipedia adopts wiki software ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Jimmy Wales called Ward Cunningham in January 2001 to say he would use wiki software for his encyclopedia project. ●●

14 April 2001 Gazprom-Media takes control of NTV 0 cit. Armed security personnel entered NTV's offices overnight and installed a new, Gazprom-appointed management team, ending Gusinsky's ownership of Russia's leading independent television network. Much of NTV's journalistic staff resigned in protest, and the channel's editorial line shifted toward a pro-government stance. culture / politics ●●●

c. January 2001 Berezovsky loses control of ORT 0 cit. Under Kremlin pressure, Boris Berezovsky sold his stake in Russia's Channel One television network (formerly ORT) to businessman Roman Abramovich, who was widely seen as acting on the Kremlin's behalf. The sale removed the last major national broadcaster from oligarch control outside the state's orbit. culture / politics ●●

May 2001 The ISL collapse exposes FIFA marketing-partner bribery 0 cit. The bankruptcy of FIFA's marketing partner International Sport and Leisure reveals that the firm had paid tens of millions of dollars in bribes to football officials over the prior decade. Swiss prosecutors later confirmed payments to senior FIFA figures, an early documented crack in FIFA's finances that foreshadowed the larger corruption scandal to come. economy / politics ●●

c. March 2001 European court rules against compelled Masonic disclosure 0 cit. In Grande Oriente d'Italia di Palazzo Giustiniani v. Italy, the European Court of Human Rights rules that Italian legislation requiring public officials to declare Masonic membership violated the rights to freedom of association and non-discrimination under the European Convention on Human Rights. The ruling, though about Italy, is cited afterward in UK debates over the policy of compelling judicial and police disclosure of Masonic ties. diplomacy / politics ●●

c. March 2001 Standards Board for England Established 0 cit. The Standards Board for England began operating under the Local Government Act 2000, taking responsibility for overseeing councillor conduct investigations and maintaining the ethical framework recommended after Nolan. It handled complaints against councillors nationally until it was abolished a decade later. It never adopted a compulsory Masonic-membership disclosure requirement, despite the 1999 committee recommendation. politics ●

13 December 2001 House of Lords Upholds Ruling Against Shirley Porter 0 cit. The House of Lords, in Porter v Magill, upheld the findings that Dame Shirley Porter had acted unlawfully in the Westminster 'homes for votes' policy, confirming the surcharge for wilful misconduct. The judgment became a leading case on corruption and improper purpose in local government decision-making, cited in later standards cases even though it involved no Masonic allegation. politics ●●

c. September 2001 Herero groups file US lawsuit against Germany and companies 0 cit. The Herero People's Reparations Corporation, backed by paramount chief Kuaima Riruako, files suit in US federal court against the German government and companies including Deutsche Bank and Woermann Line, seeking reparations for the genocide under the Alien Tort Claims Act. US courts eventually dismiss the claims on jurisdictional grounds, but the suit puts direct reparations, rather than general development aid, onto the international agenda. diplomacy / politics ●●

c. 11 September 2001 9/11 'Inside Job' False-Flag Claims unproven 0 cit. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, conspiracy theories emerged claiming the U.S. government secretly orchestrated or knowingly allowed the attacks as a pretext for war and domestic security expansion. These claims have been extensively investigated and rejected by the 9/11 Commission, independent engineering studies including NIST's structural analysis, and mainstream historians and journalists across the political spectrum. This is a widely circulated but unproven and largely debunked conspiracy theory, not a documented false-flag case. culture / politics ●●

4 November 2001 Police Service of Northern Ireland established 0 cit. The Royal Ulster Constabulary was renamed and reformed as the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), implementing recommendations of the 1999 Patten Report commissioned under the Good Friday Agreement. The reforms introduced new recruitment targets to increase Catholic representation in a force that had been overwhelmingly Protestant, along with new oversight and accountability structures. The change was intended to build cross-community confidence in policing. politics / society ●●

14 September 2001 National Guard activated after September 11 attacks 0 cit. Following the September 11 attacks, President Bush declared a national emergency and activated tens of thousands of National Guard troops for airport and infrastructure security, disaster response in New York City, and homeland defense duties. The call-up marked the start of a sustained, large-scale use of the Guard for homeland security missions that continued for years afterward. It also set the stage for the Guard's subsequent heavy overseas deployment in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. politics / war ●●

September 2001 The forever wars begin after 9/11 0 cit. The September 11 attacks launch a 'global war on terror' with no clear end point, fought across Afghanistan, Iraq, and many other countries. Critics on both left and right come to call these the 'forever wars,' arguing that open-ended conflict became a self-sustaining condition of American policy. politics / war ●●●

2001 to 2021 Afghanistan, America's longest war 0 cit. The war in Afghanistan runs for nearly twenty years, the longest in American history, and ends in a chaotic withdrawal as the Taliban retake the country. It becomes the emblem of the forever wars, immense in cost and inconclusive in result. politics / war ●●●

22 August 2001 Sherron Watkins warns of fraud at Enron 0 cit. Enron vice president Sherron Watkins wrote to chairman Kenneth Lay warning that the company's accounting could collapse in a wave of scandals. Enron filed for bankruptcy months later in one of the largest corporate frauds in US history. Her memo made her a central witness in the investigations that followed. economy / politics ●●●

April 2001 The UN Panel of Experts reports on illegal exploitation 0 cit. A UN Panel of Experts published the first of several reports documenting the systematic looting of Congo's natural resources by the warring states. It named Rwanda, Uganda, and Zimbabwe and detailed the networks of officers, front companies, and dealers involved. The reports linked the plunder directly to the continuation of the war and named foreign companies as buyers. diplomacy / economy ●●●

16 January 2001 Laurent Kabila assassinated, Joseph Kabila succeeds 0 cit. Laurent-Desire Kabila was shot dead in his palace by one of his own bodyguards, in a plot whose full authorship was never established. His son Joseph Kabila, around thirty years old, was installed as president within days. The younger Kabila proved more open to negotiation and to the peace process than his father had been. politics / war ●●●

2001 The world reaches for one set of accounting rules 0 cit. The International Accounting Standards Board was set up to produce International Financial Reporting Standards, aiming for one accounting language across borders. More than a hundred countries adopted IFRS, but the United States kept its own GAAP, so full global convergence stalled. The split reflects real differences in legal systems and in who the accounts are meant to serve. diplomacy / economy ●●

2001 Enron makes debt disappear off the books 0 cit. The energy trader Enron hid billions in debt and faked profits using off-balance-sheet partnerships that its own auditors signed off on. When the accounting collapsed the firm went bankrupt, wiping out shareholders and employee pensions. Enron became the emblem of creative accounting, where the numbers were technically defended yet designed to deceive. economy / politics ●●●

2001 Afghanistan's opium boom during the US war 0 cit. The Taliban had nearly wiped out opium poppy in 2000 and 2001, but after the US-led invasion cultivation surged and Afghanistan came to supply the large majority of the world's opium, according to UN drug office data. Warlords, officials, and insurgents all drew money from the trade during two decades of American war. economy / politics / war ●●●

2001 Portugal decriminalizes all drugs 0 cit. Portugal decriminalized personal possession of every drug and shifted its response toward treatment and harm reduction. Overdose deaths and HIV infections fell, and the reform became the leading example in the global debate over ending prohibition. politics / society ●●

26 October 2001 The USA PATRIOT Act 0 cit. Weeks after the September 11 attacks, Congress passed a sweeping law that expanded the government's power to monitor communications, financial records, and library and business records. Section 215 let agents collect records deemed relevant to a terrorism investigation. The act became the legal engine of the post-9/11 surveillance expansion. politics / war ●●●

2001 Nineteen hijackers assemble in the United States for 9/11 ai_extracted 1 cit. By mid-July 2001 all nineteen hijackers had entered the United States. Fifteen were Saudis, two Emiratis, one Egyptian, and one Lebanese; the trained pilots came from the Hamburg cell, and the "muscle" recruits arrived between April and June 2001 to await the signal, funded by al-Qaeda transfers from the Gulf. ●●●

2001 Al-Qaeda suicide bombers assassinate Ahmed Shah Massoud ai_extracted 1 cit. On September 9, 2001, two Arabs posing as television journalists detonated a bomb hidden in their camera while interviewing anti-Taliban commander Ahmed Shah Massoud in northern Afghanistan. The killing, two days before the 9/11 attacks, removed the Taliban's most formidable opponent. ●●●

14 November 2001 Doha Declaration affirms access to generic medicines under TRIPS 0 cit. WTO members adopted the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, affirming that patent rules should not block countries from protecting public health. It confirmed governments could issue compulsory licenses and import generic medicines during health emergencies. The declaration answered developing-country concerns that TRIPS patent protection kept lifesaving drugs, including HIV treatments, unaffordable in Africa. diplomacy / economy / society ●●

2001 Thandika Mkandawire argues adjustment hollowed out the state 0 cit. Economist Thandika Mkandawire argues that adjustment and anti-state doctrine dismantled the planning and administrative capacity Africa needed to build developmental states, comparing the outcome unfavourably with East Asia. The reading that structural adjustment gutted state capacity is his argument and that of allied critics. Defenders of the reforms respond that the states being trimmed were already insolvent and unaccountable. economy / politics ●●

2001 Britain adopts a code against poaching foreign health staff 0 cit. The UK issues a code of practice discouraging the National Health Service from actively recruiting nurses and doctors from developing countries, after years of drawing heavily on staff trained abroad. The code acknowledged that active recruitment drained health systems that could least afford the loss. It was voluntary, and hiring from many of those countries continued. diplomacy / society ●●

20 September 2001 PNAC's letter to President Bush after September 11 0 cit. Nine days after the September 11 attacks, PNAC sends President Bush an open letter urging a wide response, including the removal of Saddam Hussein even if no evidence tied Iraq to the attacks. It also called for action against groups and states the group saw as hostile. The letter renewed the regime-change goal PNAC had pressed since 1998. politics / war ●●●

20 January 2001 Dick Cheney becomes Vice President 0 cit. Dick Cheney, a signatory of PNAC's 1997 Statement of Principles, is sworn in as Vice President under George W. Bush. He became one of the most powerful voices in the administration on national security and Iraq. His office would be central to the case for war. politics ●●●●

January 2001 Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz lead the Pentagon 0 cit. Donald Rumsfeld becomes Secretary of Defense and Paul Wolfowitz his deputy, both signatories of PNAC documents. They took charge of military policy and would help drive the planning for the invasion of Iraq. Their appointments put PNAC's leading defense thinkers at the top of the Pentagon. politics / war ●●●●

January 2001 Libby, Armitage, Bolton, and Khalilzad take senior posts 0 cit. Several PNAC signatories join the new administration: I. Lewis Libby as chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, Richard Armitage as Deputy Secretary of State, John Bolton as Under Secretary of State for arms control, and Zalmay Khalilzad in senior White House and diplomatic roles. Their placements spread the group's members across the departments that shaped foreign policy. These were documented federal appointments. diplomacy / politics ●●●

2001 Richard Perle chairs the Defense Policy Board 0 cit. Richard Perle, a PNAC signatory, becomes chairman of the Defense Policy Board, an advisory panel to the Secretary of Defense. From that seat he was an outspoken advocate for confronting Iraq. He held the chair until 2003, when he stepped down amid questions over conflicts of interest. politics / war ●●

11 September 2001 Flight 11 strikes the North Tower 0 cit. At 8:46 in the morning, hijackers fly American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 taken over after takeoff from Boston, into the north face of the World Trade Center's North Tower. The impact and burning jet fuel trap hundreds of people on the floors above. It is the first strike of the September 11 attacks. society / war ●●●●●

11 September 2001 Flight 175 strikes the South Tower 0 cit. At 9:03, hijackers fly United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower as television cameras, already trained on the burning North Tower, record it live. The second strike makes clear the country is under a coordinated attack. Both towers are now on fire. society / war ●●●●●

11 September 2001 Flight 77 strikes the Pentagon 0 cit. At 9:37, hijackers fly American Airlines Flight 77 into the west side of the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US military. The crash and fire kill 125 people in the building along with all 59 passengers and crew aboard the plane. It is the third of the four hijackings that morning. society / war ●●●●