Twenty-five years after 9/11, experts warn of evolving terrorism threats.

25 years after the Sept. 11 attacks killed 2,977 people, analysts and former officials say the security architecture built in response is being dismantled faster than it was debated into existence.

• 55% of Americans say the U.S. going to war with Iran was a mistake, per a University of Massachusetts survey.
• Section 702 of FISA, a broad post-9/11 surveillance authority, lapsed for the first time this year.
• FBI agents have been redirected from counterterrorism to immigration enforcement, according to NYU Professor John Gershman.
• The Soufan Center's Jacob Ware describes a 'five-alarm counterterrorism fire' fueled by online radicalization of children as young as eight.

Why it matters: The threat landscape has grown more fragmented, not smaller, making institutional capacity more consequential, not less.

• Former Police Commissioner Bill Bratton says terrorism is 'an expanding threat' because of the range of methods now available to attackers — and to defenders.
• Overseas actors are actively exploiting the gap: Sweden's Foxtrot Network, described as Iran-funded, has recruited teenagers to carry out assassinations; researcher Daniela Richterová says Russia's 'gig economy' model lets online recruits carry out bombings for as little as $1,000.

How 30 sources split on this story

Where they split: The central dispute is whether rolling back surveillance powers and tech partnerships reflects a necessary civil-liberties correction or a dangerous erosion of hard-won counterterrorism capability.

What’s next: CSIS's Emily Harding says the U.S. has 'drifted away from' key post-9/11 lessons and faces pressure to re-examine intelligence-sharing frameworks.

• Atlantic Council fellow Daniel Fried asks whether allies like Canada or Denmark would now provide military aid if the U.S. were attacked again.
• Whether Congress will restore lapsed surveillance authorities, and under what civil-liberties constraints.
• Whether the U.S. can rebuild alliance credibility quickly enough to matter in the next security crisis.
• Why no attack comparable in scale to 9/11 has occurred in 25 years — and whether that record reflects capability, luck, or both.