{"id":62591,"date":"2020-10-12T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/12\/the-uss-cole-attack-more-than-911-predicted-americas-challenges-in-the-21st-century\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:53:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:53:42","slug":"the-uss-cole-attack-more-than-911-predicted-americas-challenges-in-the-21st-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2020\/10\/12\/the-uss-cole-attack-more-than-911-predicted-americas-challenges-in-the-21st-century\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cole attack \u2014 more than 9\/11 \u2014 predicted America\u2019s challenges in the 21st century"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Al-Qaida\u2019s attack against the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Cole \u00ad\u00ad\u00adoccurred 20 years ago<\/a>, but the powerful lessons of the tragedy reverberate today. The attack was unprecedented: a major U.S. warship targeted in peacetime by an extremist organization. Seventeen sailors dead and 39 injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those of us who have served in the U.S. Navy since that time, the attack is frequently invoked to warn young sailors about the dangers of complacency. The incident and its aftermath led to many important changes in how the Navy conducts business, and how it protects its forces. It also predicted America\u2019s larger struggles with terrorism, extremism and indeed, its own place in the world. In many ways, the USS Cole foreshadowed the future more accurately than the attacks of Sept. 11 the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n\t