Everything changed for the United States of America on September 11, 2001, when three hijacked airliners slammed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. These atrocities were not the first terrorist attack on the Continental United States, though they were the most shocking and damaging ones to have threatened domestic security. They were also the first terrorist attacks to show that there was a real air threat to domestic American targets, and they forced the country to react. President George W Bush immediately issued an Executive Order and declared the existence of a national emergency due to "the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, New York, and the Pentagon, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States". Under Operation Noble Eagle, American forces would protect the nation. President Bush authorised a partial mobilization of the reserves, allowing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to call on a million reserve soldiers, airmen, sailors. Marines and Coast Guard members for up to two years of active duty. In reality, only about 35,000 members of the military reserves were called to active duty for 'homeland defence' and 'civil support', and to tighten up 'homeland security' in the first phase of the operation.
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