By Reva Bhalla

One day after 9/11, U.S. President George W. Bush declared a global "war on terror."

Al Qaeda had first reared its head years before in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1998 U.S. Embassy attacks in East Africa and the 2000 USS Cole bombing, but it was not until the World Trade Center towers came crashing down that the global international security community became almost completely consumed with battling global jihadism.

Professors of political Islam came out of the woodwork, Osama bin Laden became a household name, university students started pouring into Arabic language courses and, for the first time, terrorism became a national security priority. This era became known as the "post-9/11 world."

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By Wall-jumper

Once upon a time, in the distant haze of nearly three years ago, there was a brand-spanking-new concept called the Defence Industrial Strategy (or DIS, for short). It was delivered by a Minister who had actually lived amongst the realities and imperatives of the real commercial world, and who was therefore the more believable when he said to Industry: 'Trust me - I'm committed to this', as well as 'Smell the coffee - you've got to change too - get on board, or else.' And it all started with great vigour...

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