A popular expression asserts that "9-11 changed everything." Is this an accurate reading of American History since 2001?

Clearly the terrorist attacks of 9/11 had profound effects that we are still trying to come to terms with today. It was a moment as important as it was tragic. But it did not, perhaps, change everything, as we often hear. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States had begun to grapple with the problems posed by international terrorism and, particularly by the mid-1990s, the terror network known as Al-Qaeda. The Clinton Administration had witnessed multiple bloody terror attacks, including one on the World Trade Center itself, and disrupting and destroying global terror networks had already become a major focus of US foreign policy by September 11, 2001. Indeed, President Clinton had authorized multiple missions to kill or capture Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden during his presidency. So perhaps it is more accurate to say that the terror attacks of 9/11 alerted Americans to a reality that they had not previously considered—that their nation was involved in what would become known as a "war on terror." Certainly 9/11 changed much, especially domestically, but many of the forces unleashed by 9/11 were already churning under the surface.
https://2001-2009.state.gov/s/ct/rls/wh/6947.htm