An option: Stop immigration from places that are prone to terrorist attacks happening and then you won't have to give up nearly as much privacy in the name of fighting terror at home.
And of course most deaths from terrorism in the US are from "mass shooters", who tend to be self-radicalised US nationals with fringe political beliefs.
Your source (correctly) says they were mostly from Saudi Arabia, which has a rather extensive history over several decades of terrorist attacks (both attacks in Saudi Arabia, and attackers outside of Saudi Arabia by Saudi nationals and/or with Saudi sponsors.) There is no sense in which Saudi Arabia is (or could be fairly described in 2001 as) "a place with almost no history of terror attacks."
UAE had no history.
That's a detail that doesn't matter. What matters is that we open the doors to men who have high risk of radicalization and ties to rich Saudis, bigot.
Needs citation.
- FBI screening has been ineffective (Boston, Orlando)
- FBI self reporting has been ineffective (Ft. Lauderdale)
- Expired Visas (under GWB) has been ineffective (9/11)
- Facebook and Apple Prism programs have been ineffective (San Bernardino)
- TSA fails internal tests. (Richard Reid)
- Russian intelligence agencies reporting to U.S. intelligence agencies has been ineffective. (Boston)
- Enhanced Background and Psychological tests ineffective (Orlando, Charleston)
- Intelligence Briefings have been ineffective (9/11, Richard Reid)
They need to get rid of all counter-terrorism operations and ignore the problem because all attempts to stop any attacks have been without effect.