Once again the United States was attacked by terrorism with the September 11, 2001 attacks (9/11) in which 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four transcontinental airliners and intentionally crashed two of them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon killing themselves and nearly 3,000 people. President George W. Bush announced a "War on Terror" in response. The United States and NATO launched an invasion of Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban regime that had harbored al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden. The federal government established new domestic efforts to prevent future attacks. The controversial USA PATRIOT Act increased government's power to monitor communications and removed legal restrictions on information sharing between federal law enforcement and intelligence services. A cabinet-level agency called the Department of Homeland Security was created to lead and coordinate federal counter-terrorism activities. Some of these anti-terrorism efforts, particularly the U.S. government's handling of detainees at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, led to allegations toward the U.S. government of human rights violations.