There doesn't have to be a causal relationship
If those in power stand to benefit from scaring the populace and stampeding it in the desired direction (see "authoritarian conservatism"), then those in power will select from events those that will benefit them, and foster and promote them through fearmongering and demagoguery; and downplay or suppress non-beneficial developments. 9/11 filled the vacuum left by the fall of the Soviet Union, no conspiracy necessary....just opportunism
Causality is diffused, and becomes something like the force of selection acting in evolution. Events evolve in a generally desirable direction from someobody's viewpoint, but no individual's fingerprints will ever be found.