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A pall of silence descended on New York as Americans marked 25 years since the 9/11 attacks of World Trade Centre by terrorists.
At the solemn occasion, Americans remembered the dead at National Memorial in New York on Friday and the sixth bell chimed, marking the moment the center’s North Tower fell.
The Oculus, a shopping centre that opened in 2016 near the 9/11 Memorial, was designed to resemble, on its exterior, a dove flying out of a child’s hands.
Inside, two long strips of windows cut into the ceiling above an oval-shaped passageway offer a glimpse into the sky above.
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Every year on the morning of 9/11, these windows are designed to cast two beams of sunlight onto the floor below in honour of the Twin Towers.
“Here the Sun stands at 10:28 am on September 11, completing a wedge of light,” an inscription in the centre of the passageway reads.
The “Way of Light” as it is called, is supposed to last from the time the first tower was hit to the time the second tower fell.
President Trump speaks
President Donald Trump, speaking at the Pentagon during the 9/11 ceremony, reminisced how American Airlines Flight 77 struck the US military headquarters, killing 184 people in the building and on the plane.
President Trump said “In 25 years, a generation has passed since the terror attacks,” he says. “Yet time has not dimmed the honour of that day our country came face-to-face with true evil.”
“Today we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago,” he says. “We will never, ever forget. That’s why we fight today.”
Trump recalled that “on days like 9/11, we learn what a country is truly made of.
“We’re learning right now what we’re made of, and we have to be strong and we have to be smart,” he added.
The president acknowledged that the US will never be the same after the events of 11 September 2001.
“We were all New Yorkers that day,” he says of 11 September. “But we’re also all Americans.”
He praised members of the military and highlights how their work is continuing with the war in Iran.
“And we salute the service members working right now to ensure the world’s number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never, ever have a nuclear weapon,” he noted.
While he alluded to it before, Trump has now explicitly linked the war with Iran to the events of 9/11.
Since the attacks took place, Trump says, members of the military have “travelled to the darkest corners of the earth and done battle with a shadowy enemy”.
US troops are still in harm’s way overseas, and the US military remains heavily committed to the Middle East decades after US soldiers deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Iran was among the countries described as the “Axis of Evil” by President George W Bush a few months after the 9/11 attacks, and his administration is known to have actively considered military action against it a few years later – but ultimately moved in favour of diplomatic pressure and sanctions.
Trump ended his address by saying 11 September “reminded us of the terrible power of hate”, but it also showed “the power of the American spirit”.
“No one can ever prepare for a day like 9/11. But we can always choose to be the kind of nation the world saw in those days after,” Trump said.
“We can raise our children to know that their country is good, that their fathers are brave, and that our flag is a symbol of justice and freedom.”
Clinton, Kamala Join in solidarity
Former Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Bill Clinton have both released statements honouring the victims of 9/11.
In her statement, Harris notes that a generation has grown up in the years since 9/11, “but our responsibility to remember has not changed”.
“We remember the people who went to work that morning and never came home, and we remember the families who have carried their memories every day since,” she says.
Clinton says the country is remembering all those lost in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. He also mentions all the people who have fallen ill from exposure to toxic materials after the building collapse.
Clinton says it is not possible to erase the nightmare of the attacks, “but we can support the people who have given and lost so much by treating one another with respect.”
How the attacks reshaped US Policy framework
The September 11, 2001 attacks reshaped the U.S. policy framework, especially in national security, foreign policy, intelligence, immigration, and civil liberties.
The central shift was from treating terrorism largely as a law-enforcement problem to treating it as a national-security and military problem.
First, US created a homeland-security system. Before 9/11, the U.S. homeland responsibility for protection was spread across many agencies.
The attacks exposed major coordination problems. The response was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002–03, bringing 22 agencies and offices together under one Cabinet department.
DHS became responsible for areas including: border and immigration security; aviation and transportation security; critical infrastructure protection; emergency preparedness and response and coordination between federal, state, local and private-sector actors
Second, the attacks produced more expansive conception of the president’s authority to respond to terrorism. Congress passed the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which provided the legal basis for military operations against those responsible for 9/11 and associated forces.
This helped establish the framework commonly described as the “War on Terror.” The U.S. subsequently undertook major military operations in Afghanistan and, later, Iraq.
The longer-term consequence was a significant expansion of the executive branch’s role in national security and military policy.
Third, one of the most important lessons of 9/11 was that U.S. intelligence agencies possessed pieces of relevant information but did not effectively share and integrate them.
The 9/11 Commission identified organizational barriers between agencies such as the CIA, FBI and Department of Defense.
This led to reforms including: creation of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), creation and expansion of the National Counterterrorism Center, greater intelligence sharing, stronger coordination between domestic law enforcement and foreign intelligence, and transformation of the FBI toward a stronger intelligence and national-security role. The principle shifted from “need to know” toward “need to share.”
Four, the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 substantially expanded the government’s ability to obtain information, conduct surveillance and investigate terrorism and suspected terrorist activity.
This created a major policy tension between national security and civil liberties. The 9/11 Commission itself emphasized that protecting Americans could not simply mean abandoning constitutional liberties.
Some surveillance authorities were subsequently modified or allowed to expire, but the post-9/11 surveillance framework had a lasting influence on U.S. security policy.
Five, the 9/11 changed the assumption that aircraft hijackings were primarily hostage situations that could be negotiated.
The federal government created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and introduced much more extensive passenger and baggage screening, strengthened cockpit doors, restricted access to aircraft, and developed additional layers of aviation security.
Border and immigration policy also became much more closely connected to counterterrorism, including integrated terrorist watchlists and greater attention to terrorist travel networks.
Six, before 9/11, U.S. foreign policy was heavily influenced by the post-Cold War environment and concerns about traditional state competitors.
After 9/11, counterterrorism became a central organizing principle of U.S. foreign policy. The United States increasingly focused on: terrorist organizations rather than only states: preventing terrorist safe havens, counterinsurgency and counterterrorism, intelligence cooperation, disrupting terrorist financing and partnerships with foreign governments.
Finally, the 9/11 also changed how the U.S. prepared for catastrophic events. Federal, state and local governments increased investment in: disaster response, emergency communications, first-responder coordination, biological, chemical and radiological preparedness, and critical-infrastructure protection.
The policy framework gradually expanded from terrorism alone to an all-hazards homeland-security model, incorporating natural disasters and other catastrophic risks.
Before 9/11, national security was largely organized around traditional military threats, while terrorism was treated primarily through intelligence and law enforcement.
After 9/11, terrorism became a central national-security priority, leading to greater executive power, military intervention abroad, centralized homeland security, expanded intelligence cooperation, stronger border and aviation controls, and broader surveillance authorities.
The most important institutional lesson was that security policy could no longer be divided neatly between “foreign” and “domestic” affairs. The 9/11 Commission argued that the U.S. needed a unified approach connecting intelligence, law enforcement, military power, border security and emergency preparedness.
The 9/11 transformed the U.S. policy framework from a relatively decentralized, post-Cold-War security system into a much more integrated homeland-security and counterterrorism state, while simultaneously creating an enduring debate over how to balance security with civil liberties.
