The president and ceo of the national 9 11 memorial and museum. On behalf of of everyone associated with the memorial and museum, i want to express a warm our sincere gratitude for your steadfast commitment to the security of our nation. We are honored to have secretary chertoff, napolitano, and johnson here with us. The decision to hold this public field hearing here, within a space find by the remaining foundational structure of the World Trade Center at what was the epicenter of ground zero 18 years ago this week makes todays program especially meaningful. Theow many of you toured museum last night, some for the first time. The events we chronicle here, the lives we remember, and the aspirations we embrace for a world free of this scourge of inextricably linked to the topics he will discuss today. Here at the 9 11 memorial and museum, we testified to the largest inextricably linked lossoflife from a foreign attack on american soil and the single greatest loss of rescue personnel in