Recognized because of their covert status. Its those Stars On The Wall and those individuals who i knew very well personally and worked with who gave their lives, and i think Thats Something we always have to remember. We didnt do everything perfectly over the last 20 years, but i must say the fact that we prevented another horrific attack from Al Qaeda in the homeland here really is testament to the tremendous patriotism, Skill And Courage of so many Men And Women over so many years. Thank you so much. Stephanie and ali in New York, Back To You. Thank you to both of you. Of course well be spending the next couple of Hours together. It is just past the top of the Hour, 12 00 noon as we continue special coverage of the 20th Anniversary of the September 11th attack. All Morning Weve been watching the poignant and moving images from the memorials that are taking place to mark this day. We saw President Biden and first Lady Jill Biden at Ground Zero this morning, along with the obamas and clintons. Hundreds of others gathered to honor and remember the more than 2,700 people who died when the Twin Towers came down. At the Pentagon The Ceremony began at sunrise and it included remarks from the heads of the joint chiefs the secretary of defense. They played taps at 9 37 eastern, the moment the building was struck, and 184 people lost their lives. In shanksville, pennsylvania, where Flight 93 was brought down by brave and heroic passengers, every time i think about what happened on that plane, it is extraordinary. They made a choice that they knew couldnt end well, but they might change history, and they did. They did. Crowds gathered to hear from former President George W. Bush and Vice President kamala harris. President biden is traveling from New York to shanksville as we speak. He will be attending a Wreath Laying Ceremony there later in the Hour. A short time ago Andrea Mitchell had a chance to speak with the secretary of defense, lloyd austin. Heres their conversation. Thank you so much. Im here, of course, with the secretary of defense, lloyd austin. Thank you so much. On such a difficult day. Your thoughts, first of all, on the 20th Anniversary . This is about remembrance, this is about thanking the people who have sacrificed so much, making sure that they understand that were going to be there for them going forward. We understand the pain that theyve suffered over the years, and that theyll always be a part of this family. Traumatic loss and the depth of their Pain And Suffering is immense, and of Course Today is a great opportunity to remind them that were still here, theyre still a part of our family, and were going to be here going forward. And you, of course, are a four star who led our troops into battle in iraq and of course in afghanistan over these decades. Your own feelings about the Afghanistan War coming to an end the way it did, with the taliban now in charge . Well, thats a fact, the taliban is in charge. Afghanistan is a different country, and i think the taliban is discovering that very quickly. I think that we have different capabilities, the united states of america, and the world is different. As we look at how trans national terrorism has metastasized, we no longer see just a threat from afghanistan, but from a number of places around the globe. And how do we have the intelligence we need without boots on the ground . We talk about overthehorizon and we have incredible capabilities from doha, 1,200 Miles Away and other places. But the Bottom Line is we dont have the ground troops that we have had with extraordinary work from our Special Forces and other operators on the ground in afghanistan. Makes it more difficult, andrea, but its not impossible. And we demonstrate on a daily basis that theres no place on this planet that we cant Reach Out and touch when we need to. The issue will be making sure that we maintain a Laser Focus on networks and adversaries capabilities, and that we dont lose that focus and that we maintain the capability to be able to Reach Out and disrupt activity, if necessary. Al qaeda or isisk, you name it, our goal is to make sure that they dont have the ability to export terror from that space in afghanistan or any other space to our homeland, and were going to remain focused on that. And having fought and sacrificed so much over the years, our Troops Led by you against the taliban, to see them naming haqqani leaders into their Acting Government in charge of security, these terrorists, all linked to Al Qaeda, how disconcerting is that to morale and to the force . Well, its troubling. As you look at their lineup thus far, it looks like the same folks that we saw of the four. I would point to the fact that they are cooperating with us in terms of our efforts to get our american citizens out of country, but i would not from that infer anything into the future. Theyre cooperating with us on this narrow set of issues and well take it for what it is. What about those we left behind, those translators and others who some had only applied for a special visa status, some are still stuck in the bureaucracy, and they were in combat with us . They were our eyes and ears. I think you heard the Secretary Of State say that we will continue to work to process people, to help people, where possible. And youve seen that. Youve seen us most recently bring out two Plane Loads of american citizens, and were going to continue that effort. But the State Department along with the rest of the government is going to continue that effort. The taliban is cooperating in some measure, but not on mazari sharif, and there are still obstacles to getting those planes up. This wont be easy. Well continue to work on this and we wont rest until we have as many people out as we can possibly get out. You spoke, i know, with the incredible marines who worked at the airport on evacuations and worked right at the gates. You were in kuwait speaking to them. Can you share their thoughts and your thoughts about their extraordinary Bravery And Service and having lost those 13 fallen service members . Yeah, as you would imagine, andrea, it is tough for anybody to lose a comrade and to lose 13 is really tough. So my goal was to engage each one of them, and i talked to each marine and asked how they were doing and theyre doing well. But i reminded them that if they needed help, dont be afraid to Reach Out and ask for help. There should be no stigma associated with asking for help to work through what is a tough issue. Its so important on these hollowed grounds, the pentagon, as you recounted, it was originally the ground was broken on September 11th 60 years ago in the face of World War ii, and fascism, it was before pearl harbor. But you quoted Winston Churchill today, the originalality of malice. How do we get our minds around the evil that is still focused on our embassies and civilians . One thing that we can be sure of, andrea, is that there will always be challenges and thats why we have a department of defense. Our job is to defend this nation and we take that seriously and we recognize that those challenges will be there and some of them will be downright evil, as weve seen in the past. Thank you for your service, thanks for honoring us on this solemn day with your thanks for having me. Thanks to andrea for that. There will be a lot of time to discuss it and well be discussing it today as well. That issue of having a country while these attacks were under way on 9 11 where there isnt a real government in charge. The taliban was not then a real government and they are not a real government today. It wasnt a word most american people had ever heard. But there are a lot of Places Today where there are these absences of a government and that will pose a threat to us. Regardless of what you think about american troops in afghanistan and how they came out and whether we should be there, there are places in the world where terrorists can set up camp and start their trouble. That is still something as americans 20 years later we are going to have to continue to discuss. Lets bring back into our Conversation Terry seers, the Executive Director of tuesdays children, an organization named, of course, for the thousands of children who lost their parents on 9 11. Terry, the work you do is extraordinary, longterm support for these children, for these families. But today marking 20 years since 9 11, what does that mean for those children, now adults . Is this a day of immense pain, is it a celebration . Its certainly a day of recognition. Well, of course, its a difficult day for all the kids as so many have been so resilient in spite of this significant public and overwhelming loss, but today brings back a lot of memories, brings back a lot of lost moments with their Mom Or Dad that was lost, and its always something where families gather together and try their best to remember the good times and remember who that person was and who they lost. Terry, what has changed in 20 years, if anything . Does the grief for them change, does the understanding of it change . Does it emerge into a celebration of the people they lost . Because we try and do that every year when we commemorate, when they read their names. We are trying to remember the whole people that these were with their families. What has evolved . So i think children grieve differently. They grieve through time. Obviously anniversaries like today, its especially poignant. I think that, also, special moments and milestones in their life, whether or not its graduating from High School or walking down the aisle, and their Dad Or Mom isnt there. I mean, thats really bittersweet. So there are significant moments like that, but also smaller moments, youre on a street and you think you smell your Dads Cologne or see someone you might imagine thats what your dad looked like. So i dont think this is a celebration. I think this is really a commemoration and really a moment for families to come together. At tuesdays children, today isnt the day were there. Were there the other 364 days a year for these kids and these families. Its certainly a day to honor them. Terry, thank you for all the work that you do. Terry sears of tuesdays children. I want you to take a look at this iconic photo. Every american has seen it from 9 11. It shows then white House Chief of Staff Andrew Card giving word to former President Bush that our nation was under attack. President bush was reading to a classroom of second graders, one of his favorite things to do at the time. Take a listen to what one of those children had to say about the event oh actually dont have that sound. Were going to show it a bit later. I want to bring Andy Card in. As i said, former white House Chief of staff, also with us, Air Force Veteran Colonel Mark tillman. He was at the controls of Air Force one on that day. As i said, we have all seen that photo. But after that photo, what conversations were you having with then President Bush . I know he wanted to get back to washington, certainly to project a sense of normalcy . After i delivered the message to him in the classroom, he realized it wasnt an accident. You were sure to say that, you actually said america is under attack. I said a second Plane Hit the Second Tower, america is under attack. How did that feel for you . I knew i was delivering a significant message and i knew that it was historic, and i knew that it was going to change his presidency and i also knew that the president probably really became the president that day when he realized it was about his oath, it wasnt about his agenda. You could almost see it on his face, what was going on. He was definitely thinking and going through it. I think he recognized, my job is now to keep my oath, preserve, protect and defend, and thats why he counts on people like mark tillman, here, because mark swore to follow the commander in chief, except when the commander in chief says im going back to washington, d. C. , it was premature. Interesting job you had, because at that moment we didnt have enough information, we didnt know what was under attack. We didnt know what capabilities there are some people who thought it was Al Qaeda or Osama Bin Ladin in the early moments, but we didnt know. I think The One thing we could assume is they didnt have missiles. So you literally got the president into the air and needed to keep him moving until someone could provide you and andy and others with sufficient information that you could land the president safely and he would be safe. What a mission. Absolutely. It went from hunkering the president down to bringing him back to washington, d. C. , to loitering around the country and keeping him in the air, keeping him safe. Mr. Card was right there with us in the cockpit telling us whats the latest, whats happening. We were getting great information. Its just we were getting quite a bit of information. I want to get into your head at that point. Obviously youre military trained. I want to know when hes on the tarmac, hes waiting for the president to set foot on Air Force one. What are you feeling . You know, our plane was the moment the president would arrive, the plane was ready to go, were going to get him into the air and take him to some location. We were trained for that. Then we get the word were going back to washington, d. C. , which is perfectly fine. Fog is coming into play at this point. Were hearing that there are Truck Bombs that have hit the pentagon. It sounded like a Ground Attack and an air attack. As a military man i was hesitant to bring the president back into that area. But that was exactly what was desired at that point. And we made everything happen to make sure it was safe and mr. Card was with us, explaining whats going on and how were going to execute and the beauty of the whole day was mr. Card, the president , everyone gave us not only information, but they asked our opinion and they got the opinions of everyone around them and we were all opening up our Tool Kits and giving them exactly what we know. Were showing pictures of shanksville, right now. The president is going to be there. This is going to be part of the third Ceremony Today honoring those who died. Thats where united Flight 93 went down, a story of heroism all on its own. Well take you there in just a moment. Andy card, i dont know of a Chief Of Staff in history who has had to deliver that kind of message with that kind of urgency, not being in a secure room, where theres military people, you can say what you need to say. Youre in a classroom. How do you choose those words and what do you think the president was going to do with that information . I had no idea what the president would do. I did wrestle myself with, do i ask him to leave or not leave . I made a decision just to give him the Information And Step back from him. And fast. You delivered your stuff and then you got out. And i stepped back on purpose to send the signal that i didnt want to have him start a conversation. Got it. If he had gotten up, i probably would have said that means he wants to come with me. I did not want him to get up because i wanted to get things ready for him in the holding room. So i was relieved with how he reacted. I was comforted that he didnt scare the kids. I was comforted he didnt demonstrate fear to the media, because that would have satisfied the terrorists. But i was also comforted that he was contemplating his act. If i thought he was in immediate danger, the Secret Service would have come in with me and lifted him out of the chair. That probably would have scared the kids. Ive always wondered, when did you get to call home . Every time ive ever had the pleasure of interviewing you, you always have your number one partner with you, your wife. For the rest of us, as soon as those towers hit, we hunkered down, we called our families. Did you get to do that . I did not. I did not talk to my wife until i got home that night at about midnight. Oh, my gosh. And my wife is a minister. Her church at the time was right near the cia. She was worried about her parishioners and she was there with their families. She actually opened up the Parking Lot of the church so that the cia could use it because they were calling in people to work. But she had confidence in me. I have great confidence in her. We love Each Other. We were empty nesters. If we had children at home, it would have been a very different circumstance. Look, i was completely focused on the president and helping him. I wanted to be cool, calm and collected and not be a source of angst. Now, he did get angry with me every time he would say were going back to washington, d. C. And i would say, i dont think you want to make the decision right now, lets wait. He would argue and argue and i would say, our pilot says hes not going to fly you there until he knows he can land the plane. He was a blessing to me because he said, you may be the president , but im in charge of this plane. Did that day change your relationship and your relationship with the president forever . Yeah, it did, absolutely. I mean, it was definitely always the respect for President Of The United States and the Chief Of Staff. That day, the whole crew, everybody came together, the first family as well as the staff, and from that moment forward it was i mean, you cant go into baghdad unannounced without the support of the President And Chief of staff. So that day we all came together as a family. Thank you both for in the moment having to make very tough decisions and doing them well. I want to go to Geoff Bennet In Shanksville. Whats the situation there . Reporter the shanksville this Morning And Afternoon certainly belies what happened here some 20 years ago. This really is a place of peace today, as you can sort of See The Sun reflect off the hemlocks behind me. Were awaiting President Biden to walk through that black curtain. Hes going to pay his respects at the memorial wall. There are 40 stone pillars for each of the 40 victims. The president and the first the president and the First Lady are going to lay a wreath. Were getting some sort of Emergency Alert here In Shanksville. Well find out what thats about. The president and First Lady will lay a wreath and they have been present at each of the three sites. Thats one of the reasons why the President Isnt delivering marks today. The priority for the White House is to make sure that hes available and present to the families, to the degree that its possible, both here In Shanksville, at the pentagon and at the site there at 9 11. I want to bring in my friend go ahead, ali. Please, go ahead. Bring Scott In. Reporter i want to bring Scott In because scott has done extensive reporting on the degrees to which this land, this acreage, has really been a point of connection between the locals here, the local community, and the families, the victims families. Its really remarkable. The World Trade Center, the Ground Zero scene that we all remember, it looks like hell on earth. The pentagon was a large military site. This just by a fluke of timing and circumstance of when the passengers attacked the terrorists, you see the trees behind us and the field. It was a reclaimed strip mine. But there was nothing here. So right away the site was kind of sealed off and once the cleanup was initially done, the only people who would come to the site were Family Members. So over the years they became deeply attached to the site. After the ceremony they went and walked down and paid their respects there. It became a central community point. They would come here, they would meet, they would plan how they would come together and raise Money And Lobby congress to make this a national memorial. And especially its just so beautiful as the flowers returned, the wildlife returned, and many Family Members would come and sit there and feel like seeing the nature, seeing the flowers, they felt like they were in touch with their relatives in a way that i dont think was the same experience at the other sites. You know what strikes me, when i was driving up here, i was struck by the fact that d. C. Is only about a two and a half Hour drive, but about a 20 minute flight. So when those passengers and crew members decided to take control of the airplane and bring it to the ground after they realized they were part of a larger attack, there was such little margin for them to act. It was close. The plane was traveling almost 600 miles an Hour, really close to the ground. It was just hundreds of feet off the ground during this flight. They began the counterattack at 9 45. At 10 03 when the Plane Crashed, they were still fighting. They had just made it into the cockpit. You can kind of make sense of that from the transcript that was eventually released. A few minutes later, if theyre not successful, that Plane Crashes into the u. S. Capitol. I know there were jets scrambling at that time. Theres been a lot of discussion about the jets, the communication and the readiness, it would have been very tough for those jets to intercept the plane. And the fact that they acted, its pretty clear they saved the u. S. Capitol. I was struck by one mother you talked to whose young daughter has now almost been gone longer than she was alive, which were both parents, i cant even wrap my head around that. How has she been processing all of this . Shes Somebody Who, you know, people react in different ways. She was one of the people who moved all in. She moved across the country to be closer to shanksville to do everything she could to build this memorial. Her younger daughter is older than 20 now and she says this is my younger daughter, but every year shes an age that i never saw my oldest daughter be. And just sitting with the fact that 20 years, its longer than the lifetime of her daughter. As a parent, i was The One who had to stop the conversation at that point because i was on so upset by that idea. Were going to send it Back To You as we await President Biden and the First Lady to come here and lay that wreath. And just let us know when it happens. Well come right to it. Were back with Colonel Mark till man and Andy Card. I just want to continue a bit of the conversation that Scott And Geoff were having. This airplane when the passengers decided they were going to try and overcome the hijackers, they had those air phones, a lot of them are phoned family. In many cases they had told their Family Members, were planning something, were going to try and do this. And many of the Family Members encouraged them to do so, knowing what else had happened. They knew if they didnt try to take over this plane, it was heading somewhere and it was going to crash. There as a rudimentary trained pilot, someone who flew small planes, someone who was a former air traffic controller. They had somewhat of a plan but the likelihood was it was going to crash and the best thing was to not have It Crash into the capitol or White House. That is phenomenal. From your perspective as a pilot, its phenomenal they made that decision knowing we might die anyway, so were going to die doing the right thing. True heroes in my mind that did that. Its incredibly hard to just pick up and start flying a jet and keep it moving. But if youve got some kind of training, i imagine youre going to try to do your best and thats what they did. Theyre true americans. They tried and tried to do their best to make it happen. Here you go. Here is President Biden, arriving at shanksville. Whenever anybody thinks of the characteristics of different president s, The One thing that Joe Biden is known for, hes a man who has gone through a lot of grief personally and what he does do is relate well to people who have gone through grief. It tends to be very personal for them. And today as youre watching him at these memorials, thats what youre seeing. Youre seeing a Joe Biden who has experienced remarkable, profound personal loss relating to people who have experienced remarkable personal loss. Politics aside, Joe Biden is considered a decent empathetic person, and those are two characteristics that certainly matter today. Lets bring Geoff Bennett back in. Its almost a cliche now to call this president the comforter in chief, but youre both right. He draws from a deep well of personal loss that infuses his politics and world view. If this is a moment of silence, i dont want to speak over it. It may be. I guess we can just take this in. Geoff, lets talk a Little Bit about what that memorial is at shanksville that the president has been walking at. There are many americans who are not familiar with it. What does it represent . It represents so much, ali. In large part because for the first decade after the September 11th attacks, the memorial as it exists now did not exist at all. The entire infrastructure of this place had to be built. Even the road to get here had to be built. This was a baron strip mine. There was nothing here. And when the plane made impact with this pastoral acreage, it was believed to be flying at around 600 miles an Hour and the impact was felt Miles Away. And the immense impact, combined with the thousands of Jet Fuel on board, meant that the plane essentially vaporized. So it was on this rural community, combined with first responders, to pick through all of that and to sort through all of it, to process the entire scene. And when that was done, to have some semblance of a Memorial Tlal be respectful of the Family Members, Loved Ones, and respectful of their sacrifice. So that effort, combined with the national park service, over time, over about a decade or so, gave rise to the memorial that you see here. As the president and First Lady and dignitaries and Family Members, i imagine, walk out to what is really sacred ground. I believe theyre headed to the burial place. That is not a place for the public or where the media can do. It is a place that is designed and reserved for Family Members to go and just have a moment, a private moment with the loved one they lost, ali and steph. A poignant sight, one of several that we have seen today. Geoff, well stay with you, of course, and with these images. Andy, we were asking the colonel before, so i know you didnt get to weigh in. Today is all about the importance of remembering, but for our children, for our grandchildren who were not alive then, specifically what happened In Shanksville, the american heroism, what do you want people to know . These were people who were on a plane that found out what was happening. Civilians. Civilians. They were all civilians. And they were told about the other planes, they came to realize their plane was likely a weapon of mass destruction, and they got together and huddled and they actually voted, do you think we should do something, what should we do. And then Todd Beamer called back and was on the phone with someone from the Airline Company and said, keep talking to me, this is what were thinking of doing, would you pray with me, and prayed. He said the lords prayer. Stayed the lords prayer. And then he said, lets roll. And these amazing heroes rushed the cabin and we dont know how, but they got through the door and the Plane Crashed into shanksville. There was some fear on Air Force one. The president had given an order or at least confirmed an order that our Fighter Pilots could shoot down a commercial jetliner if it was not complying with the faa. Some of us wondered, did we shoot that down . That would have been traumatic for the pilot and it would have changed the whole nature of the debate. Instead, heroes responded and every one of them would have gotten a Medal Of Honor if they were in the military. They were not. So we have to honor them and thats what weve got to do. And so, you know, September 11th, people gave up their labels, we all became americans. We all became americans. And people in other countries, in great britain, france, germany, japan, said we are americans today. People on Flight 93, they were the best of america. Wow. A lot of examples of great heroism that day. Thanks, guys. We appreciate everything you did then and thanks for being with us. Andy card, former white House Chief of staff for President George W. Bush, and Air Force Colonel Mark tillman, thank you both. Bit of a different story here. I want to bring in beverly bass, The First Female Captain of a commercial plane at american airlines. She was piloting a Dallasbound Plane over the North Atlantic on 9 11 when the order came in to divert and land in newfoundland, canada. Her experience was depicted in the Broadway Musical come from away. You and 37 other planes landed in newfoundland, a town of 7,000 people. But your 38 planes had more than 9,000 people on it. You took that order from the faa. Nobody was to land in america. Everybody was to land and if you werent in america, you had to land somewhere else. You landed your plane. What happened then . Well, that is true. I was en route from Paris To Dallas and we did receive orders from Gander Air Traffic control to land immediately in gander. And as airline pilots its not normal for us to be ordered to land anywhere. We ordinarily coordinate with dispatchers. But that day, of course, was different, and we were the 36 out of 38 wide bodies to touch down in a threetour timeframe. The town had a population of 9,400 people and we were nearly 7,000 passengers and crew. I had it backwards. We nearly doubled the population of that tiny community. And we stayed five days. What did you know about why you were landing . You knew it was an emergency landing, you knew it had to be something serious if you were landing in gander, but that sort of final descent, what was going through your mind . We were over the atlantic when we learned the first tower had been hit, and like many people, we thought it was a light airplane, and not that thats not terrible, but it never crossed our minds that it was an airliner. And then about 20 minutes later when we heard the Second Tower had been hit, there were two words that came with that, terrorism and airliner. And once we knew it was an airliner, then it became a gamechanger. So we planned our diversion to one of the larger cities in canada, like toronto or montreal, and certainly didnt expect to be in gander when they closed all of the u. S. Airspace. Captain bass, you just heard the former white House Chief of staff say something really interesting, that on that Day Everybody around the World Sort of said were americans or expressed some sort of Fealty Or Solidarity with americans. Thats kind of what you experienced in gander. Those folks took you in and made you part of the fabric. I mean, when 7,000 People Land in a town of 9,000 people, i guess they have no choice but to make you part of the fabric. But they did that well, at least according to the play and the Tv Show about it. Is that what happened . Its exactly what happened. And i think the mayor of gander, claude elliot, says it so perfectly. On Day One we were 7,000 strangers, on day three they had 7,000 friends, and On The Last Day when we left, they had made 7,000 Family Members that they had to say goodbye to. Unfortunately our country is extremely fractured today, and if we could learn to operate the way the folks in newfoundland do, we would be a lot better off than we are currently. What is your relationship, communication that you continue to have with any people from that experience . Well, weve gone back six times, so needless to say, weve made some very close friends, and some of them have even been to our home in texas. And the actress who plays my role in New York On Broadway has stayed at our home in florida. So we are very connected and always will be. Those six visits are called family reunions. I want to ask you because we were just talking to Captain Tillman about it, as a pilot you have a remarkable responsibility to your crew and to your aircraft. What were you thinking . Because you had figured out before you got to gander that something was under attack. It could have been america, you believed it was terrorists, which means you were in danger, you and your passengers were in danger. Tell me about the Pilot Side of your brain and what it was doing then. Well, im not sure that we thought of that at the moment, and the primary reason is that we werent seeing any of the images that yall saw on tv. We didnt know the airplanes had been hijacked, we didnt know the cockpits had been breached. We didnt know the pilots and Flight Attendants throats had been slit with box cutters. We were just managing our airplane, getting down tarmacs, we were doing what we needed to do as pilots to get the airplane on the ground in gander as quickly as possible. Im not sure that any of us had even a moment to think about the possibility of a Terrorist Being in the back of our airplane, because we didnt know any details at that time. Beverly bass, thank you for what you did, and as an extension, thank you to the people of gander, newfoundland, with whom you clearly have become family. Thanks again, and good to see you. The first female commercial pilot for american airlines. Lets bring in a hero of a different style. A Construction Worker on 9 11. He dropped everything to put his life at risk for weeks and months as part of the Recovery Effort Team at Ground Zero. He lost parts of his foot when an 8,000 Pound Beam fell on him. Today his work continues. He has become a Stalwart Advocate in the fight to secure protections for first responders. John, thank you so much for joining us. People think about 9 11 as this singular event. But for weeks, months, really years, the ground behind us, it was burning, metal, rock. It was a devastated site. How did you go back day in and day out for such a long period of time and putting your life at risk . Well, one, thank you for having me. This is a rough day and not just for me, but for america. Nobody owns 9 11. Were all shareholders. You see that In Shanksville, you see that at the pentagon and you see it across the country. And i never went home from when i went to Ground Zero until i was injured, and then i went to the hospital. My injury at Ground Zero, it pales in comparison, and while its a horrible injury, it pales in comparison and is so insignificant to those who got sick and died and those who are still sick. And 9 11 and that injury does not define me. My time there at Ground Zero, i did it. But i block out the devastation, i block out the destruction, i lock out the carnage, and by choice, i choose to remember september 12th, i choose to remember the humanity, the empathy. And im never going to change for that, because im not going to Harp On you know, this is 20 years, everybody keeps saying were at the 20year anniversary. Its a 20year remembrance. But for those directly affected by 9 11, this is the longest day in the history of days. This has not ended for those who havent had the justice they deserve, who havent had the truth they deserve, and are still being denied and neglected from washington that these Men And Women, Uniform And Nonuniform deserve help. As you speak, im just dying to know, that die when the towers were hit, i want to know what was going through your mind. How did you go towards danger . I cried, i cried. I was in awe. I drove across the bridge and i stopped and there was nobody on the road. And i wish i had a Cell Phone with a camera then, because i looked from the bridge at what was going on in Lower Manhattan, and when i got there, 12, 13, 14 Hours later, if you werent humbled by what you saw, then you just werent human. And, again, while i block that out, what was the most amazing thing there, nobody cared about your skin color, your religion, your politics. Everybody worked together. And, you know, everybody says its great to be an american. We label Each Other too much. It was great to be the a human being. I march to the beat of my own drum, but im not ever going to conform to other peoples norms. You said something interesting about getting justice for people. You and others just went in the direction of this disaster when people needed to run away from it. 343 members of the Fire Department died in that incident, but 257 more have died from 9 11 related illnesses and we havent even registered those who are not members of a uniform service who died because of illnesses there. Thats the I Couldnt say youre talking about. Let me put on my Rain Man Hat because thats my nickname. When we got the program extended, there were 7,000 and now its 120,000. These are people who have become ill . Yeah, and more than 50 of them are being treated for more than one illness. And these were people who worked as part of the recovery efforts. Or lived or went to school in Lower Manhattan. A lot of people went home in the beginning, got sick and died and they werent even kept Track Of. So this is a national issue and the first 20 years were hard on us. Theres over 30,000 people now with a certified cancer. The federal government says, yes, 9 11 caused your cancer. So when i started walking the halls of congress in 2003 and 2004 and 2005 and members of congress and the senate were saying i was crazy and i was a loose cannon, science caught up to a Guy Who hovers around Room Temperature and now i with a ph. D. In 9 11u. Were suffering. Were not dying. Were not stupid. We know, we live it every day. And this is groundhog day. And while today, again, is such a historic day in history, you know, my Heart Bleeds for the families today, but my heart, my soul my soul is crushed because so many people died waiting for help. And while this bill is not going to save anybodys life, it gives them a Fighting Chance and it compensates the families and relieves them of the financial burden. Theres no comfort. Look, weve got 13 bills passed now, five in dc, five in albany. Did you ever think this would be your lifes work, john . No, i thought i would be golfing somewhere. When everybody asks me if i would do it again im not one of those guys that jump up and say yeah. I dont want 8,000 pounds of steel crushing my foot again, i dont want to spend 11 weeks in the hospital with gangrene. That hurt. But i dont need 9 11 to define me. I needed 9 11 to show everybody how my mother raised me. And my mother dying in April Of 2006 was more painful than my injury. And im going to live my life accordingly. Theres an old saying you only live once, its usually passed down from a drunk uncle at a barbecue, you only live once. No, you only die once. You live every day. And im going to choose to live my life like that. Whats your message to folks who are not on board with the idea that if we want people to do what you did, to head toward the disaster to help people, thats humanity, whats your message to those who are able to make the decision, legislators who are able to say lets take care of the people who got sick because they were at 9 11 . You just said it. The federal, state and local governments need to do a better job to ensure the safety of our first responders. In 2011 we got a bill passed after the first time we passed the first Bill And Nobody talks about this, but im proud of it. Talk about it. It was the last recommendation made on page 396 of the 9 11 commission, Senator Rockefeller wanted me to come back and talk to the senate. God forbid, because on 9 11 the radios failed and thats why so many innocent lives were lost. And God Forbid theres another terrorist attack, another disaster, they were all on the same frequency. Theres a switch in d. C. That goes, hey, you can all communicate. It would have saved lives . We did that. John, you might march to your own beat, but Ali Velshi and i like that tune. Ill take this guy on my side any day. John, thanks for all youve done and continue to do. Im going to take a lot of messages away from today, but you only die once, you live every day. Damn right. A lot of years in tv and that is the best advice ive heard. Thanks for everything. Pleasure to meet you. That was the president of the Feel Good foundation. Were going to toss it to our Friend And Colleague Hallie Jackson at the pentagon. She has a Guest Standing by. Boy, if you dont have chills listening to him, guys, im so glad that were able to share his Voice And Perspective on such an important day. Thank you. I also want to thank our next guest, Leon Panetta joining us this day. You have served as Defense Secretary and Cia Director under former president obama. Secretary panetta, good afternoon. Thank you so much for being with us. Good to be with you. So theres a lot to talk about here from sort of the personal to the policy, if you will, and let me start there, because we heard from former President George W. Bush not too long ago at that site In Shanksville, pennsylvania. We should note that President Biden is still there now. He is taking a moment away from the eyes of the media to pay respects, to pay tribute to the lives lost in that field in pennsylvania that day. We heard from former President Bush this condemnation, secretary panetta, of not just international violent extremism, but he described what he said were children of the same foul spirit, domestic extremists here at home. In conversations with people in your field, in the Defense Community and intel community, increasingly, it seems, that is where the focus is as the capabilities of Terror Groups like isisk, like Al Qaeda in afghanistan, have withered, at least over the last 20 years. I think this country has to be prepared to deal with foreign terrorism and domestic terrorism. 9 11 was certainly a Wakeup Call that foreign terrorism was very real with the attack that took place 20 years ago today. At the same time, January 6th was a Wakeup Call about domestic terrorism and the threat that it constitutes when the u. S. Capitol was taken under siege by a mob. So i think from both an Intelligence Point of view and a Law Enforcement Point of view that this country has to be prepared to deal with terrorism, whether it comes to abroad or whether it comes to within. The reality is that terrorism is still very real abroad and what were seeing happen in afghanistan is that they may very well provide a Safe Haven for terrorists for the future. So that threat has not gone away, either. Pull on that thread a Little Bit, mr. Secretary. Because i know youve described it as a bitter reality that yet again here, as we stand on the 20th Anniversary of those Terror Attacks on September 11th, 2001, the Taliban Again Controls Afghanistan right now. In the building behind me here, what kind of conversations should be happening Behind Closed Doors with the Defense Department . I think its important to make sure that were continuing to keep Track Of terrorism and how it develops. The reality is that the taliban that has taken over afghanistan is pretty much the same taliban that was in control of affidavit on 9 11. Some of the leaders of the Taliban Today were leaders on 9 11. Theyve appointed a member of the haqqani family, who is a global terrorist, to be interior minister. So theres not much question in my mind that Al Qaeda is going to find Safe Haven. Were going to see Isis Continuing to develop there in afghanistan. And the haqqanis are basically terrorists themselves. So i think its going to be very important for the military and for our intelligence to be able to keep Track Of how these terrorists develop and to be able to identify potential targets if we have to conduct Counterterrorism Operations against those that threaten our country. I should note, secretary panetta, that as you were speaking there, we heard them play taps at the ceremony at Ground Zero to mark the end of the commemorations in new York City. We are on the 20th Anniversary of September 11th and the war in afghanistan is officially over. Ten years ago there was another milestone, just months prior, Osama Bin Ladin had been killed. You have talked about that palpable sense of relief in the Mission Room when that mission was completed, the message being sent to people around the world. Do you think that same message still resonates today, sir . I think it does. I think having been a part of that operation to go after Bin Ladin and do it successfully sent an important message to the world that nobody attacks our country and gets away with it. I think that message still resonates. And its also a fact that for 20 years, the 20th Anniversary that we celebrate today of 9 11, as a result of the sacrifices of a lot of Men And Women in uniform, the reality is we protected our country from another 9 11 attack. And i think thats important to remember as well today. Not just the victims of 9 11 and their families who our heart goes out to, but also all of those that put their lives on the line, military, intelligence people, our diplomats, who were able to make sure that our country would not again be vulnerable to a 9 11type attack. I think one chapter has come to an end. I think the reality is we now have to deal with a new chapter in the war on terrorism. Secretary panetta, before i let you go, can you just take a moment and share your personal reflections on what this day means to you . I can only imagine youve been talking with friends and colleagues this morning, exchanging text messages, perhaps Phone Calls about this day. I think this is a day, and obviously it should be a day of remembrance for those who died on this day, of almost 3,000 victims that we remember today and all of the three areas that were the target of attacks by Al Qaeda. I think its also a day of thanks to the first responders and to those who had the courage to respond to the national Security Threat our country faced, our Men And Women in uniform, and all of those who fought over these last 20 years. Their sacrifice is not in vain. They were brave and they gave back to this country in a way that i think makes clear to the world that the united states is going to protect ourselves. And i think while theres a disappointment, obviously, that the taliban is now in charge of afghanistan, i think today ought to also be a day of rededication, to make sure that we remember what happened on 9 11 and that we are committed to making sure that that will never happen again, that they will continue to protect our country from those who try to do harm to the united states of america. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. We are grateful for your time today. We are so thankful that you joined us to share your thoughts and reflections on this important anniversary. Thank you very much. Thank you. Ali, stephanie, were here at the pentagon, and i have to tell you, ive been talking to a lot of members of the military, former members of the military over the last month or so in preparation for this day. I spoke with General Nickelson who had commanded troops in Iraq And Afghanistan and after the taliban takeover of that country, he said he and his sons, generations of service in one family, were in disbelief of what happened. You have that moment, the withdrawal from afghanistan that has been acknowledged did not Go Down the way that many people wanted to see it Go Down, particularly members of the military just a matter of weeks ago, and now this day to think about and honor and remember the lives lost in that horrific terror attack. I think it is an emotional day for people connected to that. That connection goes so much further. We just heard about how it goes so much further to people who developed illnesses afterwards, but further to every one of those members of the military and those american contractors and the people who work for them and the civilians who lost their lives in afghanistan. Whatever you think about that war and whether we should have been there and pulled out and how we pulled out, the Bottom Line is everything about that war was connected to everything about this day 20 years ago. Think about all of the people who enlisted because of how they were impacted by 9 11. Thats right. Ill tell you what, can i tell you about one of them . His name is kevin nickelson. He was at the citadel. His brother thought he was going to be a marine from the moment he got out of third grade. Kevin said he thought he was going to go into the business community, and then 9 11 happened. And the way that he describes being at the service academy, the rage, the anger, this Desire And Demand to get out there and avenge what had happened on 9 11, youre absolutely right, it was a catalyzing moment for so many. Whats also amazing about that rage and anger, it unified our country, right . And when you juxtapose that with sort of where we are right now in terms of division, it was Homeland Security Secretary this week mayorkas, who said our biggest Terror Risk is domestic terror. Think about where we were after 9 11. This city, this country, stood together. Yeah. Let me give you a statistic to highlight that. Im here in washington, right, who was the president at the time, obviously george w. Bush. His Approval Rating was 90 in the days and weeks after September 11th. Thats a reflection of what youre talking about. I was not working in the News Business at the time, but there was a sense for everybody around the country, and people would put flags on their cars. Driving down 95, every car had an american flag on it. That was the sense that we had 20 years ago. Stay with us. We are going to start this new Hour now and some new coverage of this. It is the top of the Hour. 1 00 p. M. Here in the east. Youre watching msnbcs special coverage of the 20th Anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Im Ali Velshi. And im stephanie ruhle. Today the nation is taking a moment to take pause, reflect and honor the lives we lost on this very day 20 years ago. Nearly 3,000 people were killed and the nation was left forever changed. Just moments ago we marked the end of the commemorations right here at Ground Zero, where families read the names of Loved Ones they lost 20 years ago. Here are just a few of their touching messages. 20 years feels like an eternity, but yet it still feels like yesterday. Until we meet again, my love. Rest in peace. My big brother, we love we love and miss you every day. You will never be forgotten. Robert david perazza. And my grandfather, We Love You so much. Thank you for watching over us. We miss you. And please convince mommy to get us a husky some day. Love you. Just moments ago, President Biden and first Lady Jill Biden laid a breathe at the 9 11 memorial In Shanksville, pennsylvania. That serves as a reminder of where the brave passengers of Flight 93 fought back against a team of hijackers to divert the plane from its intended target in washington, saving countless lives while sacrificing their own. Joining us are the coanchors for the Hour, msnbcs Hallie Jackson is at the pentagon, Geoff Bennett is In Shanksville, pennsylvania. Hallie, the events at the pentagon are concluded for today or are there still more things happening there . Well, the official ceremony, ali, has concluded. And just to give you a Little Bit of perspective from where i am, we are one side of the pentagon. Where the Plane Hit was the other side, the western end. It was a piece of the building that had been going through renovations at the time, so a lot of the offices there were closed, which upon reflection it has people going, thank god for that, because you could have twice as many people in the building had that not been the case. Already, you had more than 100 people in the building who lost their lives, not to mention the people on the plane. The ceremony on that side is over. However, President Biden is making stops at all three of these locations, these important locations today, where you are at Ground Zero he just was. Shanksville, pennsylvania, where he is now. Then tonight, later on this afternoon, we expect to see both President Biden and Vice President harris here for a wreathlaying ceremony. He is marking the 20th Anniversary by making sure he spends time at each of these locations, which is something that is obviously important to him, to the White House, on a day that is critical to so many americans. At the pentagon, people forget and weve talking about it. You had Andy Card and he was talking about this moment that was so striking. He talked about the command that was given first by the Vice President and then by then President Bush to take down a civilian plane in the air if it looked as though that plane had been hijacked. And that is a command that was jawdropping and at one point i think andy relayed this, that there was confusion, even in the moment, of whether Flight 93 In Shanksville had been taken down by the u. S. Military or what had happened to it. Here at the pentagon, then Defense Secretary rumsfeld was in the building. He had actually walked out after the Plane Crash happened to the Crash Site. People in the White House didnt know where he was at one point. They couldnt find the Defense Secretary because he had gone outside the building. He picked up a piece of debris, a piece of that plane and brought it inside and hes in the building and Vice President cheney said to him, i hear weve taken down a plane. And rumsfeld said i cannot confirm that, but it is an indication, as we think back now we know the timeline, we know the minutebyminute of what happened and when and who was involved. We know almost everything there is to know about 9 11 as it relates to how the day went down. It was so different on the ground. It was chaos, confusion. There were false reports, for example a bomb at the State Department, which had not existed, but there was really concern in washington that there could be more attacks to come. Just like at Ground Zero when some of the ammunition started going off, some of the firefighters thought they were under attack by guns from terrorists in that fog of war, which is what it was. It was so chaotic, so confusing and something that Secretary Austin said this morning struck me personally and i think a lot of folks, he said we still work here. People still work at this pentagon and they opened that building up the day after September 11th. People were right back at work at the pentagon to show that the seat of power here in washington, the White House, the capitol building, nobody could shut that down. Terrorists hellbent on attacking america could not shut that down. I think thats important to remember, guys. You bring up an interesting point in that story that some people dont maybe remember, and that is Donald Rumsfeld again, this is not a day to talk about politics. So whatever people think about anybody is beside the point. Donald rumsfeld went to the Crash Site at the pentagon and was there trying to help coordinate the rescue of the people who were interviewed at the pentagon. There was a great deal of confusion going on at every level, at the faa, the military, with the president. People didnt know what the information was. But Donald Rumsfeld was there seeing if he can help in the moment. I want to bring in a couple of other experts here, but just let us know if you want to get in on this conversation because i think these two bring a lot of perspective now. Joining us is a former fbi special agent, the founder of a center and New York sometimes best Seller Anatomy of terror, and lawrence wright, best Selling Author of the looming tower, Al Qaeda and the road to 9 11 and i think these two books taken together are two really important books about what hallie just said. We know so much more today than we knew then, which is interesting for the rest of us. But for you it was crucial. In fact, if you knew then what we knew today, if the information did exist, there is a possibility we could have headed off 9 11. And i dont say that to blame anybody, i say it to ask you, since the 9 11 commission, since knowing what we know, since declassifying cia information, could we prevent another 9 11 from happening today . Thank you, ali. I think theres a lot of things that took place over the last 20 years that make a lot of our Intelligence And Law enforcement agencies work better together. We have been able to prevent another 9 11 from happening and i think the communication is way better than it used to be before. I think the sharing of information is better. But we live in a totally different world today. We want to start thinking of the world through the prism of September 11th, 2001, we would be gravely mistaken. Today afghanistan is not the only place in the world that has a vacuum and groups like Al Qaeda or the taliban in control. Look at the situation in yemen and india. Even in iraq. So kabul is just a city that hosts militants. We have great power. Those powers are attacking the united states on every level to include misinformation to further divide us. We have a domestic Terrorism Threat that is as scary as the international Terrorist Threat with domestic terrorists and white supremacists. We have a global pandemic that is attacking all of us. We have a lot of threats to deal with today and we have to keep our eyes on the ball. We cannot just pick one Threat And Focus on it. We have to focus on everything. Otherwise, unfortunately, we might have another attack. Lawrence, we talked so much about, are we safer today than we were 20 years ago. When it comes to counterterrorism, what did they learn from 9 11, and are we safer . Well, i think safer in some respects. I mean, Intelligence Agencies around the World Work better together now than they did on 9 11, and especially in our own country. One of the reasons 9 11 happened is our own Intelligence Agencies were so tangled and hostile to Each Other, they kept information and he had asked for information that might have stopped the plot from succeeding, but the cia withheld it from the fbi. That is not happening now. Intelligence is shared within 16 different Intelligence Agencies that exist in america and our foreign allies are cooperating in a way they didnt on 9 11. But on the other hand, stephanie, they totally missed the pandemic. Theyre focused on terrorism, but there are other national Security Threats that maybe they are not paying attention to. Geoff bennett. A question for ali, because we heard from former President George W. Bush and his Remarks Today and he talked about the violent extremism and the threat from outside our borders, but also paid particular attention to the scourge of domestic extremism. In your view, your assessment, what poses the greatest risk to the homeland right now . Is It Terrorism overseas or terrorism within . I think the international jihadi groups are threatening, but not necessarily at home. I think we have the capabilities to disrupt their operation. Do they have the intention to do something . Absolutely. Do they have the capability to launch a major attack in the united states . I dont think so. The situation is very different when we talk about domestic terrorists, especially these individuals who are connecting with other groups around the western world, going and training in places like eastern ukraine, for example, that is serving for the white Supremacist Movement in a very similar way as afghanistan served for the jihadi movement. Ive been talking about this threat for a few years. You have domestic Terrorist Threats that are copying Al Qaeda and isis. We have a domestic terrorist organization, nazi organization in the united states. They actually call themself Al Qaeda, the base, and they use Al Qaeda animals and inspire magazine, which is a main publication that influenced the boston bomber, if you call. So the threat of domestic terrorism is very real, especially that the Law Enforcement agencies and the Intelligence Agencies do not have the legal tools to go against these groups, and second, we dont have the political unity in washington to target these groups as they should be targeted, terrorists. Hallie . Thanks, ali. Weve been talking on kind of the macro level. Can you get micro for a second and tell the story for our viewers about somebody named John Oneill, who you write about, who was critical in understanding and bringing to the front of the u. S. Government what was happening as it related to Al Qaeda. He ended up, by almost a cruel twist of fate, starting a new job at the World Trade Center about two and a half weeks, maybe three weeks before September 11th, and was killed, its believed, in the collapse on September 11th. Tell his story for a second, lawrence, if you can. Because it is a remarkable one, it is extraordinary, and its my understanding from what i read, that the second he knew something was wrong, he said this is Al Qaeda. Thank you for asking that question because John Oneill had the warrant on Bin Ladin. He had the I49 Squad and one of his strokes of genius was hiring ali stafaun. And john was a unique individual, not your characteristic fbi agent. He had a book on his table of tulips, the flower that drives men wild. He knew everybody in New York. He called himself the sheriff. And he understood the threat that Al Qaeda posed to america as very few people even in the fbi and the cia did. And he pursued it. I remember 9 11, the day i began looking through obituaries, trying to find somebody to write about, and a couple of days later i found the obituary of John Oneill in the Washington Post, and it made him sound like kind of a disgrace because he had been washed out of the fbi because he had taken some classified information out of the office. And then two weeks later he got a job as head of security at the World Trade Center. And people said to him, john, youll be safe now, they already bombed it in 93. And he said, no, theyll come to finish the job. I thought originally that his story was ironic, instead of getting Bin Ladin, Bin Ladin got him. I came to see it as kind of a greek strategy because he was a hero. And he instinctively knew they would finish the job, so he got a job at Ground Zero and he got out of the office that day, but went back in to help others. I think its important to note both of you write at length about John Oneill in your books, but i think its important to note what lawrence just said. One of the things about John Oneill that is relevant to today is knowing how the threat emerges, right . The issue is that as youre talking about domestic terrorism, we are always its not that the government doesnt throw the resources necessary into looking into problems, but sometimes were a little behind on what the problem actually is. Back then John Oneill and you had the foresight to understand where it was going. You still struggle with this. You still tell me that you struggle with making sure the government is on the current things that they should be following as it relates to national threats. I learned that lot from john. He was my mentor. I traveled with him around the world. We were able to do a lot of disruptions of plots around the world, literally around the world. A lot of people dont talk about the successes as much. So i learned a lot from john and i think thats probably one of the missions that i keep very dear to my heart, to always warn about what i see as a threat. Thats why the hope of me and many of my colleagues who served with john continue to do that. Thats why were talking about domestic terrorism. We continue to raise a flag on isis, on Al Qaeda and Afghanistan Today and the implication. So we hope that we will continue to be able to do this. Thanks for the work you have done. Both of you have published important information in the last few days and i always think if you want to understand the dangers in this world right now, you are the two authors that i point to. Thanks to both of you. We should note that that loud noise you may have heard behind us, there were seven military helicopters going by. Ive never actually seen that. They were headed up the hudson river. It was loud because i thought it was a helicopter, and there were seven of them. We are, of course, thinking about that very day, September 11th, 2001. We all have 9 11 stories. Entrepreneur Mike Bloomberg that day was at a new York City Polling Place Voting for himself in the republican primary for mayor. He was elected less than two months later, tasked with rebuilding new York City, specifically downtown manhattan, and of course the Citys Economy and our morale. Earlier today, right below us at Ground Zero, i spoke exclusively to the former mayor. He was also my former boss at Bloomberg Tv and the current chairman of the 9 11 memorial and museum. He talked about his memories on that fateful day. He lost friends, employees. It changed his future. He talked a lot about how we as a city and as a nation can achieve unity today. Mayor, thank you for speaking to me on this very sad morning. It is a sad morning, but its also a morning to hope for the best. Weve made a lot of progress in 20 years coming back and in memory of those that we lost, weve got to look to the future. They left young kids and spouses and friends, and i think thats what you and i have think about, a family member, you have to remember those you lost. But for the rest of us, its the future. We all have a 9 11 story, but for you, you were voting that morning. It was your first foray into politics. You were in the ballot on the new York City primary. You were not looking to run a city that was completely different. Voted on 62nd street, walked down with a reporter who is talking to me about how great the weather was and how turnout would be better because theres no clouds in the sky. And got to campaign headquarters and then somebody said on the television a plane went in and then nobody thought about terrorism. But 20 minutes later when the second plane went in, it was obviously not an accident and then we started thinking about that. Did you doubt if you could do the job . I didnt doubt that i could do the job. Remember after 9 11 all of those people who said New York is dead, commuters wont come back, tourists wont come back. Were hearing those same things now as were coming out of covid. How does new York Bounce back . It is bouncing back. If you talk to a real estate agent, theyll tell you anything for sale is selling the day it goes on the market. Take a look at the streets. Streets that have people living along them, the stories are coming back much more rapidly than streets where its only offices. But i can just look in my company. Every day theres more people back and thats true when i talk to other people. More stories of reopening, the subways now have traffic. What weve got to do is get the next mayor, and i assume the democrat is going to win, i think he probably is the right guy. I supported him and i voted for him. A lot of his policies i dont probably agree with, but he will focus on things like youve got to stop the murders and the crime, youve got to stop the homeless on the streets who have not only do they have no hope for themselves, theyre The Ones that take away our ability to help everybody because they get in the way. Youve got to give them get them to look to the future. Then i have to ask you about the direction of our country because something i know you are very proud of is how New York stood united after 9 11. The country did. Yes. And today right now, 20 years later, our head of Homeland Security says our biggest Terror Threat Isnt from overseas, its domestic terrorism. I heard people booing the president when he stepped off the podium. How do we come together when this is the country were in right now . I think one of the things thats happened, everybody says why is it different now, Social Media is different because its giving everybody a microphone and in the past not everybody had that. And so things were thought about a little more and we didnt jump as quickly as we do from one thing to another. But i think terrorism that came from overseas still has the potential to do that. Nobody should think that everybody is now a nice person and theyre going to say, oh, i love america and were going to work with them and give democracy to everybody and let women have equal rights. Americans are split in this country. We have not pulled people together. Can we . Yeah, sure you can. You have to have Somebody Who People Respect and say i dont agree with her or him, but stop this [ bleep ]. Weve got to work together. Whats going to make that happen . I hope Joe Biden as the new president , he comes in with more experience than any new president in history, probably. He was in the White House for eight years and he was in the senate for 30 odd years. Hopefully he will pull them together. Im never going to agree with all the things he does and i will with some of them. But hes got the job and i think its time weve got to get the left and the right to say i cant get it all, i want to get something, and ill let the other side have something and work together. Do you actually see that happening . Well, if we dont do that, were in real trouble. I think we will get through this. A lot of these things, remember, go in waves and the press exacerbates it because they talk about the slightest little thing. If you look crosseyed at somebody, all of a sudden, oh, the world is coming to an end. Mike, nobody is looking crosseyed on January 6th. There was an insurrection. Its a disgrace what happened. Theres no excuse for anybody that participated in that. The government should come down on them like a ton of bricks and those who refuse to cooperate should hang their heads in shame. But they are who they are and weve got to work with them. And overseas weve got to rebuild our relationships with our allies around the world. People keep saying, i dont know that we need to have military overseas or foreign aid or those things. Those are the things that keep america safe. Mayor bloomberg, thank you for your time this morning. Youre welcome. The Bottom Line is, i think you should be optimistic for whats going to happen and understand that Theres Plenty of problems and we certainly havent solved them all and its time to pull together. Former Threeterm Mayor of new York City, Michael R. Bloomberg. Ali, we forget what Lower Manhattan was like before 9 11 and after. That was a Disaster Site for years and so much infighting. Right there. But Everything South of here was nothing other than business. It was a financial hub of the world, but there was nothing happening after Hours here. There were zero young people. There were no families. Trying to get a restaurant to eat at after Hours, there was nothing down here. From a lifestyle perspective, this was strictly the financial district. Brown loafers and briefcases coming in at 7 00, leaving at 5 00, nothing happening on weekends. Even after, when they were trying to figure out what they were going to build here, they also realized the risk of having one industry so concentrated. We were talking earlier, i spoke to howard at fitzgerald, and dozens of financial firms were wiped out. Before 9 11, half of the people working in Lower Manhattan worked in finance. Now its less than a third. Look at what this area is now. Its young families, parks, a performing Arts Center is being built. Its transformed into a different really one of the brightest spots of New York. You can come spend a Weekend Day here, hang around. Theres lots of things to do. It was transformative just to this place in manhattan. For years they thought we wouldnt get out of this. And they gave rent discounts to people. There were young people and there was an incentive for a little while. For a short period of time. But it moved some people in and now this is a vibrant part of the city. It was become one of the most valuable neighborhoods in New York. Hallie jackson, youve got stuff where you are . We do. You talk about moments in new York City and the way that that city came together. There were moments, obviously here in washington, d. C. , too, Ali And Stephanie, including from that day, or i should say that night, September 11th, 2001, members of Congress Gathering on the steps of the capitol. Watch. God bless america my Home Sweet home those members in both parties coming together for that moment. Many of them, some members of leadership, for example, most of them had to be evacuated to various undisclosed locations before returning to the city, returning to the capitol. After that night, it would be more than a year before congress formed the bipartisan 9 11 commission to investigate why americas defenses failed and how another big attack could be prevented. That report was finally issued in 2004 and led to some big changes in how the Intelligence Community operates. I want to bring in former governor of new jersey, who of course chaired the 9 11 commission, was appointed to that role by President Bush. I want to bring in former Congresswoman Jane harmon who was heading to a meeting at the capitol on the morning of the attacks. Thank you so much for being with us here today. Thank you for having us. Governor keane, let me start with you. Here we are 20 years later. Can you share a bit about Ali And Stephanie and geoff and i talked at the start of the broadcast about how we know so much more about what happened on September 11th in large part because of the commission you chaired, because of the investigative work you did to try to put these pieces together so we could learn some lessons and figure out what we needed to do. There are some big changes that came from it. The one thats most visceral to most americans is in the aftermath of the attacks, changes to the tsa. 11 days after 9 11 dhs was created. From your perspective, talk about the lessons learned since then in the last 20 years and where we need to go next. Yeah, the lessons, we took every problem we had on 9 11, analyzed it and tried to make a recommendation. We made 41 of them, actually and 40 of them were enacted by the united States Congress. And by the way, in the creation of the recommendations and commission itself, nobody was more of a leader than jane harmon. She was a really valuable person in the united States Congress to get this report done. But the idea is the largest organization of u. S. Intelligence in history, except one, the only recommendation we couldnt get through was reforming congress. But everything else got through and has made this country a lot safer. Congresswoman harmon, can i turn to you and your reflections from that day . He noted what a force you were in the years after. What are you thinking about today, what are you remembering . What is standing out the most to you . I know this is emotional every year. I have to imagine this year it might take a difference resonance. Well, i was standing on the steps of the Capitol Singing with my colleagues. It didnt matter whether democrats were standing next to republicans. America was under attack. We, america, those of us in political roles were putting the country first. And i just want to say, back to tom keane, marvelous man, former governor of new jersey, he cochaired with commission with lee hamilton, who served in congress with many of us, chaired the foreign Affairs Committee and was my predecessor. But that commission succeeded because of the seamless bipartisanship of its chairs. There was not one Press Event that had one of them there. They were both there. And a colleagues of mine who was a member of that commission, talks about that in the most moving ways and tom is right. Congress has failed to reorganize, which has meant that there is much less wind beneath the sales of our Homeland Security effort. Shame on congress. But weve succeeded in many ways. And i would just say a couple other things, if i could. I was a member of something called the national commission on terrorism, which was formed before 9 11 and we were one of three commissions that predicted a major attack on u. S. Soil. We tried to get attention paid to this problem of rising terrorism, especially in the middle east, where we had named Al Qaeda in our report. We talked about many of the issues that have plagued us since 9 11, and after 9 11 we did come together and we did some things right. But i think, too, we did some things wrong. Shame on me. I participated in some of them and wrote a book about it. But i think this is a moment to renew the call for unity, to look at Tom Cane and think what role he played with a democrat in calling for the changes, most of which were made. Stephanie . How do you feel thinking about the fact that on the other side of the world on this very day, the taliban is celebrating . Well, you dont feel very good about it. Weve got to be careful. We have a section of our report when we talk about how Bin Ladin organized and pulled off the attack. He had three to four years of totally understood time to prepare the attack. If he had only had two years, he wouldnt have been able to do it. He had four years where nothing bothered him. And one of our recommendations is, we must never again allow Somebody Who is planning to attack the united states and our homeland have that kind of time undisturbed in a governless area of the world. We have to use intelligence, military, to make sure when that kind of thing is going on we disrupt it before it can go into effect. And i would add to that that we made mistakes leading up to 9 11. We knew, the fbi knew that there were people taking Flight Lessons who didnt want to learn to take off and land, just fly a plane. We knew there was a cell in asia that came to the u. S. , two of which were in San Diego who didnt have the connections among our Intelligence Agencies. We fixed that with the Intelligence Reform Law that i was played a major part in that passed on a bipartisan basis in 2004. So some of this couldnt happen again. But they only have to get lucky once. We have to get lucky or be prepared 100 of the time. So lets understand were never going to be 100 prepared. We have to manage risks and the other thing we have to do thats so important is set the right example. They have their recruiting message, the terrorist groups, is a perverse form in many cases of a peaceful religion, the muslim religion. Its a perverse form. But they use things that we do as part of their recruiting. They use guantanamo bay prison, they use drones with, unfortunately, some civilian casualties, they use some of the insurrection and bad behavior in the united states. And if we could set a better example, lets imagine ronald reagans in vocation of the shining city on the hill, well win the argument. People still want to come to the united states. We still, i would say, are the best and most pluralistic, and the country that affords the most opportunities for the world. And lets set the better example. Let the better angels come out. Lets come back to the unity of the moment after 9 11 when america had resolve. Lets have resolve as america again and so i think theres a hopeful message on this extremely sad day. But i also think theres a warning. I mean, we have toxic tribalism in america. Its not just in afghanistan. We have it. Were turning on Each Other. Shame on us. We can do better. Governor Keane And Congresswoman harmon, Geoff Bennett here In Shanksville. I have a bit of news about President Bidens whereabouts. He made an unscheduled stop at the shanksville volunteer Fire Department that was the visit that he made after the left the memorial here before he heads to the pentagon. As we look forward from this day, governor, and former congresswoman, 20 years later you still have families that are searching for answers, waiting to have their Loved Ones identified, some of them still there at Ground Zero. You have first responders who are still fighting for the Health Care that they need and deserve after having spent days, weeks, and months there on that pile. What more can be done for them . What more should be done for them . I spent yesterday with the largest organization of families, the voice of the 9 11. Their story should be told and written about. It is absolutely remarkable. These were families who had the worst thing in the world happen to them, losing a mother, a son, a brother, what have you, after that they wanted to find the answers to what happened. They organized, people who had never been to washington came down as lobbyists. They sat in congressional offices and locked the doors, picketed the White House, appeared on television. They were the wind in our sails. Governor, i just want to interrupt you for a second, if i could. The president is speaking. Well come back and finish that thought in a second. Lets listen to the president. The flip of it is, they didnt like the way we got out. Its hard to explain to anybody, how else could you get out . For example, if we were pulling up and say were going to let anybody who was involved, sympathetic to us get on the plane, you would have people hanging on the wheel well. So you guys have a tough job and im glad i dont have it. Thank you, guys. Sorry for that interruption. Governor keane, you were making a very important point, so i apologize for that. We just wanted to hear what the president said at the shanksville volunteer fire station. So with our apologies, please continue. Never a problem being interrupted by the president. The point really was the story of these families and the organizations they formed are remarkable. They took this terrible tragedy and they came down to washington and decided they were going to change the country and they were going to make us understand what happened, they were going to get the full story, and they werent going to stop until reforms happened so it wouldnt happen again. These people gave up their jobs, gave up their families, everything else to make this country a better place and theyre still doing it. Theyre still doing it. They are remarkable people. And if you want to find out whats great about this country, talk to some of these families. Find out what theyve been doing, find out the number of people theyve helped over the years since 9 11 and how big their hearts are for other people and the accomplishments theyve done. Thats the story of america. Thats the story about the resilience. The stories of the families of 9 11, theyre absolutely incredible people and theyve done so much for all of us. Governor, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon, as well as former Congresswoman Jane harmon. They were talking about the Vice Chair of the commission, congressman lee hamilton. I was a fellow at the office for lee hamilton. He hired you . He hadnt read the whole resume. Thanks to both of them. Lets look back on the night of September 11th. President george w. Bush addressed the american people and he delivered this message. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong. A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of america. Lets bring in karen greenberg, the director of national security at Fordham Law and the author of the dismantling of american democracy and my Colleague Hallie Jackson is at the pentagon with a Washington Post correspondent and Geoff Bennett is In Shanksville, pennsylvania. Lets get this conversation under way. Karen, we just had some interesting conversations with Andy Card, lawrence wright, and one of the things that i want to know whether its the same or different than what it was when these attacks took place. Afghanistan, like other countries, was a place in which bad actors who wanted to do bad things to america, could train and base themselves with impunity. Thats not all gone away. Not only is afghanistan going to become another one of those places, but weve still got libya, yemen, somalia, iraq in some cases and we didnt know whats going on with lebanon, their government, and syria is an uncertain place. Where there are not strong governments, there is a role for strong nongovernment actors who want to do bad things. Thats right, and one of the lessons from 9 11 and what weve seen over the past 20 years is that how you go about protecting these areas really matters. To jane harmons point, there were many mistakes that we made along the way and they were we cant repeat them again. One of them is, what does it mean to be at perpetual war . And another one of them is, what does it mean to only fight with weapons and not with really addressing what is going on on the ground . Why are these fragile states . There are 82. 5 million displaced persons in the world right now. Many in the middle east, much children. They need care, they need attention. And this is rife for terrorist recruitment. So we need new tools to address terrorism going forward and this is a good moment to start thinking about it in constructive ways. Karen, what President Bush was basically saying was, you can attack us, but you cannot scare us and you cannot change who we are as a country. In hindsight, what do you think about that message . You know, i use that quote as sort of the Beginning Point of my book, which is that i think america really lost much of its soul in the way it responded to 9 11. We did a lot of good things, routing out the terrorist havens in afghanistan in the fall of 2001 was successful. Many of the things we did at home to protect ourselves with the transportation security, tsa, was also good. But we panicked and we went way too far in many ways. We tortured people, we created guantanamo, we used warrantless surveillance on the masses of americans. We used drone warfare. These were things we didnt need to do. We should trust our rigorous, professional, limited, precise use of force and we shouldnt have had to reach for the world to do that, and we did. And so i think, you know, the words of the president are very important, to say, lets reflect, lets think, and next time lets react in a way that we can still respect who we are and well still be safe. Hallie . Im here with anne from the Washington Post, one of our contributors at msnbc and i think you were able to hear the end of that conversation with karen. We had some technical issues. I want to talk about what we heard from President Biden just before that. Ali velshi rightfully noted we dipped in and did a little interruption. But President Biden was addressing specifically afghanistan to our colleagues who cover the White House, your colleagues as well who were there traveling with him In Shanksville, pennsylvania. You are Somebody Who has covered this president and this man before he was president as senator for a long time. He, obviously, has had an evolution on his thinking as it relates to afghanistan. Walk through that. He has. He started out as a strong supporter of all of the actions taken in the immediate aftermath of 9 11 to invade afghanistan, along with allies, to try to root out the Al Qaeda cell that was there and he remained a supporter of that strategy for several years. He also voted for the use of force in iraq. He came to regret both of those decisions and by the time he was Vice President in the middle of that experience when there was a Troop Surge in afghanistan, he was arguing not fully against it, but that it needed to be smaller, it needed to be controlled, and that obama was getting, in obamas own words later, rolled by the generals. And when you look at the messaging that he is delivering now after the withdrawal from troops from afghanistan, one thing weve talked about is the building is right behind us, we talked about how big of a building it is and how meaningful it is to those who have worked there and worked there on September 11th and how emotional it is for some of them. Just weeks after the withdrawal of troops and now marking the anniversary of 9 11. Yeah, i was working here during the surge and the memories of 9 11 were ten years more fresh than they are now. Many people i knew then had either been in the pentagon on the day it was hit and then served in afghanistan, or had entered service because of what happened in afghanistan. It was a searing moment for the people who worked here and it was something that forever affected the military and u. S. Government from there forward. Thank you so much. Ill turn it back over to you and ali. Geoff . A question for karen greenberg. Im sort of focused on the threat posed from within, the threat posed by far right domestic extremists. We saw what happened at the capitol on January 6th. There is another rally scheduled for next saturday, in fact, justice for J6 Rally at the u. S. Capitol and about 13 state capitals all around the country where you have people coming out in support of the insurrectionists. What is the sort of persistent palpable domestic Terror Threat as you see it, and in this country have we fully understood it and are we fully prepared to deal with it . I dont know that were fully that we fully understand it. But we are prepared to deal with it. And one of the lessons from 9 11 that speaks directly to this is that we have laws, we have laws in place that already criminalize much of what happened at the capitol, we have to use them. And we have to use them in a strong and effective and evidencebased way. So it may take some time. It may take some time to just link the evidence to the actors and complete the picture, but i have no worries thats not going to happen and its one of the lessons from 9 11. We have to trust our laws. Ground zero, which is used as an expression of a nuclear explosion, just like the president said, President Bush said, it destroyed buildings, it destroyed our confidence, it didnt destroy our values. Earlier today former President George W. Bush talked about domestic terrorism and actually drew parallels to what were seeing here to Al Qaeda. Lets share a Little Bit of that. We have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within. There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home, but then theres disdainful pluralism and their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols. They are children of the same foul spirit and it is our continuing duty to confront them. How significant is that . Well, i think its immensely significant for people who are going to write the histories of the Beginning And End of this period of time. I do want to say something. In a way, hes it sounds like we have a Helicopter Landing on top of us, but we dont. There are seven helicopters flying above us. Its the same that were heading north along the hudson river. Theyre now inland over manhattan. Seven helicopters have just flown south of us again. Sorry for the interruption. Let me tell you why that is an incredibly important thing he said. The 9 11 era is over. This period of time that started on 9 11, and weve been waiting for an end point. Weve pulled out of afghanistan, were rethinking other things, and that statement, which was that we now have to basically turn our attention to domestic terrorists at home, its a different kind of attention. It requires different kinds of intelligence collection, different kind of criminal authorities, Law Enforcement authorities. Which we do not possess at the moment. We dont necessarily possess the right criminal authorities and laws to go after him. Im not so sure. We could probably have a debate about that. We have an incredible amount. Lets see them use them. Look at the limited number of charges that have been used so far. But how much more complicated is it . We looked at america come together as one nation. Yes. Because it was a foreign adversary. Because this is coming from within, we have many political leaders that continue to downplay the acts and intentions of January 6th. This is a problem. We need to have much better public education, and i dont mean public education like just schooling. I mean schooling the nation. We also need it to be and this is the hard part. We need to figure out a way to get citizens to trust what they hear, to trust what they hear from their government. This idea that was spawned in part by the 9 11 post9 11 era, which is that so much was secrecy, so much was held largely on national security grounds and more, we need to sort of convince people that transparency is a value and that they can trust certain places but they do trust what they hear. Yes. They just dont necessarily trust the government. They dont necessarily trust credible news sources, and were living in the age of misinformation. Thats right. And we need to up our game in terms of understanding how to, you know, get civilians to be more educated about what misinformation is, and starting with children in schools and really being able to do that. Also, look, theres been movement not enough towards how to handle Social Media and thins like things like that. It is a road ahead, but the 9 11 era is behind us and the era of new threats is ahead of us. It is interesting you are optimistic we have the ability to deal with it, but ill take it because you are an expert on this. Good to see you. Anne gearan is white House Correspondent for the Washington Post. Thanks to both of you. Earlier today i had a chance to speak with democratic Representative Sean Patrick maloney of New York, also a member of the intelligence committee. On September 11th he was with my husband. They both fled Lower Manhattan following the attack. They were business guys coming out of a subway, just coworkers. Congressman, on September 11th you werent far from here, not as a congressman. You were a New York businessman. Thats right. Coming out of the subway. What was that morning for you . Well, you know, it was shocking and infuriating, because i had been working at the White House and i knew exactly what was happening on one level. But as you point out, i was a guy going to work right down there. I mean a few blocks that way. You know that because i worked with someone you love, and my kid was in school about a Half Mile that way. So really what i was thinking about was the people i worked with, were they okay, because i had been stopped and came out of the subway just up there. I ran through the street to get my kid, which was my other thought. You know, what i remember is all of those fire trucks and emergency vehicles and cops, you know, going towards the World Trade Center as we were trying to get away. Those are the guys we are honoring today. That Run Home in the weeks and months, how did that impact you . Because today as we are talking, you are a u. S. Congressman. Thats right. I have the honor of representing a lot of the families who lost Loved Ones that day. I represent the lower hudson valley. It is not some abstraction for us. You cant go to a village in my district without seeing some World Trade Center steel thats been fashioned into a memorial, having a list of names, you know, on the firehouse. These are our Family Members, moms, dads, brothers and sisters who never came home. It is a real thing where i live and it is a great honor to be here because, you know, we just cant remember enough that heroism that they showed and everybody who served ever since. You know, those of us in public office ought to hold that sacrifice as the standard of what we need to do to make our country better and to be better people. Today we are all standing together as New Yorkers, as americans, as we did after 9 11. But once we leave here, were right back into the divisions that we face every day. Can we come together . Yeah, we can come together. You know, im from a big irish family so, you know, i think sometimes people forget that the capitol is actually a containment vessel. Part is that we are supposed to hash it out and it is not supposed to be easy, and youre seeing it right now. Were doing historic things and theyre hard, but theyre important for our country. Of course there will be friction and disagreement. I think the difference is we need to bring back some of that respect and some of the common values and we need to stop seeing everybody as an enemy who disagree with us and try to find common ground across the lines of difference. It doesnt need to be holding hands, a kumbaya moment. It is that it is the opposite of what September 11th should have taught us, which is that we have to do this together. At the end of the day, you know, were all americans. Congressman, thank you so much. Hey, thank you. Yeah. Everybodys got these stories about where they no one will ever forget where they were in that moment, but to be here in midtown, it was i dont know. Im trying to think, a month after this there was still Dust And Debris and papers that have blown out of where were you . I was actually on my way from toronto and I Couldnt get back, so i rode my motorcycle from toronto to New York because there were no motorcycle. Flights. How long did it take to get here . It was a long time. It was a small motorcycle so it took about 12 Hours. But i bet you wanted to get here desperately. Oh, my god, i was desperate to get into the city. The police didnt even have full uniforms in some cases. They called call deaths out and some had a badge or some had been wearing their shirt because they had been out for days. Everyone was calling Each Other, checking hospitals. Yeah, checking hospitals all the time. Just for the list of names of people you knew in those towers and cellphones werent working. Yeah. Roughly ten years ago my next guest encountered huge resistance after she and her thenhusband proposed the construction of a 13story mosque and cultural center blocks from where we are now. Despite her vision of it being an open and inclusive place for muslims to gather, the plan never materialized because of a public outcry. Joining us now is daisy khan, the founder and Executive Director of womens islamic initiative in spiritually and equality wise. She was the longtime Executive Director for the american society of muslim advancement. She was a participate in the new documentary we just aired the other night, memory box, echos of 9 11 from nbc films and peacock. Daisy, good to see you. You have long been someone who was a source of information about islam and muslims to the world, but, boy, the mood changed. I mean that was one of The One of the toughest parts of 9 11 for muslims in america and generally people of Color Or Anybody who Anybody Thought was a muslim. There were hard days ahead, despite the fact President Bush went out of his way to not have that happen. He said really from Day One, this is not our fight as americans with muslims. Yeah. Well, you know, i cannot imagine that 20 years later, reflecting back on this terrible tragedy that happened in New York, that, you know, 90 nationalities died and among them were 16 muslims. But the impact of 9 11 has disproportionately affected the american muslims and muslims abroad. So immediately in the aftermath we have the special registration, if you recall, where innocent people were detained and then deported. Then we went to war in afghanistan, then iraq and continued on to syria. Now estimates are that close to A Million people have died in those wars. So if you equate one american life to close to 300 muslims dead in these wars, and, you know, then we are now a nation that is reeling with hate crimes against muslims that have risen. Islamophobia is very much alive. The muslim ban happened under, you know, president trump, and Theres Rise of white supremacy. So the very people we went to squash, all extremists and terrorists, and yet the homeland is now experiencing the same thing that we experienced abroad. So i sort of wonder what have we gained from all of these wars. It was significantly worse for muslims in the u. S. After 9 11. You were mentioning sort of the rise in xenophobia, antisemitism in the last few years. Right now what is it like to be a muslim in this country compared to following 9 11 . Well, the good news is that, you know, as a community, because we have been so impacted by this tragedy, we are a small community, roughly 3 million, but we are a community that has become extremely resilient. The sense that, you know, we have we are civically engaged, we are politically engaged, we are patriots. 7,000 muslims are in the armed forces, and we are contributing to america and we are busy contributing to america. So although we have, you know, kids still being bullied and there are hate crimes, but our community has risen above the fray and is contributing towards making america, you know, great again. So i am very proud of the way the muslim community is operating in america by building its own sort of capacity and working to improve the conditions in this country. Daisy, thanks for all the work you are doing. Good to see you again. That does it for us here at ground thank you. Theres no one i would rather do this with. Im glad to be back with you, my friend. Me too. The folks ask for it all the time and we should do more of it. It is an honor. A special thank to our coanchors Hallie Jackson, Geoff Bennett and Andrea Mitchell. Another Hour of msnbcs special coverage starts now with Alex Witt. A very good day to all of you from Msnbc World head quarters here in New York. Welcome everyone to Alex Witt reports on the 20th Anniversary of 9 11. Here is what is happening at 2 00 p. M. Eastern, 11 00 a. M. Pacific time. [ Bell Tolling ]