The 20th Anniversary of 9/11
The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not represent those of the United States Air Force, the Department of Defense, or Harvard Law School.
On Friday, I attended a Harvard seminar discussing the state of American intelligence and national security twenty years after 9/11.
A variety of people spoke; historians, President Bush’s cabinet members, the press, families of 9/11 victims, military leaders, Special Forces personnel, etc. The first session was dedicated to several individuals near the President that day, including his daily intelligence briefer Michael Morell.
In the closing moments of the session, Mr. Morell said he had a story to share. While aboard Air Force One on the eve of September 11, during the President’s return to Washington, he saw a military aide staring intently out the window. The aide caught Mr. Morell’s eye and motioned him over. Directly on the wing tip, he was surprised to see an F-16 fighter jet - so close he could tell the pilot was looking at him. The aide told Mr. Morell there was another F-16 on the plane’s opposite wing and then asked,
“Do you know why they’re there? What their job is?”
No, Morell said. Why?
The aide replied, “if someone fires a Surface-to-Air missile on final approach, their job is to put themselves between that missile and the President of the United States.”
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
This is a heavy day. I was seven years old on 9/11, in Mrs. Jones’ second grade class at Eastview Elementary. I distinctly remember the confusion and subtle fear at school; we had to go to the bathroom in pairs, and the buses were either late or didn’t run at all. But I don’t remember the planes, or the horror, or America gearing up for its longest war. I don’t remember my mom crying because - as a former flight attendant for American Airlines - she was overwhelmed by guilt and grief for the crews and passengers on the hijacked planes. I don’t remember invading Afghanistan in 2001 or the surge in ‘09, and barely recall finding Osama Bin Laden in 2011. But I know it was all there in the background, and I know it drove my decision to join the military in 2012. For all intents and purposes, I’m part of the generation that doesn’t know life before 9/11.
This anniversary is doubly hard in light of America’s recent withdrawal from Afghanistan. It’s been an emotional month for many veterans, particularly those who served and lost friends there. Anger, disgust, sorrow, fear…all mixed with questions that can’t be answered. Was it worth it? Why did we stay so long, lose so many people, to seemingly return to square one? What’s different now than ten years ago? Five years ago? How many Afghan allies did we abandon? Will terrorism re-emerge under Taliban rule like it did in the ‘90s? And most haunting of all - have our actions done a disservice to everyone who died on 9/11 and overseas since?”
(One of my friends wrote a opinion piece on this topic and the civil-military divide more generally; he’s an enlisted Army vet and 2020 HLS graduate, and his USA Today article is linked here.)
REMEMBERING 9/11
I’ve noticed an influx of 9/11 movies and documentaries recently, and have watched several over the past few weeks. Needless to say, they increased both my knowledge of, and emotions regarding, September 11th. In fact, the Netflix documentary Turning Point was the first time I can remember actually watching the planes hit the Twin Towers. I cried my eyes out.
But overall, I find this media crucial in remembering and honoring today, and so I recommend the following:
Worth - A Netflix biographical film about the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, ft. Michael Keaton as attorney Kenneth Feinberg, Stanley Tucci, and Amy Ryan. Feinberg was appointed Special Master of the fund shortly after the attacks, and the movie documents his struggle to adequately compensate the families of the 9/11 victims.
Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror - A five-part Netflix documentary tracing events from the 1979 Russian invasion of Afghanistan, to 9/11, to present day. In my opinion, this docuseries is critical for contextualizing both 9/11 and where we stand now.
The 9/11 Commission Report - The written report created by an independent, bipartisan congressional commission in the wake of the attacks. The book details a full account of the circumstances surrounding 9/11 and recommendations for guarding against future strikes. This one has personal meaning, as one of the Commission members spoke in my 1L January Term; my class dedicated a signed copy to me.
*9/11: Inside the President’s War Room - A 90-minute documentary on Apple TV Plus. I haven’t seen this one yet but it’s on my list; free to view for non-subscribers today.
Ground Zero & the 9/11 Memorial Museum - The Vergil quote pictured above is from the 9/11 Museum, which I finally visited in May. It’s the most beautiful, haunting, moving tribute to the events of that day (I’m tearing up as I write this, to be honest) - and a must-do for anyone visiting New York.
If you have additional recommendations, I’d love to see them in the comments below.
LOOKING BACK WHILE MOVING FORWARD
So - where do we go from here? Seems to me like this is a million dollar question. From a human perspective, of course, we remember. We remember the pilots, the air crews and their passengers, the Twin Tower visitors and employees, the government officials and military personnel, the firefighters and police officers, lost on that awful day. We honor their lives and the families they left behind, and do everything we can to serve them and never forget.
From a legal perspective, I think we must examine the decisions made in the wake of 9/11 and their impact twenty years later. What do we do with the Patriot Act, the Arming Use of Force? The Guantanamo Bay detainees and our own drone strike doctrine? How about the power granted to the executive branch and the intelligence agencies, all the actions “taken in the shadows” in the name of national security? Were they legal? Does it matter?
From a world perspective, we learn from our successes and failures in Afghanistan. We adapt our military and diplomatic strategy, and modify our role in the world to match the realities of present day. I don’t know what this looks like, to be honest - but we can’t simply ‘move on’ with the last troops now out of country.
And from an American perspective, I think (maybe ‘wish’ is a better term) we strive to restore the spirit of September 12, 2001. Of course I don’t mean to call for another tragedy or another war. I’m also not suggesting we ignore the very real flaws of our nation in the name of solidarity (as James Baldwin once said, “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually”).
But as time passes, I’m increasingly convinced that our division is a disservice to the sacrifice of servicemembers and victims of 9/11, as we internally fuel the same hate and fear that ended their lives in the first place. On this front, I think, we can and must do better in the next twenty years.
