DHS Commemorates 25th Anniversary of 9/11

 

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement commemorating the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, which ultimately led to the founding of DHS in order to secure the homeland and protect the American people.

On that fateful Tuesday 25 years ago, 19 members of the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airliners across the United States, with the intent of crashing them into large buildings and killing thousands of Americans. American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, while American Airlines Flight 77 was crashed into the Pentagon in Virginia. A fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after the passengers fought back against the hijackers. The attacks killed 2,977 Americans and injured thousands more.

Following the attacks, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 was signed into law, ordering the creation of a new Cabinet-level agency dedicated to homeland security. As a result, DHS was created on March 1, 2003. Its mission is to defend the homeland, the American people, and our way of life.

“On this day 25 years ago, our world changed forever. 9/11 remains one of the darkest days in history. Evil came to our shores and stole the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans in a vicious attempt to bring our great nation to its knees,” said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. “But by the end of that day, even as smoke still filled the skies over New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the American spirit endured and rose to the challenge. From the unrivaled bravery of first responders who ran into burning buildings and risked it all to save their fellow Americans, to the civilians aboard Flight 93 who fought back against their captors knowing that it would be their last acts on this earth, the best of America stood up and refused to let the worst of humanity win that day. Those Americans have all earned their place in history as some of the bravest people to have ever lived, and we should consider it an honor that we once shared a nation with them.

“When we remember 9/11, we often say ‘never forget.’ We must never forget the nearly 3,000 who lost their lives. We must never forget the potential for evil to strike again, and we must never forget how only the devotion of the good can keep all of us safe. We carry the legacy of 9/11 in our hearts, not just out of remembrance of those we lost that day, but so that we can maintain and defend a nation that they would be proud of. To forget that duty would be to forget our honored dead from that day.

“That is why, 25 years later, our mission continues. DHS was created for the specific purpose of protecting the homeland and the American people, and ensuring that something like 9/11 never happens again. It is my honor to serve as the 9th Secretary of Homeland Security, working alongside more than 260,000 of the finest that America has to offer. For more than two decades, DHS has been answering the call to keep our homeland safe. As long as there is still life in our bodies and love in our hearts, we will never forget.”