New York governor signs new laws to support 9/11 first responders
From CNN's Elizabeth Joseph
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul attends a 9/11 security briefing at One Police Plaza in New York on September 10. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
To mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed three pieces of legislation aimed at helping World Trade Center first responders apply for benefits, her office said in a news statement Saturday afternoon.
“The bills make it easier for WTC first responders to apply for WTC benefits, by both expanding the criteria for defining WTC first responders and allowing online submissions of notice that members of a retirement system participated in WTC rescue, recovery, or cleanup operations,” according to the statement.
In addition to first responders who were at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, the new laws will also include emergency dispatchers and communications personnel.
“We will ensure they receive the support and benefits they deserve," Hochul said in the statement.
12:57 p.m. ET, September 11, 2021
President of Flight 93 families organization calls for 9/11 information to be declassified
From CNN's Melissa Alonso
Gordon Felt, the president of the Families of Flight 93, speaks at a ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 11. (Pool)
The "ripple effect of Sept. 11 is unfathomable," said Gordon Felt, the president of the Families of Flight 93 at an observance ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, marking the 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks.
"We must never forget that there are thousands ... gravely injured or that have lost their lives while serving, or as a result of their service during these past 20 years," Felt said.
Felt's brother, Edward, was among the passengers who died in the crash of Flight 93.
"To date, an additional 2,000 first responders that took part in [the] immediate rescue and continued recovery efforts have died from related illnesses, and with every month, we continue to lose more," Felt said.
Felt echoed the calls of fellow victims' families urging government officials to release classified information related to the attack.
"There are still many questions to be answered about the day, facts to be declassified and released, and justice to be served," Felt said.
Some context: Last week, President Biden ordered a new declassification review of documents related to the attacks, including the previously classified documents related to Saudi Arabia’s involvement.
"The real question that we must all ask ourselves is: Have we as a society moved on and left the hard-earned lessons of Sept. 11 behind?" Felt said. "Have we become desensitized to what really happened that fateful morning?"
"Let us remember who we became on Sept. 12," he said.
"In the aftermath of Sept. 11, we saw beyond our differences, so that in unity we could survive the devastation of the day," Felt said. "E pluribus unum — out of many, we became one."
12:48 p.m. ET, September 11, 2021
Bidens participate in wreath-laying ceremony in Shanksville
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden lay a wreath at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 11. (Evan Vucci/AP)
President Biden participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the United 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
He was joined by first lady Jill Biden and was seen speaking with Gordon Felt, the president of the Families of Flight 93.
Biden gathered with families of the United 93 victims in a rural Pennsylvania field. Forty passengers and crew died on that day in 2001.
The President is not expected to give public remarks today. He will next travel to the Pentagon to attend a wreath-laying ceremony there.
1:12 p.m. ET, September 11, 2021
9/11 victim’s daughter: "The body parts came annually"
From CNN's Christina Zdanowicz and Deblina Chakraborty
Angela Mistrulli’s father, Joseph, and her mom were set to go on their first real vacation together on 9/11, but he got called into work first. He was a carpenter working at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center’s North Tower.
Seventeen years old at the time of his death, she said the unexpected fallout she continues to deal with after his loss has made it difficult to heal.
Actor Robert De Niro says 9/11 memorials serve as a reminder to the next generation
(CNN)
Actor Robert De Niro said he hopes the 9/11 memorials will teach the next generation that a similar attack could happen again.
"No one wants that kind of thing to happen again. Kids have to be reminded in school, what happens historically can happen again very easily. It happens in another form, but it's the same disease. That, to me, is the most important thing of 9/11: a reminder. Because 20 years is really not much time in the grand scheme of things," he told CNN.
De Niro lived just blocks from Ground Zero on Sept. 11 and called himself "a New Yorker through and through." He helped found the Tribeca Film Festival to assist with the recovery of downtown Manhattan.
"The neighborhood, downtown, Tribeca, has come back. Now we have the pandemic. That's another horrible situation. But we'll get through that, too. It's just all the loss of life and sadness and unhappiness in between," he said.
12:59 p.m. ET, September 11, 2021
Military, family members of 9/11 victims gather in Guantanamo Bay
From CNN's Ellie Kaufman
People enter a chapel at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba on September 11. (Ellie Kaufman/CNN)
Twenty years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, a group of military members, family members of 9/11 victims and observers gathered in a chapel in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, at the same time the first plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center to honor the almost 3,000 lives lost that day.
The small ceremony dedicated to the lives lost, especially the lives of two victims whose family members traveled to Guantanamo to spend the anniversary, recounted the events of September 11 as they occurred that morning, retelling them in small fragments interrupted only by the single toll of a bell.
Elizabeth Berry, the sister of Capt. William “Billy” Francis Burke, Jr., gave a speech to those gathered in the chapel, describing the sacrifices her brother made that day as the leader of his fire department, Engine 21, in Manhattan.
Burke led his firefighters to Ground Zero after the towers were struck, she said. He was on the 27th floor of the North Tower, trying to evacuate people from the building, when the South Tower fell.
After the South Tower fell, a mayday call went out on the radio, Berry said. Burke told his firefighters to evacuate the building and get to safety, but he stayed behind with two men, one of whom was in a wheelchair and couldn’t be evacuated.
“Captain Burke kept promising on the radio to meet at the brig. He said keep going, I’ll be right behind you, but he wasn’t,” Berry said to the crowd at the chapel. “I think he knew when he stayed behind, he probably would die.”
Because he told two companies of men to leave, they all survived. Burke stayed behind with the two men until the tower collapsed. His remains were never found, Berry said.
Berry is one of five family members that traveled to Guantanamo Bay this week to observe pretrial hearings in the military commission case of five people accused of plotting and executing the 9/11 attacks. The case has been in pretrial litigation since 2012 when the five men, who are detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison, were arraigned.
Berry and her husband, Paul, still hope that one day the case will be brought to trial and there will be some level of justice for her and other family members that survived victims of the attacks.
“I think justice for each of us has a very different definition. I will speak for me, only me, justice is telling the world in a trial what these terrorists did to murder so many people,” Paul Berry said. “That’s justice, and from that the verdict will be what the verdict is.”
Honoring lives lost: The Naval base held a commemorative 9.11km run in the morning, followed by a raising of the flag from the Naval base headquarters with the base’s commanding officer and a ceremony at the base’s chapel.
12:23 p.m. ET, September 11, 2021
One of the very few to survive the Twin Towers’ collapse says he’ll never be free of 9/11
From CNN's Christina Zdanowicz and Deblina Chakraborty
Sept. 11, 2001 never really ended for Tom Canavan, who was evacuated from the North Tower’s 47th floor after the plane hit and then was buried when the South Tower came down. He dug his way free and became one of the fewer than two dozen people to survive the collapse. It’s still hard to sleep because of what he saw, he said. He previously worked with the 9/11 Memorial and Museum to educate others and preserve the legacies of those who died.
“Most people say, ‘Oh, you were part of 9/11’. I just tell them, 'You know what, 911 is part of me,’” Canavan said.
US is safer than it was 20 years ago, defense secretary says
US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin speaks during a remembrance ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, at the Pentagon in Washington, DC on September 11, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin reflected on the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11 in the wake of the Taliban retaking control of Afghanistan and US forces leaving the country just weeks ago.
"First of all, we went there to go after the people who attacked America and to hold them accountable. We held bin Laden accountable. We significantly degraded the al Qaeda network. I would point to you the fact that no one has attacked the United States, and especially from that region, in 20 years. That's not an accident. That's the work of great professionals that are working together to make sure that they're tracking threat streams and sharing information with each other. That's a significant accomplishment," he told CNN.
Austin said that while there is no longer an on-the-ground presence in Afghanistan, it's "difficult but not impossible" to track movements in the country. He also shared a message for troops who served in Afghanistan and who may be going through complex emotions right now.
"My message is that we know that some will have a tough time working their way through this, but each person had to work their way through this on an individual basis. I think we have to give them space...to do that. I think we should also remind our troops and our civilians that if they need help, don't be afraid to reach out and get that help. So it'll take time to work through this, but, you know, it's to be expected, that you'll hear opinions from all sides of the conversation. And that's OK. That's who we are. That's America," Austin said.
Austin said he hopes there will be more flights to evacuate American citizens who want to leave Afghanistan, like the ones this week.
When asked if he thinks the US is safer now than 20 years ago, he said "yes."
"I think if you look at the fact that our capabilities are greatly increased from what we had 20 years ago, if you look at the fact that the way that we operate in the inner agency is far beyond what we would have ever imagined 20 years ago, I think we are safer altogether, yes," he told CNN.
Some context: In April, President Biden originally set today's date as the day US forces would withdraw from Afghanistan.
12:25 p.m. ET, September 11, 2021
Daughter of FDNY captain killed on 9/11 says her dad was the "embodiment of bringing light into the darkness"
Left: Cait Leavey, the daughter of a New York City Fire Department captain killed on 9/11. Right: A photo of Leavey with her father. (CNN/Leavey family/9/11 Memorial and Museum Foundation)
Cait Leavey, the daughter of a New York City Fire Department captain killed on 9/11, said her dad "loved his family, loved the firehouse."
"My dad was the embodiment of bringing light into the darkness. He was the Mr. Mom. He was a kid at heart. Always brought so much joy to us. My favorite memory of him is going to the supermarket. It'd be an hour-and-a-half trip because he'd be talking to everyone, asking how everyone was doing. He loved his family, loved the firehouse, calling it his second home," Leavey told CNN today in lower Manhattan.
Leavey said one organization that helped her through the healing process was Tuesday's Children, "a charity formed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States to help the more than 3,000 children who lost a parent that day," its website stated.
