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20m ago

U.S. Marks 25th Anniversary of 9/11 as Memory, Health Toll and Politics Take Center Stage

The anniversary forces a national reckoning about the long‑term health toll on responders.

FILE - Two women embrace each other as they watch the World Trade Center burn following a terrorist attack on the twin skyscrapers in New York, Sept. 11, 2001. (AP Photo/Ernesto Mora, File)
FILE - Smoke billows from one of the towers of the World Trade Center and flames and debris explode from the second tower in New York, Sept. 11, 2001. (AP Photo/Chao Soi Cheong, File)
Traders in the soybean pit at the Chicago Board of Trade observe a moment of silence before the opening bell to mark the anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2006.

Overview

  • On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 al‑Qaeda hijackers flew four planes into U.S. targets, killing about 2,977 people and destroying the Twin Towers in New York.
  • President Trump will speak at the Pentagon rather than at Ground Zero, a move that has focused attention on keeping public commemorations nonpartisan while past presidents and the vice president plan to attend the New York ceremony.
  • Federal World Trade Center Health Program data released for the anniversary show more than 9,400 additional deaths tied to 9/11‑related illnesses and roughly 85,000 medical certifications for responders and survivors.
  • Museums and memorial groups are expanding education and outreach to younger Americans who did not live through 2001, using volunteers, new exhibits and school programming to close a widening generational gap in lived memory.
  • The attacks reshaped U.S. institutions and policy with the creation of DHS, TSA, ICE and the Patriot Act, prompted long wars with large casualty estimates and left legal threads active, including a Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial set for June 2028 at Guantanamo.