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The September 11 attacks were a series of airline hijackings and suicide attacks committed in 2001 by 19 terrorists associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda. It was the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil; nearly 3,000 people were killed. The attacks involved the hijacking of four planes, three of which were used to strike significant U.S. sites. American Airlines flight 11 and United Airlines flight 175 were flown into the World Trade Center's north and south towers, respectively, and American Airlines flight 77 hit the Pentagon. United Airlines flight 93 crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to overpower the hijackers.

On September 11, 2001, 19 militants affiliated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four commercial airliners with the purpose of carrying out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane slammed into the Pentagon just outside of Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The coordinated attacks killed thousands of people and injured scores more, making it the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The devastating terror attacks propelled the nation into what would become its longest war. On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defined the presidency of George W. Bush. On the morning of 11 September 2001, 19 terrorists from the Islamist extreme group al Qaeda hijacked four commercial aircraft and crashed two of them into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Most of the fatalities were from the attacks on the World Trade Center. The Pentagon lost 184 civilians and servicemembers and 40 people were killed on Flight 93. It was the worst attack on American soil since theJapanese attacked Pearl Harborin 1941.

2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Often referred to as 9/11, the events of this day in 2001 permanently altered history. However, the heroism shown by both everyday citizens and first responders on 9/11 will never be forgotten. New York's World Trade Center — along with its iconic Twin Towers — crumbled after two hijacked planes crashed into them, killing thousands of people as it fell to the ground below. In Arlington, Virginia, the heart of America's military — the Pentagon — came under the same attack as a jet slammed into the western side of the building.

And in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, brave passengers fought to stop their hijacked plane from suffering a similar fate, forcing the attackers to crash into a field. Two of my other books chronicle how that day changed the FBI's counterterrorism efforts and the government's doomsday plans. I've spent much of this year working on a podcast series about the lingering questions from the attacks.

I've interviewed directors of the CIA, FBI, and national intelligence; the interrogators in CIA black sites; and the men who found Saddam Hussein in that spider hole in Iraq. At the time, there were no smartphones to initiate a video call with loved ones. The active cell phone service was down after the Twin Towers were hit in New York City, which made it difficult to hear from family and friends who may have been in the vicinity of the plane crashes. Similar occurrences happened in the series of related terrorist events in Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Neither of us also knew how dramatically technology and the world would change following the terrorist attacks. Substantial alterations in news transmission, technology innovation, telecommunications networks, disaster preparedness, personal privacy, digital inequity, and security levels arose after the tragic events of this day. From a virtual standpoint, so many things have shifted over the last two decades that it is hard to imagine the world as it existed in 2001. On the morning of September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial jets and deliberately crashed them into symbolic American sites. Two planes crashed into the tallest buildings in New York, the North and South Towers at the World Trade Center.

The fourth plane's departure was unexpectedly delayed, leaving those on board to learn of the other attacks while mid-flight and fight back. Because of the bravery of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, the fourth plane crashed in a grassy field in Western Pennsylvania rather than its intended target. In 2010, a group of Navy SEALs launched a covert strike inside a Pakistan compound that successfully killed Usama Bin Laden.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is considered the mastermind of the attacks, though Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the operational planner. Mohammed came up with the tactical innovation of using hijacked planes to attack the United States, and al-Qaeda provided the personnel, money, and logistical support to execute the operation. He and 18 other terrorists, most of whom were from Saudi Arabia, established themselves in the United States, where some received commercial flight training. All 19 hijackers died in the attacks, bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in 2011, and Mohammed was captured in 2003. The entire world was shocked when al Qaeda terrorists smashed two planes into New York's World Trade Center, killing 2,753 people.

A third commercial jet hit the Pentagon, killing 184, and 40 more died after a fourth plane crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania after a passenger revolt. It was the first foreign attack on the US mainland in nearly two centuries. It was mid-afternoon before details of the hijacked planes started to emerge.

The first announcement came from American Airlines, which confirmed that it had lost flight 11 from Boston to LA with 92 passengers and crew and flight 77 from Washington Dulles to LA with 64 people on board. Shortly after, United announced that the plane which had crashed in Pennsylvania was its flight 93, a Boeing 757 which had been en route to San Francisco from Newark, New Jersey. It had also lost another plane, flight 175, a Boeing 767 from Boston to LA. Twenty years later, The Associated Press has curated 20 of its photographers' frames from Sept. 11, 2001, when hijackers used commercial planes as missiles and crashed into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and toppled the trade center's 110-story twin towers. Sept. 11, 2019 marks the 18th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in world history. It also marks a generational shift, with American children born after that date entering adulthood having grown up with their country perpetually fighting a so-called war on terror. The 9/11 attacks and their immediate aftermath belong to an era before Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

En español | It's hard to fathom that teens now entering college — or serving in the armed forces — were not yet born on that unforgettable Tuesday morning. Nearly 3,000 people died in Manhattan, at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field on September 11, 2001, in what remains the deadliest act of terrorism in history. To mark the 20th anniversary of that infamous day, we asked people with a connection to the attacks to reflect on what they experienced then and what it means to them today. Nearly 3,000 people died on the day of a series of coordinated attacks against the United States by terrorists who hijacked four passenger jets that crashed into the World Trade Center buildings in New York, the Pentagon and a field in rural Pennsylvania.

The public found the actions of firemen, police officers, and rescue workers in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks to be the most personally inspiring. Pluralities in all parts of the nation, the New York and Washington areas included, cite the bravery of these emergency personnel as most inspirational, with firemen singled out for praise. Others volunteered for the military, and hundreds of thousands went on to serve in Afghanistan.

2,641 service members gave their lives in that conflict, including 13 men and women who were killed in a terrorist attack a few weeks ago as we brought that war to an end. More than 20,000 of those service members were injured, and many more carry invisible wounds from that time. Nineteen terrorists from al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes, deliberately crashing two of the planes into the upper floors of the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center complex and a third plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The Twin Towers ultimately collapsed because of the damage sustained from the impacts and the resulting fires. After learning about the other attacks, passengers on the fourth hijacked plane, Flight 93, fought back, and the plane was crashed into an empty field in western Pennsylvania about 20 minutes by air from Washington, D.C.

Almost every aspect of life, from sports occasions to family events, had been put on hold as the nation struggled to come to terms with what had happened. For several hours, the volume of people using the telephone service had made it impossible for anyone outside the US to phone in, and with international flights diverted away from the country, it had closed itself off to the outside world. Minutes later, news broke of another crash, this time around 80 miles south-east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At 9.58am, an emergency dispatcher had answered a telephone call from a man who said he was a passenger locked in a bathroom on United Airlines flight 93. "We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked," he told the dispatcher, while repeatedly insisting that the call was not a hoax.

He had heard some sort of explosion and said there was white smoke coming from the aircraft. In Washington, all government buildings, including the state department, the Capitol building and the White House, had been evacuated after the New York attacks and the nine top leaders of the house and senate taken into federal protection. But as fears of further attacks spread, public buildings across the country were also evacuated as the government began shutting down national landmarks, including the Washington Monument, the Statue of Liberty and the St Louis Gateway Arch.

Liam Kerr Finger, a 10-year-old fifth grader visiting New York City with his family from Burlington, N.C., said he'd seen the news footage from 9/11 last year, in a documentary playing on TV at home. But his twin sister, Eleanor Ford Kerr Finger, hadn't seen footage of the attacks before going to the museum, and was trying to get her head around the significance of the events. One of her parents, Shellie Kerr, said she had been trying to explain to her kids that in fact they saw the effects of 9/11 in their everyday lives all the time, right down to the security line they had to wait on to enter the museum that day. In some textbooks, the descriptions of the attacks got shorter as time went on. For example, that 2005 edition of The Americans said about 3,000 people were killed in the attacks, and then specified how many were passengers on the planes, people who worked at or were visiting the World Trade Center, and how many were first responders.

On Sept. 11, 2001, one of us was teaching a political science course at Brown University, while the other was four days away from her wedding in Westchester County. The morning of those infamous terrorist attacks, Darrell had finished his lecture and while walking across campus encountered a fellow professor who said it was terrible what happened to those planes. " Darrell asked, unaware of the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. This was the time before ubiquitous cell phones and social media platforms, where news traveled quickly inside classrooms and around the globe. Major stock sell-offs hit the airline and insurance sectors when trading resumed.

Hardest hit were American Airlines and United Airlines, whose planes were hijacked for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Gold prices leapt nearly 6% to $287 per ounce, reflecting the uncertainty and flight to safety of nervous investors. One officer was killed when United Flight 93 crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania as he and other passengers attempted to regain control of the plane from the hijackers. 71 officers were killed when the two World Trade Center buildings collapsed in New York City.

Dozens more have passed away in the years following 2001 as the direct result of illnesses contracted while working in the hazardous conditions immediately following the attacks in New York. As the North Tower dissolves in a cloud of dust and debris about a half hour after the South Tower collapsed. Only 102 minutes passed between the time of the first plane crash and the collapse of the second tower. The World Trade Center in March, 2001 Wikimedia CommonsThe moment shocked the nation. Two planes, hijacked by Islamic jihadists vowing death to all Americans, plowed into both towers at the World Trade Center in New York. Another plane was flown into the Pentagon in Washington, DC. A fourth plane, presumably headed for the White House or the U.S.

Capitol, was heroically diverted by passengers and ended up crashing in an empty field in Pennsylvania. After reports of the first plane hitting the North Tower, millions watched the second plane hit the South Tower on live television. Make homeland security funding contingent on the adoption of an incident command system to strengthen teamwork in a crisis, including a regional approach. Casualties were nearly 100 percent at and above the impact zones and were very high among first responders who stayed in danger as they tried to save lives. The announcement came days before the 20th anniversary of an attack that killed nearly 3,000 people when hijacked commercial jets flew into the twin towers, struck the Pentagon and crashed into a Pennsylvania meadow. The attacks, which were planned by al-Qaeda from Afghanistan, saw four US passenger jets seized by suicide attackers - two of which were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York.

At the World Trade Center, 2,763 died after the two planes slammed into the twin towers. That figure includes 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers who were struggling to complete an evacuation of the buildings and save the office workers trapped on higher floors. The 9/11 Commission Report repeatedly offers examples of firefighters who tried to save just one more civilian. Stories abound of the law enforcement officers who risked, and lost, their lives trying to help one more person get out of the falling buildings.

Or of EMS personnel who lost their lives because they were trying to reach that last patient. Kopstein points to Hurricane Katrina, where thousands of responders from across the nation volunteered to come and help despite the danger to themselves. Implementing interoperability, improving equipment and mandating training are all lessons learned after 9/11 to help keep them safe while they do what they do. There is also no national guideline that states are required to follow in terms of teaching the topic, so lessons will vary depending on the teacher or school district. In New York, for example, schools will observe a moment of silence on Wednesday, after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law on Monday requiring observation of the anniversary.

The upside of the rapidity of news transmission is that people are aware of new developments far more quickly and in cases of such terrorist attacks are in a position to protect themselves. We can see events unfold and react in whatever manner makes sense for individuals and organizations. Back then, we both watched the 9/11 events on television, but broadcast did not particularly enable us to quickly share what was happening from our corners of the world with others.

Instead, we had to wait until the reporter shared more as the events transpired over the course of the day. As we mark the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, DHS honors the memory of those who lost their lives by serving our mission with dedication. We remain committed to working together across every level of government to keep our Nation safe from evolving threats, both foreign and domestic. Two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Four passenger airlines were hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists and flown into buildings in suicide attacks. Two of these planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of New York's World Trade Center complex.

Finally, the 9/11 attacks resulted in changes to the federal government and an expansion of executive power. A new cabinet department, the Department of Homeland Security, was created, and the intelligence community was consolidated under the Director of National Intelligence to improve coordination between various agencies and departments. New legislation such as the USA Patriot Act expanded domestic security and surveillance, disrupted terrorist funding by cracking down on activities such as money laundering, and increased efficiency within the U.S. intelligence community.

The minority who have high levels of personal concern about terrorism ­ 12% of the public ­ have changed their behavior dramatically. Seven-in-ten are staying closer to home and spending more time with family as a result of the attacks and half are handling mail differently. A third have reduced their air travel plans and roughly four-in-ten are avoiding certain cities and crowded places. Among those who are very worried, one-quarter have stored up food or water in their home in case of an emergency.

Just 7% of those who are not too worried about an attack have done the same. Meanwhile, for all the original talk of banishing evil from the world, the GWOT's seemingly exclusive focus on Islamic extremism has led to the neglect of other threats actively killing Americans. In the 20 years since 9/11, thousands of Americans have succumbed to mass killers—just not the ones we went to war against in 2001. But none of those massacres were by the Islamic extremists we'd been spending so much time and money to combat. Since 9/11, more Americans have been killed by domestic terrorists than by foreign ones.

Political pressure kept national-security officials from refocusing attention and resources on the growing threat from white nationalists, armed militias, and other groups energized by the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim strains of the War on Terror. Within hours after the 9/11 attacks, serious government failures began to come into focus. The following March, the Immigration and Naturalization Service notified a Florida flight school that it had approved visas for two of the 9/11 hijackers, including the ringleader Mohamed Atta. That America's intelligence, counterterrorism, and law-enforcement systems needed an overhaul had become obvious. Following some initial reluctance, the Bush administration embraced a top-to-bottom reorganization of the federal government around "homeland security," a phrase with little presence in American life before the attacks. From the time of the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, FBI and Department of Justice leadership in Washington and New York became increasingly concerned about the terrorist threat from Islamist extremists to U.S. interests, both at home and abroad.