US marks 25 years since the Sept. 11 attacks
[September 11, 2026]
By JENNIFER PELTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans are commemorating the 25th anniversary of
9/11, remembering the shock, the dead and the sweeping consequences of
the al-Qaida attacks on symbols of U.S. might and prosperity.
Friday's milestone anniversary will bring memorial rituals —
wreath-laying, flag-flying, moments of silence, vigils and readings of
victims' names — and volunteer projects in tribute to a day that about
half of U.S. adults remember as the most historic event of their
lifetime, according to a new poll.
For others it's an occasion for private reflection — or, in many
schools, education — about the attack that unfolded in a single morning
but left nearly 3,000 dead and a decades-long trail of aftermath, from
personal grief to far-flung wars.
Police Officer Casey Kloepfer plans to spend time Friday at the Brooklyn
station house where his father, Officer Ronald Kloepfer, reported to
work that day before being called to the World Trade Center. He didn't
make it home.
Casey Kloepfer was only 4, but he grew up hearing about his father's
affinity for helping people and for a job that enabled him to do so. He
became an officer this past June.
“It’s big footsteps to fill, but it’s definitely something that I take
very seriously and want to continue to honor him and be the best police
officer I can," he said by phone this week. The 29-year-old wears his
father’s badge number and even has joined the New York Police Department
lacrosse team, which his dad founded.
Trump to attend Pentagon observance
On Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida extremists hijacked four commercial jets and
crashed them into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a
field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The impacts brought down the World Trade Center's twin towers — icons of
U.S. economic power, and among the tallest buildings on Earth — and blew
a hole in the Pentagon, the U.S. military's fortresslike headquarters
near Washington. The fourth plane also was headed for the nation's
capital, officials concluded, but the aircraft went down in Pennsylvania
after passengers and crew members stormed the cockpit and fought the
hijackers.
“In the course of history, there are a few moments that divide time
into, really, what came before” and after, President Donald Trumpsaid at
a 9/11 remembrance in Washington this week. The Republican, who was in
his native New York on Sept. 11 and has often recounted his memories,
plans to attend the Pentagon's anniversary ceremony Friday.
Vice President JD Vance is expected at the observance at the National
Sept. 11 Memorial in New York, while other administration officials are
headed to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.
Planned remembrances extend far beyond the attack sites, from beams of
light projecting from New Hampshire's Mount Washington to a stair climb
at Mississippi State University's football stadium to a ceremony at
Honolulu's 9/11 memorial.
At ground zero, a new tribute to those who fell ill
Traditionally, there are no political speeches at the New York
commemoration, where relatives read all the victims' names, punctuated
with moments of silence at key points in the attack timeline. For the
first time, this year's ceremony will add a silent moment to honor
people who were exposed to the clouds of toxic dust released by the twin
towers’ fiery collapse and have since died of cancer and other
illnesses. Questions remain about how many people developed health
problems linked to the dust.
It's a reminder of how the attacks' long shadow has reached into many
corners of life in the U.S. and beyond.
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Phillip Flood, 48, watches as the Tribute in Light is tested over
the skyline of lower Manhattan, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, in Jersey
City, NJ. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
The U.S.-led global war on terrorism included invasions of Iraq and
Afghanistan — the latter Washington's longest war — and detentions
and harsh interrogation of terror suspects in an international
network of secret CIA prisons. The U.S. military found and killed
al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, but accused
9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed still awaits a trial 23 years
after his capture.
The attacks changed U.S. air travel, prompted new federal
surveillance and intelligence-gathering powers and banking
regulations, and generated ongoing debate over the balance between
security and freedom. The Department of Homeland Security, many
state anti-terrorism laws and billions of dollars in state and local
counterterrorism funding all are post-9/11 creations.
So, too, is the culture of individual vigilance summed up by the
slogan “ if you see something, say something.”
Unity, mistrust and scrutiny of New York's mayor
Sept. 11 generated a wave of patriotism that propelled some
Americans to join the military, fire departments, police forces or
other public agencies. But amid the national unity that many
remember, the attacks also fanned mistrust, prejudice and hate
crimes directed at Muslims.
In the quarter-century since, Muslim Americans have played a growing
role in public life from statehouses to Congress to New York City
Hall, where Zohran Mamdani is the city's first Muslim mayor. Yet he
is facing some criticism for planning to attend the anniversary
ceremony at ground zero, something his predecessors have done for
years.
Some complaints came from Republican ex-Gov. George Pataki and 9/11
victims’ relatives, who cited among other things past remarks that
some of Mamdani's political associates have made about the attacks.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, also inveighed against
Mamdani attending.
Mamdani, a Democrat, responded this week that he loves the city and
country and wants the anniversary to focus on victims' families,
first responders and New Yorkers who helped one another after the
attacks, which he called a “horrific act of terror.” The 34-year-old
mayor was an elementary school student in New York on 9/11.
Sept. 11 isn't a federal holiday, but Congress has designated it
both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
“One appropriate way to remember is by serving,” says Jay Winuk, who
lost his brother Glenn Winuk and then co-founded the volunteer
organization 9/11 Day with friend David Paine. The group helps
people find meal-packing and other volunteer opportunities and this
year arranged for dozens of Times Square billboards to pause their
advertising at 9:11 a.m. Friday.
Instead, they will simply display the time.
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