Before and After 9/11

Twenty-five years ago, I was running marketing for a security start-up in northern New Jersey. The industry was moving from traditional cameras and access-control systems toward IT-based physical security solutions. That fateful day, our CEO (and friend) was in the air, headed to Washington, D.C., when the attacks began.

At first, we believed the reports that a small plane had hit the World Trade Center. Then my husband called. While I was on the phone with him, the second plane struck. The truth became horrifyingly clear.

We wheeled a television into the office and watched for hours. In those days, streaming news was not part of daily life. From our windows, we could see the black streak in the sky where the twin towers once stood. Nobody could take a deep breath until we heard our CEO was safe.

Then came the silence. You don't realize how much noise airplanes make until none are overhead, especially in the New York City metro area, home to Newark Liberty, LaGuardia, and JFK. The quiet was eerie.

The days that followed brought constant news, unbearable loss, and the gradual realization that people we knew were missing, then presumed dead, then gone.

We were too shocked to be fully terrified. We cried with strangers, checked on one another, flew flags, and carried a shared sense of grief.

For those of us working in security, 9/11 changed the industry overnight. Security became central to how organizations protected people, buildings, airports, networks, and information.

Daily life changed, too. Before 9/11, people could walk loved ones to an airport gate. Afterward, access was restricted, and airport screening became a federal responsibility under the Transportation Security Administration. The TSA's history documents that shift. Before 9/11, 22 federal agencies operated separately. Afterward, Congress created the Department of Homeland Security to consolidate many of those responsibilities. The Department's history explains how it was created. Before 9/11, federal investigators had narrower authority to obtain certain communications and business records in terrorism investigations. Afterward, the USA PATRIOT Act expanded those powers and began a national debate over security and privacy that continues today. The Justice Department's record of the law describes its enactment and provisions.

There is a before 9/11 and an after 9/11.

My hope for this anniversary goes beyond remembrance and the rally cry of 'Never Forget'. I want us to remember the people murdered that day, the families whose lives changed forever, and the first responders who ran toward danger when everyone else was fleeing it. I want us to honor the service members, police officers, firefighters, emergency workers, and security professionals who continue to protect our communities.

I also want us to remember who we were to each other in the days that followed. We showed up. We checked on neighbors. We grieved across differences that suddenly felt smaller than our shared loss. America needs that sense of responsibility to one another now. We should carry it forward because it is how a country cares for its people.

NEVER FORGET.