The Next 9/11: Expert looks at 23 years since September 11th

here to live. Now from Fox. We just want to close out this our, uh, reflecting remembering. Uh, on this very solemn. and somber anniversary. of the 911 Terror attacks, it's been 23 years more than a generation removed now. uh, in our historical. memory. since that horrible, fateful day in American history. Fox News correspondent, Alexis McAdams. looks back. It's been. 23 years since the terrorist attacks on september 11th. and for the families, not a day, goes by without thinking of the loved ones. who lost their lives that day. Our lives were changed. Forever. That day. We look at the world differently. Nearly 3,000. People were killed When Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center in New York City. The Pentagon in Washington DC, and crashing in Shanksville Pennsylvania, in Shanksville a remembrance ceremony, honoring the heroes of United flight. 93, the 333, passengers, and 7 crew members on that flight fighting back against terrorists. Forcing the plane to crash into this field. Preventing it from reaching its intended target. a federal government building in government their decision to fight back against the terrorists who had hijacked their plane. demonstrates, the power of individuals. to come together in a time of crisis. to make a Monumental difference. This year's commemoration coming during an intense presidential campaign. but today, politics were put aside President Biden vice president Harris former president Trump and Senator JD Vance starting the day off in New York City. at Ground Zero listening for the annual reading of the names. If I come here and I speak his name out loud and you'll hear his name, He will never. Never never disappear. and standing in that field in Pennsylvania. more than 20 years after flight 93 went down, not far behind me the families of those who lost their lives that day. say every single day that goes by It doesn't mean that they'll ever forget their memory or that this will ever. be any easier reporting in Shanksville Pennsylvania. I'm Alexis McAdams. Fox News Uh, Alexis thanks so much. Alexis Uh, at the now 911 Memorial uh in the field there in Shanksville Pennsylvania. Uh where former president Trump, Trump President Biden and vice president Harris. Harris All participated today in these commemorations as well as at the Pentagon and at Ground Zero uh we have these very Moving images coming to us from New York City there. you can see the, entire Skyline. That was Changed so dramatically. on 911. I remember it while I was only 10 years old. it was 1 of the first major news headlines that I can. vividly. Remember. recount hour by hour that day. even at 10, we also have this live picture of the tribute in light. Uh, emanating over the nighttime sky. Of lower Manhattan Bringing in how Kemper yet again. Uh Hal thanks for being with us here. Uh, I just wanted to you to reflect as well, of course. I was only 10 years old at the time. I still remember it. uh, quite vividly here. Um, where were you? well, I was actually. in Southern California and, uh, I got the call. We, we knew things that I want to get into all the details but we knew there was a possibility of a, of some sort of activity by terrorists, And I, I literally got the call that morning and it was like they, they hit they hit the uh, they hit the World Trade Center. which uh, was really the second time that the World Trade Center had been attacked, right? And uh, and and because of what I was doing, I was connected. in some civil military ways that were a little unusual. So I end up Spending, I think the next 24 hours, something like that. I don't know. until 3 or 4 in the morning. so however, whatever it was. uh, uh, working uh, here in Southern California with my inter agency counterparts my civil military counterparts. uh tracking threats, uh working with them to support them on tracking threats. to uh Southern California. But uh, but the the irony is uh, that that I was here. I was actually supposed to be in the Pentagon on the morning of 911. and there's a better than, uh, even uh, chance that I was supposed to be in a meeting at 8 oclock in the section of the Pentagon that was hit. Now, Um, a message is as good as a mile, as far as I'm concerned, but, uh, uh, let's just say, uh, I I know a lot of people that that did not survive that day and uh and uh, so it hits kind of hard. Yeah. Hell I had no idea. Uh wow. We've spoken for so long. I had no idea about that Anecdote there. on 911. Hey, in the meantime though, um, it's been 23 years. Uh, you now have a generation uh, who was not born. uh, before 911. uh, and so they don't remember anything obviously. uh, or some were too young to recognize or acknowledge. uh, and so you're talking about never forgetting you're talking about keeping this alive. This is why. each and every uh, anniversary. uh, here at live. Now, we show these commemorations at Ground Zero at Shanksville at the Pentagon in full. So You can hear the names. read out aloud, uh, to to Just grapple with the immeasurable toll, uh, that was lost there on 911, 23 years ago but I want to talk with you because you study you train. about uh the terror posture not only here Stateside but but worldwide as well. these threats that emanate from so many of these hotspots around the globe. and you know how I think it's safe to say since the Bots withdrawal from Afghanistan, in August of 2021. Now 3 years on um, at the time in the immediate aftermath of in question started, being asked about whether or not Afghanistan and the surrounding areas. would become yet again A Safe Haven. for Terror groups here. uh, leading some to say General Mark Millie at the time. uh, you know, Secretary of Defense Mark esper at the time also, uh, Secretary of Defense Austin, at the time and others FBI director, Christopher Wray, that The. opportunity. is right for these Terror elements if they wanted to pull something like 9/11 off, not that they have the resources or the support. Um, but that it could grow. Oh, over time with this. vacuum in Afghanistan. specifically here, Ohio, Senator JD Vance. Donald Trump's runny May, uh, he was on the Fox News Channel, he echoed some of these similar sentiments. Let's watch go back to 911 that costs. $500,000 for Al-Qaeda and the Taliban to plan and execute that operation. We have given the Taliban just since the fall of of of of the Afghan government. hundreds of millions of dollars. in direct American taxpayer Aid, if they can do 9/11 with 5000 dollars, what can they do with hundreds of millions of dollars of American taxpayer money? comma, Harris has done nothing to stop that flow of money to the Taliban at the same time. She's opened the Border allowing God knows. How many of those Fighters military age males to come into our border completely unchecked and uncontrolled. So I I really do believe as tragic. as today is Is that we are as a greater risk of a terror attack in this country. as we've been since 9/11, Okay, Hal, I want to ask you Uh, do you believe that Do you agree with that? sentiment here? And I just want to, you know, for the viewers sake it is somewhat um peculiar maybe even bordering on disrespectful to ask this question. on this day but I'm going to ask it. Uh you know is another 911 even possible. in the imagination at the time. Remember the failure of imagination. standpoint and philosophy was at play. You couldn't even conceive of something like this happening. But with what JD Vance just said there is a plausible. It went well, It's plausible with 1 exceptionalists. Uh, whatever happens next. it would be of that size will be something. uh, that will also uh be something that probably wasn't quite done before It'll take different elements of things that have been accomplished. uh, 1 thing with terrorists is they tend to be somewhat conservative, that may sound strange, but they, they tend to be very conservative tactically and operationally speaking. they tend to do it works. That's why a lot of times you'll see terrorists do these very simple attacks They go on and shoot a place up or they drive a big truck into a crowd or something you go. Wow, what a what a kind of You. know, not a very sophisticated attack. Well, that's because they go with what works and they and they tend to do that now. 911 was unusual because they went with something that had never been done before and no, there was no proven. record. had been done and it and there were some assumptions. on Could it be done that? It it really upended and it really changed from what was possible. to what might be probable and that's what has had us for the last over 2 decades. leaning forward Looking at a lot of other things. Of course, 1 of the areas is weapons of mass destruction uh, chemical biological radiological weapons Has this very, very concerned as we talked uh, you know, um, about this attack that just, you know, the strike that just took place where the IDF went in and took out a chemical uh, facility. uh it's pretty clear that that was to uh to probably uh uh, you know under you know, to to to take out a potential wmd type of capability there. Which makes me wonder what was some of the other intelligence tied to choosing that strike? And we have seen uh, a number of operations, you know, when California we just saw uh, uh, literally this week uh, White. uh, white supremacist, extreme right-wing. Uh, terrorists for, uh, indicted for a big plot. We saw another 1 where, uh, terrorist Isis inspired was stopped from going into um, the US that was going to do a tax on on Jewish facilities. In New York. And, and we've seen other plots like this. but everyone is leaning forward. So the answer in short is yes, but don't expect it to be. A a copy of 911. be something. Yeah, How just lastly, um, do you worry that the relevant agencies and entities? that were set up the post 911 architecture. Um, could possibly take their eye off the ball as we get farther and farther. removed from that day or or no is this Straight shooting here. Every day. I am worried about that. All right, the longer look Bure bureaucracies are bureaucracies, okay? And and organizations tend to work work with a certain optempo and, and, and I have to tell you that, that every large bureaucratic organization, whether it's a government or, or or corporate um, uh tends to get locked into reinforcing the status quo, and unless there is a uh, something a threat, a risk Something out there that forces them To to move quickly forces them to be more adaptive. uh, they will tend to fall into a certain regimen if you will. a, a certain bureaucratic Norm, and that worries, me and that's something. as intelligence professional as something. we've always had to fight against which is we always get with our our analysts. We get with our our intelligence collectors, if you will and we're always trying to say, what if what if what if and think about what they might do. as opposed to what they have been doing, in order to say uh 1 step ahead of them. All right. How come we're going to have to leave it at that and thank you for sharing. your memories on this really, really tough day In our re