Twenty-five years ago terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes and killed nearly 3,000 people in the deadliest attack on American soil in the nation's history.
The attacks carried out by the Islamic terrorist organization al-Qaeda struck the United States on September 11, 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners — flying two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a fourth into a rural field in Pennsylvania after passengers revolted.
In response, the United States launched the Global War on Terror, targeting extremist organizations and the governments accused of supporting them.
The nation will observe seven moments of silence, marking when each of the World Trade Center towers was struck and fell, the attack on the Pentagon, the crash of Flight 93, and the deaths of those lost to 9/11-related illness and injury in the years since.
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At Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, family members will read aloud the names of the 2,977 victims as the twin beams of the Tribute in Light will pierce the evening sky.
President Trump will remain in Washington, D.C., Friday to lead the 25th-anniversary commemoration at the Pentagon, where he will deliver remarks honoring the 184 people killed when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building.
Vice President JD Vance will travel to Lower Manhattan to represent the administration at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum ceremony, standing with families as the names of the dead are read. Administration officials will also attend the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, ensuring the White House will be present at all three attack sites as the nation marks a quarter-century since nearly 3,000 lives were lost.
