Never Forget

On the 24th Anniversary of 9/11

Twenty-four years ago, the United States was forever changed.

I remember exactly where I was on September 11th, 2001: in the mountains vicinity of Dahlonega, Georgia, at Ranger School. When word came down that planes had struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we initially thought it was part of a training scenario meant to test us under stress. When the cadre told us it was real, I knew the world had changed - and that America was going to war.

The 9/11 attacks ended the brief period of peace and stability that followed the Cold War. They propelled our nation into two decades of war in Afghanistan, Iraq, and across the globe in the name of fighting terror. I am proud of my service in those wars, proud to have stood shoulder to shoulder with my fellow soldiers, and proud to have done my part on defense of the nation. The courage and sacrifice of our armed forces is a point of enduring pride for me.

But as I argue in my book The Folly of Realism, the War on Terror came at a strategic cost. In focusing so much of our resources and attention on counterterrorism, we were distracted from the resurgence of great-power competition with Russia and China. While we were chasing terrorists in the Hindu Kush and Anbar, Moscow was rebuilding its military, plotting its revanchism, and preparing for the invasions of Georgia and Ukraine. Beijing was quietly modernizing its armed forces and laying the groundwork for the coercive power it wields today.

The aftermath of 9/11 forced Americans to grapple with what it means to be secure and what it means to be free. We expanded our domestic security apparatus, debated the balance between liberty and safety, and fought wars with no clear end state. Today, the generation born after 9/11 is serving in uniform, entering government, and defining the future of national security.

On this anniversary, I am reminded not only of the horror of that day, but also of the unity that followed. Americans put aside partisan differences to support one another and to defend the nation. We need that spirit again - not just to remember those we lost, but to face the challenges ahead. The threats we confront today are different but no less serious: Russia’s war of aggression, China’s coercion, and the contest over the future of the international order.

The lesson of 9/11 is not just about vigilance against terror - it is about the need for strategic clarity, unity of purpose, and readiness to defend our way of life against all threats. That is how we honor the memory of those who perished on September 11th and those who sacrificed in the wars that followed.

- Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, U.S. Army (Retired)