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NYPD Plans Massive Show of Force for 9/11; Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) is Interviewed about Homeland Security after 9/11; Remembering 9/11, The Day That Changed the Nation. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired September 11, 2026 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
TERRY SCHILLING, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN PRINCIPLES PROJECT: Realistic, right? If you make this a defining issue in the election, and you win more seats and you keep the Senate majority --
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
SCHILLING: More Democrats are going to say, OK, we've got to start (INAUDIBLE).
CORNISH: If a Democrat -- if Barack Obama got up and said, I'm going to give everyone a check, but only if you vote for me, the way people would come down on him, the city of Chicago, the political -- I mean just the language around this stuff.
SCHILLING: I mean, Obama did his fair share of this stuff. Obamacare, as we've seen, hasn't really worked out that great. I don't know, I like it.
CORNISH: That's OK. You'll have plenty of time to deal with it because I -- what I'm hoping is that you will hold your breath waiting for the check.
Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, the 9/11 Commission found that terrorism was not the overriding national security concern under President Clinton, or pre 9/11, George W. Bush. So, is America repeating the same mistakes when it comes to security? I'm going to ask Congressman Bennie Thompson that question next.
An stay with us, because we are going to be remembering the day that changed America. Live from Memorial Plaza in lower Manhattan, CNN's Kate Bolduan kicks off our daylong coverage "Remembering 9/11, 25 Years Later." That's going to begin at 7 a.m. Eastern on CNN. And you can, of course, be with us all day on the CNN app.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:36:00]
CORNISH: A massive show of force in New York today as the NYPD prepares for the day of mourning, honoring 25 years since September 11th. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA TISCH, NYPD COMMISSIONER: Our deployment this year at the World Trade Center for 9/11 will be larger than it has been in previous years, as will be our deployment this year for the high holy days at schools and yeshivas and Jewish cultural institutions, just based on the realities of the world that we live in today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: The four former presidents Biden, Obama, Bush and Clinton, will all be in New York for today's ceremonies. We're going to go live to our Leigh Waldman in New York this morning.
And, Leigh, can you talk about what you're seeing ahead of today's events?
LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Audie, good morning.
Even ahead of today, we saw security fencing being installed at Ground Zero yesterday around Memorial Plaza. This morning, before the sun even rose, the streets around the plaza were filled with uniformed NYPD officers. We're seeing road closures already in place here all around the memorial itself.
Now, this show of force comes as NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tish says that there is no credible or specific threat to New York City, but we are seeing the largest deployment of officers in recent years. Those NYPD officers, they're working alongside specialized task force like the Counterterrorism Bureau, the heavy weapons teams and the counter drone teams. We're seeing Secret Service out here installing specific fencing in order to keep these roadblocks in place. There will be no traffic in lower Manhattan as these ceremonies take place.
You mentioned that the former presidents, all four former living presidents, will be here, alongside dignitaries from around the world. The site where we're at, we're seeing visitors from around the world here to honor 25 years since September 11, 2001.
The security forces that are present around here are going to stay throughout the weekend because not only is this 9/11, 25 years since that historic day, that awful day. We're also seeing the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. New York City has seen an increase in anti- Semitism over this past year. So, Jessica Tish, the police commissioner, says that everyone can celebrate this high holy day, this high holy holiday, safely, knowing that NYPD will be there.
Audie.
CORNISH: OK, Leigh Waldman, who is there in New York for us.
Now, while the city is on high alert, you've got Democrats in Congress warning that the Trump administration is focusing on the wrong threats. We have the ranking member, Bennie Thompson, who says the threats facing the U.S. have changed dramatically since December of 2025. That's the last time the House committee on Homeland Security held a hearing examining threats to the U.S. months before the war with Iran. A war that the president is saying makes America safer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: If we hadn't done Iran, you would be cruising to midterm victory. $2.25 gas. You'd be cruising.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, and we'd be -- well, you don't know that.
INGRAHAM: Any regrets?
TRUMP: No. No. I think -- I think -- I -- I don't believe in the word regret. You can always question yourself a little bit. And a few people have asked me that. If I had it to do again, I'd do exactly as I did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining me now, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi. He's the ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
Congressman, thank you so much for being here.
I want to start with the fact that the committee did release a Republican majority report just yesterday that was called "National Security Improvements and the Domestic Threat Landscape Of 25 Years After 9/11."
One of the things they talked about are the threats today, evolution of terrorist activity, rising violent extremism. They bring up A.I. and cyber security. Can you talk about this report?
[06:40:01]
Does it seem like the Republican leadership or even the White House is focused on the right thing?
REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): Well, first of all, thank you again for having me. It's clear that this administration does not get it. Clearly, where we are at this moment, we are putting resources in the wrong direction. The DOGE report cut DHS' budget tremendously. If cyber security is a critical element, we cut a third of the employees in the cyber security division. If foreign, domestic terrorism is an issue, we absolutely need to concentrate those resources.
But I can bring it closer to home, Audie, is, we've now -- we created TSA. We said that issue that occurred on 9/11, we would not want it to happen again.
CORNISH: Right.
THOMPSON: So, what we did, we created a security protocol, created and operated by the government. Now, this administration is moving toward privatizing that inherently government function again. So, here we go, going back to bad habits, that mission creep is coming back in. And so, if you privatize it, that means the same entities that created this vulnerability are back in business again. So, the --
CORNISH: Congressman, can I bring up something else, though, because I think this is relevant. You know, in this day and age, the threats are different. So, you know, does it matter if we're not taking off our shoes, et cetera, at the airport if I'm reading about Iranian cyberattacks on U.S. water systems. I want to put up a map for people. These are the states where there are suspected incidents. There are some that are confirmed. And the reporting has been that there have been hacks on -- or attempted hacks on U.S. water supply infrastructure. To me, this seems like the new threat.
THOMPSON: Well, that is a new threat. And as I said -- but we cut a third of the labor force in CISA, which is the agency we created to address cyber threats to this country. So, again, the investment is going opposite the threat. And so, the 9/11 report said one of our big problems is we fail to imagine what's going on. And so in not imagining what's going on, we don't address it. We've done it. But now this administration has cut the staff primarily responsible for cyber security hacks in America.
So, again, Audie, we created DHS as a result of the 9/11 Commission Report. It talked about vulnerabilities. It talked about all those things that were important. We lost almost 3,000 Americans, almost 400 firemen in 9/11 alone, and so what we --
CORNISH: In the meantime, any there any hearings set?
THOMPSON: No. No. No, look --
CORNISH: Like, I know Congress has kind of come and gone, but is there anything on the schedule up ahead?
THOMPSON: There's no hearings on the schedule going forward. And we only have one more day, one more week left in the congressional schedule and we'll be out for six weeks for elections. So, the leadership is not addressing it. But as important, we are required to have hearings talking about the threat to the landscape. We've not had the hearings. We need to have the FBI director before us, the DHS director, to talk about threats to the homeland, as well as threats from international. We've not had it.
And so again, here we are, in an area where we know there are vulnerabilities, but the leadership fails to bring that information forward to Congress. And it's primarily because the intimidation the Trump administration puts on Congress to do its job. And that's how we got here in the first place because we failed to address the documented vulnerabilities.
CORNISH: Yes.
That's Congressman Bennie Thompson. Thank you so much for being with us.
And we're continuing this coverage of one of the darkest days in U.S. history. Next, in the wake of 9/11, the world stood beside the U.S.
[06:45:00]
Has that gone away with the America first movement?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CORNISH: OK, so when the twin towers came down in New York 25 years ago today, Americans of all faiths, colors, and nationalities embraced one another. But, of course, there was also an attack on the Pentagon. And right now, what you are watching is a ceremony where there is an unfurling of the U.S. flag here at 6:49 Eastern at the Defense Department.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there.
[06:50:12]
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave. O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
CORNISH: OK, just now, hearing the American anthem and the U.S. flag unfurled at the Pentagon, at their remembrance of 9/11, 25 years after that day.
We've told you that today there will be several presidents, past presidents in New York and Donald Trump, the president, will be here at the Defense Department later today.
I'm bringing in CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem.
Thank you so much for being here.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thank you for having me.
CORNISH: We've been talking all day about that sort of gap between the first plane hitting the tower, understanding something's happened, to understanding it is attack. And for me, the striking of the Pentagon is what I felt, are we at war?
KAYYEM: Yes.
CORNISH: And when you drive past the Pentagon, it's really hard to convey to people the scope of the size of this building.
KAYYEM: Yes.
CORNISH: Can you talk about how it affected our approach to war?
KAYYEM: Yes. I mean, the approach to the last 25 years was sort of formed in those early days when we called it a war. And people think that's so natural. We're going to call it a war on terrorism. It -- but what it did is that it set a mind frame for how we were going to solve this problem.
CORNISH: Right.
KAYYEM: Which was essentially military, predominantly. There was --
CORNISH: And in the American mind, if you think about the last big attack, it's Pearl Harbor.
KAYYEM: Yes.
CORNISH: So, you are going after a country that has been an aggressor.
KAYYEM: Right. Right. And --
CORNISH: Suddenly we have something that is not a country.
KAYYEM: A country, and it's Afghanistan, and then two years later it's Iraq, so -- which had no relation to 9/11.
CORNISH: Yes, but we're pursuing a terrorist network rather --
KAYYEM: Right. And that's how we're --
CORNISH: Than a state actor.
KAYYEM: Exactly.
CORNISH: Yes.
KAYYEM: And that's how we're going to solve it. And that's the nature of the problem rather than -- rather than, you know, law enforcement, intelligence, diplomacy, homeland security and military. That combination is how you at least reduce the risk to the homeland, or reduce the risk to Americans from terrorism.
And then, of course, over 25 years, the threat has changed, more dispersed, more amorphous, ideologically more varied, domestic as well as foreign. And then, of course, like, you know, I teach. You know, my students, it's like, I started talking about 9/11. It's like, you know, they're -- none of them were born at the time. They -- they are not -- they don't feel it like they feel Covid or even economic distress or political distress.
CORNISH: Yes.
KAYYEM: They view that as, you know --
CORNISH: Yes. And they are also more familiar with the modern --
KAYYEM: Yes.
CORNISH: The reason why you and I are usually talking, lone actors.
KAYYEM: Yes. Yes. That's right.
CORNISH: Right?
KAYYEM: That's right. CORNISH: Lone wolves.
KAYYEM: That's right.
CORNISH: Networks.
KAYYEM: Right.
CORNISH: So, for them, the imminent threat they've seen maybe is mass shootings or something like that.
KAYYEM: Yes.
CORNISH: But that feels like the thing we're sort of least equipped in a lot of ways to deal with through the structure we have now.
KAYYEM: Yes. That's exactly right. Well, I mean, look, I mean this is -- this generation is called lockdown generation. This is what they experienced in terms of the threats that they face. And then you have sort of more radicalization now, more violence and more targets. I mean that's the other thing. Like, yes, in one way we did succeed, or a lot of ways we succeeded after September 11th --
CORNISH: Yes, for sure.
KAYYEM: In terms of those large scale terrorist attacks. Like we haven't seen anything quite -- anything even close to it. But what just happened is that the soft targets became the focus. And then you have this radicalization, domestically in particular, unmoored from anything. I mean, everyone's like, well, is he, you know, pro-Trump, anti-Trump?
CORNISH: Right.
KAYYEM: Is he -- is he, you know, left wing, right wing. As I --
CORNISH: Instead of -- Lulu, you probably dealt with this covering Afghanistan. And I remember later the preoccupation was being radicalized online into radical Islam, right?
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Right.
CORNISH: Like it was the idea that like, and we saw this with ISIS and the trying building of the caliphate.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes.
CORNISH: But just the idea that it was still a far away problem, even the idea of radicalization.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: It was a faraway problem. Although I just want to note that if you were Muslim in America, you didn't feel it was a faraway problem.
CORNISH: Right. GARCIA-NAVARRO: You felt surveilled. There was an entire infrastructure that was actually very much targeting the Muslim community in the United States. And by the way, the rhetoric that you see today is very much rooted in that period.
But there was this idea that, yes, you were -- you were going to be radicalized overseas and that we have now seen come back.
But also, it -- you know, there's been a lot of work on this. The men and women who served overseas, you know, bring the war home.
[06:55:02]
That idea that we saw after Vietnam. There was a spike in domestic, sort of military-style attacks and --
CORNISH: Yes. And after Timothy McVeigh, people talked about that, I think.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And we saw that also --
CORNISH: Yes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And we've seen that also with Iraq and Afghanistan.
CORNISH: Can I come back to the thing you're saying, though, about the Muslim community and sort of the conversation around it after 9/11? So, with this convention last night in Dallas, Republicans were talking about 9/11, but here's how they were talking about 9/11.
This is an example from Senator Ted Cruz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): On 9/11, could anyone have imagined that Comrade Mamdani would be the mayor of New York? The hate that killed Charlie Kirk, that knocked down the twin towers, that led to two assassination attempts on President Trump. It just keeps getting worse and worse. And we are witnessing a new and dangerous red/green alliance, communists and Islamists coming together and sweeping over the Democrat Party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I thought he meant green by environmentalists. I was like, wow, that's a -- that's a (INAUDIBLE).
CORNISH: Which also would have been a throwback. But it was also such a weird moment. I'm going to set aside the
comments about the mayor.
KAYYEM: Yes.
CORNISH: Which, I think, it's pretty obvious what he is saying there.
KAYYEM: Yes. CORNISH: But then all of a sudden it was like, the non-Muslims who attacked the president, the non-Muslims -- like, it was just a grab bag of random violence. Like I -- what is -- what is being said there and why is this legacy being --
KAYYEM: I mean, it's just racism. I don't -- I don't think we have to --
CORNISH: Why do you say that, though?
KAYYEM: I don't think we have to sort of pretend --
CORNISH: Because he's saying communism.
KAYYEM: I -- look, he knows what his audience knows, which is, there's been an attack on every Muslim politician or political candidate who ever aspires or wins an election. That line of islamophobia has now, you know, moved to Mamdani shouldn't show up to 9/11, to the memorials. That's -- I mean, let's just be clear here, this is what's happening in terms of the rhetoric. And that's a radicalization process.
So, you can complain about the left being radicalized by violent language towards Trump. It means you also complain about this kind of language, which is this through line of Islamists. Therefore, they're terrorists. Therefore, they're a threat. I don't think you have to pretend. I don't think you have to pretend.
CORNISH: Can I have you (INAUDIBLE), just because --
SCHILLING: I just think that, you know, we're seeing -- we saw a few years ago Ilhan Omar dismissed radical Islam as the cause of 9/11. Some people did something.
CORNISH: But he didn't even say that. That's why I wanted you to hear it.
SCHILLING: I know, but on top of that --
CORNISH: Because I thought, like, why is he going from this to, and then Butler, and then --
SCHILLING: Because these DSA --
CORNISH: I was like, these things aren't even --
SCHILLING: These DSA candidates and the rise of Antifa.
CORNISH: Did a DSA candidate attack Charlie Kirk?
SCHILLING: No. Well, Antifa, and a trans sympathizer. We've had 17 mass shootings by trans shooters, 18 if you count the kid that was a trans sympathizer who shot Charlie Kirk in the neck.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: How many white men have we had?
SCHILLING: Yes. Exactly. See -- so we're going to blame white men for all the violence in this country.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: No, but we're not blaming it. But what I'm saying is --
SCHILLING: But as soon as you point out that it's radical Islam, Lulu, it's racism, it's bigotry.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: No, it --
SCHILLING: No.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: No, but you're -- no, no, no, no, no.
SCHILLING: We -- this is 9/11. It was radial Islam, period.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The -- what the -- what the problem here is -- that's not a -- listen, the question here is, why is he bringing Mayor Mamdani into this?
SCHILLING: Because El-Sayed --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And why is --
SCHILLING: Because El-Sayed is campaigning with people that have said the USA got what it deserved.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well -- oh, wait, I just talked about Mayor Mamdani and you're talking about a different Muslim who is campaigning in a completely different state.
SCHILLING: Look --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Are they all the same? Is that what you're trying to imply here?
SCHILLING: No. But, OK, does Mamdani blame radical Islam for the rise of 9/11 -- for what happened on 9/11? Does he? Does he acknowledge that? If this was a Christian attack on America, you would -- you would see targeting of Christians.
CORNISH: OK, let's just -- I'll let my security person jump in.
KAYYEM: Yes. I mean, yes. And this is just -- this is -- it is the memorial of an attack by Islamic terrorists -- I can say it, Islamic terrorists against the United States. There is a political movement to sweep the religion and those who run for office and who are Muslim or who are mayor of New York City, into that. We don't have to pretend like that's not what's happening. And I don't think -- I don't -- I mean you can have -- look, there is left-wing -- I mean, there is -- you can admit left-wing terrorism. You can meet -- admit anti-Trump terrorism. But what you can't do is say, well, because 25 years ago, 19 guys from Saudi Arabia who manipulated Islam and claimed to represent Islam killed nearly 3,000 Americans, that that's a through line to -- I mean you're the one who mentioned, you know, El-Sayed. Like, it's a way of linking with a wink and a nod and with a sort of come hither everyone who's Muslim in this country. [07:00:03]
And I think -- I think we have --
SCHILLING: That's not true.
CORNISH: Well, I do --
(CROSS TALK)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: In the same -- and in the same -- and I just want to finish --
CORNISH: Here's why I'm going to pause. Here's why I'm going to pause, because this convention is still going. The president is speaking today. Some of the things, as you can hear, are part of the legacy of this attack on the United States. So, please stay with us for the rest of the day, for the remembrance, for the debate, all of it.
I'm Audie Cornish, and the headlines are next.
