September 11, 2001 was a day without adjective.
Even a decade later, it is hard to properly describe the grief, anger, horror and pain we all felt watching the attacks unfold.
The 10th anniversary of the attacks will no doubt be a time of recollection for us all – of where we were when the planes hit, of what the country has gone through in the years since, and of the lives that were changed or ended as a result.
It is good to look back and remember. But let us hope this time of recollection becomes a moment of renewal as well. In the weeks and months after the attacks, America was filled with a spirit of resolve and unity that brought us together and helped us overcome the loss and devastation of that day.
You would be hard pressed to find a person who doesn’t believe America needs a similar sense of resolve and unity today. In some respects, our challenges now are even greater than they were on September 12, 2001. Job growth is stagnant and debt is consuming a record share of our economy. As the nation struggles to cope with these economic threats, we continue to face the threat of terrorism.
We look at the continuing terror threat in this special edition of The Ripon Forum with a collection of leaders and thinkers who are at the forefront of the effort to keep America secure. Leading the way is Michigan Congressman and former FBI Special Agent Mike Rogers. As Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rogers has jurisdiction over a bureaucracy that suffered its greatest defeat on 9/11 and enjoyed its greatest victory with the killing of Osama bin Laden earlier this year. Rogers discusses these defeats and victories in an interview, and talks about his role as “Intell’s Top Cop” of Capitol Hill, as well.
As the Republican leader of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Maine Senator Susan Collins has had a hand in nearly every significant piece of homeland security-related legislation that had made it to the President’s desk in recent years. Lately, much of her focus has been in how to respond to the threat to American’s computer networks and infrastructure. The Senator discusses these efforts further in an essay on the importance of “Preventing a Cyber 9/11.”
We also look at the state of intelligence reform with former Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra, and the state of airline security with author and aviation security expert Brian Michael Jenkins. Tennessee Congressman John Duncan argues that it’s time for U.S. forces to leave Afghanistan, while Carl Schramm of the Kauffman Foundation explains why economic growth – or, as he calls it, expeditionary economics – can play a vital role in counterinsurgency and be a force for good.
And Fox News commentator Margaret Hoover, author of a new book on America’s millennial generation, looks at how this younger generation was impacted by 9/11 and the lessons for the GOP today.
We hope you enjoy this edition of the Forum and, as always, encourage you to write us at editor@riponsociety.org with any thoughts or comments you may have.
Lou Zickar
Editor
The Ripon Forum