Condoleezza Rice, director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, was national security adviser on Sept. 11, 2001. These are her remarks as prepared for delivery on Friday morning at the Pentagon’s commemoration of the 9/11 attacks.
That fateful day 25 years ago will forever be emblazoned on the heart and the soul of America. No one old enough to remember that day will ever forget where they were when they learned of the unfolding tragedy. The attack came, quite literally, out of the blue — an assault on our cities that we had not experienced since the War of 1812.
I was at my desk at the White House when my executive assistant, a young army officer, told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. “What a strange accident,” I thought. I called President Bush, who was reading to children at an education event in Florida. He too thought that it must have been an accident. Within 17 minutes, a second plane hit the World Trade Center. The president was rushed to Air Force One. I was hurried to a bunker in the White House by the Secret Service, where I joined the vice president. Secretary of State Colin Powell was in Peru and trying to get home; CIA Director George Tenet had been moved to an undisclosed location.
Soon brave passengers aboard United Flight 93, hearing of the destruction, decided that the terrorists would go no further. They rushed the cockpit in a sacrificial act that likely prevented an attack on the Capitol.
And here at the Pentagon — the nerve center of America’s defense — another story was unfolding. I was told by the officers of the Situation Room that they could not reach Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. His phone was just ringing and ringing and ringing. I remember turning to a television screen and the horror and shock that I felt: There was a smoking crater — a vast empty space — in the side of the Pentagon.
There was no doubt: The United States of America was at war.
Today, we remember the 3,000 innocent lives that were tragically taken 25 years ago. And here at the Pentagon, we feel the presence of the 184 souls who were lost. Behind every name that we recite, there is a story — a life that mattered; a future unfulfilled; a void — a vast empty space — in the heart of a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter, a sibling, a colleague or a friend. We come together today to say that they will never be forgotten and to honor their memory.
We come, too, to remember the courage of the survivors who were working here that day. People ran toward the danger. They searched through the smoke. Secretary Rumsfeld himself pulled people to safety as his security detail begged him to flee the danger. First responders trained for the moment and ordinary people who never imagined a moment like that joined forces to rescue those who they could and to pray for those who they could not.
It is fitting that here at the Pentagon, we reflect not just on what happened here but what, in that moment of crisis, people did here. They summoned a will and a spirit — a sense of obligation — that our military lives by every day. I will stand between danger and my fellow citizens. I will leave no comrade behind. I will go; I will serve; I will do my duty.
And in acts, large and small, American citizens did the same. Across the country, people gave blood, filled houses of worship to pray, took care of the vulnerable — the elderly and infirm — and comforted families of the fallen. Across the world, air traffic controllers worked feverishly to land diverted planes safely. NATO for the first time in its history under Article 5 declared that an attack upon one was an attack upon all. And in Canada, ordinary citizens took stranded travelers, complete strangers, into their homes, often for days at a time. Heroism and compassion were commonplace but uncommon in the depth and breadth of their generosity and kindness.
We responded in ways that the evil men who attacked us could never have imagined. They believed that we would be terrorized into retreat. Well, they picked the wrong people. They did not know us, then or now: that our strength is in our belief in our country and in each other; that we are grateful for the sacrifices of 250 years that gave us this blessed land; that we share a certainty that this country is exceptional. That when challenged and tested, we are defiant and determined. And for many like me — that we hold a bedrock faith that America has a role in God’s plan for a better future for mankind.
The days immediately after 9/11 were hard and emotional and trying. The day after the attacks, I accompanied President Bush to the Pentagon to thank the first responders. As we exited the freeway, I could see the hole in the building and the dense air, still filled with smoke. I walked along to encounter men and women who had worked for more than 24 hours with virtually no rest. They were exhausted but committed. To a person, they expressed gratitude that they could help. They gave me faith that we would be all right.
Arriving back at my apartment that evening, my clothes had a strange smell. “What is that?” I thought. It was the smell of smoke and the residue of soot from the Pentagon. It was for me a moment of profound sadness.
On Friday, in the president’s motorcade to Washington National Cathedral for the prayer service, it felt as if we were in a funeral procession. But then we turned up Massachusetts Avenue. Bells were tolling from churches along the way. The streets were lined with people of all shapes and sizes — all ages and colors. And one man stood out. He carried a handmade sign that said simply: “God Bless America. We will not be terrorized.”
Inside the cathedral, I sought comfort — for myself and for the nation. And then, at the very end, the Combined Armed Forces choir sang the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The original words of the Civil War hymn had been “As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.” Over the years, congregations, I guess hoping not to sound offensive, had changed the words to “As he died to make men holy, let us live to make men free.” Much to my surprise and gratitude, the choir sang the original words: “Let us die to make men free.” As the climactic “Amen, Amen” filled the church, I felt my own spirit renewed. Our country would always mourn the dead, but now we had to defiantly defend America. Those who perished would not have died in vain.
As I close, I want to say something deeply personal. Those of us in authority on that day did not see the danger coming in time to prevent the attack of 9/11. We did what we knew to do, but it was by definition not enough. I am grateful that there was not a follow-on attack. For that miracle, we owe a deep debt of gratitude to our armed forces and the intelligence community. Their service and sacrifice in the war on terror kept us safe. But I will always carry deep personal remorse for the pain that you, the families of the fallen, still feel — and for the trauma that our country endured.
And yet as I look back, I am also mindful of what our actions in response taught us about ourselves. I know too that we must use these moments of reflection to teach the lessons of that day to a generation of young people who were not even born at the time of the attack.
Let us always remember:
That those who thought the world could be ruled by hate and fear were wrong. Our country did not let that dark vision of humanity stand.
That vigilance is still required to protect and secure us.
That we are one people — drawn from different religious, ethnic and national origins — but that we have been forged into an extraordinary whole. We are American.
That we are called to protect each other and to care for one another.
That freedom is fragile and must be defended and won by each generation.
That we are a fortunate people who enjoy the blessings of liberty and must never take them for granted.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 5 that struggle is a privilege — that out of it comes perseverance and hope.
Sept. 11 tested us, but it did not break us. As we meet the many challenges ahead, may the memory of our response to that searing experience bring hope for our future as a country and as a people. May God bless you, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.
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