The U.S. Justice Department
released Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ remarks on the anniversary of 9/11:
On behalf of President Trump
I want to thank you all for your hard work and for your dedication to making
this country safer.
Today we mark the sixteenth
anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack ever committed on American soil.
We remember the nearly 3,000
lives that were lost. As a New Yorker, President Trump has never forgotten that
day and the friends he lost. And we recommit ourselves to preventing terrorists
from striking us again.
Like all of you, I remember
where I was on that Tuesday morning.
And like all of you, we
remember the sight of fellow Americans dying before our eyes, and the sound of
our loved ones’ frightened voices through the telephone.
And on this anniversary, here
at the Department of Justice, we also remember what is at stake in the work
that we do every day.
Many of you faced incredible
demands in responding to the new threat, to change completely from one kind of
work to another without failing in your basic duties. People worked incredible
hours. No one knew the extent of the terrorist network, what kind of attack
might come next or where the next attack may come.
There was no National
Security Division then. The Patriot Act was yet to be.
Chris Wray, now our new FBI
Director, was Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General and later criminal
chief. Soon he was meeting regularly with President Bush in the oval office.
Many of you were here during that time. The work was nonstop.
The Department of Justice was
at the center of much of country’s response. Many Americans had difficulty
adjusting to the new uncertainty.
But this Department fulfilled
its responsibility with brilliance, determination, effectiveness, and courage.
Few if any would have predicted that we would have gone 16 years without
another such attack.
Much has happened since. We
are better equipped, better prepared and organized, and have better laws. But
more can be done.
The first and most important
job of any government—is to protect the safety and the rights of its citizens.
The first civil right is to be alive.
If we fail at this task, then
every other government initiative loses importance. Everything depends upon
this: that we protect the American people from enemies and those who violate
the law.
That mission is especially
difficult because we are fighting those who target unarmed, unsuspecting,
innocent people going about their lives — watching a soccer game, dancing at a
nightclub, or commuting to work.
These enemies seek nothing
less than the end of our culture—of free speech, freedom of religion, and our
democratic republic.
They seek to impose their
speech codes, their religion, their theocracy. For these extremists, its more
than religion; its ideology. We have no choice but to defend against it. We
cannot yield. We will not yield.
There is a quote chiseled in
the stone of the Jefferson Memorial—right across the Potomac from the smoke
that billowed from the Pentagon that day. It is one I am reminded of often in
this job.
“For I have sworn upon the
altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of
man.” Such tyranny is what they seek. And that is what we will defeat.
The terrorist threat did not
begin on 9/11. But in the 16 years since those murders took place, terrorists
have been able to inflict other attacks upon us and our allies, from San Bernadino
to Orlando to Brussels.
Importantly, let us also
remember that 72 law enforcement officers made the ultimate sacrifice on
September 11th. When they left for work that morning, they knew what every
officer and every law enforcement family knows: that today might be their last.
They went to work anyway, because their community was depending upon
them—because their country was depending upon them. And they had a critical
quality—a sense of duty and patriotism.
And as they looked at the
burning buildings, they knew that they might not survive. They ran toward them
anyway. Not because it was easy, but because it was right. There is no greater
love than to lay down one’s life for another.
On 9/11, we saw so much evil,
but in our law enforcement and other first responders, we also saw so much
heroism.
Nineteen evil men targeted
innocent people for death, but hundreds of people of every faith, every race,
and every background worked together to save lives.
Today we remember their
service, and the importance of honoring our law enforcement officers. They
symbolize order, peace, and prosperity.
As we return to our work at
the Department, we keep before us the example of service and dedication they
set that day.
Since 9/11, the Department of
Justice has achieved a number of victories against the terrorist threat,
including convictions against more than 500 criminals for terrorism offenses.
The Department has filed
public charges for terrorism-related offenses against more than 145 foreign
fighters, homegrown extremists, and ISIS supporters in more than 40 districts.
And we are not letting up: the FBI currently has ongoing investigations in all
50 states.
In my time back at the
Department, nothing has impressed me more.
While the threats we face are
diverse and evolving, terrorist ideologies have one thing in common: their
disregard for the dignity of human life and they share an obsession with
forcing everyone into their twisted ideology. And the terrorists know they
can’t persuade people using reason, so they use coercion and intimidation. They
seek acquiescence and inaction.
But they will fail. We will
not be yield. We will never yield our freedom, our moral autonomy, or our
country.
I want to thank you for being
here and thank you for your service to this Department and to this country. And
a special thanks on this day to those of you who work on these issues. I do my
best every day to be worthy of your dedication.
The threats we face will
continue to evolve, but we will evolve too and our mission to keep our
communities safe will never change. Thank you for taking on this challenging
work.
God bless you all.
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