U.S. House of Representatives - September 10, 2007

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. — Madam Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of the tragic events that took place on September 11, 2001. On that crisp fall morning, we lost nearly 3,000 American lives in an event that shook this nation to its core, violently searing the depths of our consciousness.

Six years removed from that infamous day, we continue to mourn the victims, praise the first responders’ heroics and seek out our enemies who committed such heinous, inhuman acts. It is still hard to comprehend what could drive someone to take their own life in order to kill others.

What we do know is that the forces propelling the destruction and devastation of 9/11 were hatred, intolerance and fanaticism. Understanding what triggers this fervor of hate and how to mitigate its ascension is the key to ensuring our nation's long term security.

As we continue to move forward from 9/11, the importance of well equipped, highly trained first responders and a robust but constitutionally balanced intelligence gathering apparatus remains paramount to our homeland security. The immediate and heroic emergency response to the attacks on the Pentagon from Arlington County’s fire and police departments remind us that localities — not just the federal government — will play the integral role in any and all homeland security efforts. Further, sound intelligence and the regularity today with which law enforcement and agencies share intelligence across jurisdictional boundaries, which has proven difficult in the past, will lower the possibility of future attacks. Complacency is not an option, but the progress we’ve made in these areas in the past eight months has put us on the right track.

Madam Speaker, coming to terms with the realities of a post-9/11 world has been difficult for our nation. But to honor the lives of those lost and protect our current and future generations it is our responsibility to continue doing everything within our power — in line with our values as Americans — to ensure that a tragedy of this magnitude never occurs again.