By Barb McQuade 

Dear Listener,

The twentieth anniversary of the attacks of September 11 brought an abundance of retrospectives. Remembrance of innocent victims. Gratitude for selfless heroes. Reflections on America’s vigorous response to international terrorism in the years since that awful day. But when it comes to domestic terrorism, it’s still September 10. 

We have taken many steps in the past two decades to protect our country from attacks, some more consistent with our values than others, but we cannot be accused of failing to take seriously the threat from foreign terrorist organizations. We have changed the way we secure aviation, conduct surveillance, and share intelligence, to name just a few of the massive overhauls we have made. At times, some may argue, we may even have gone too far to avoid another devastating tragedy like the one that claimed almost 3,000 innocent lives on 9/11, but we have done so only because of our steadfast commitment to protecting American lives. Never again, we say. Always remember.