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/ CBS News

After almost six decades as a photographer, Richard Drew has learned a basic rule: "That you can be two hours early, but you can't be a 60th-of-a-second late. In other words, if you're not there when it happens, you can't take a picture of it."

Drew, who has worked for the Associated Press for the past 51 years, was there in time to capture Frank Sinatra escorting Jackie Onassis ... Muhammad Ali delivering a knockout punch ... and Ross Perot bursting into the 1992 presidential race in a way that so captured the pepper pot billionaire, it helped AP win the Pulitzer Prize.

But on September 11, 2001, when he made one of the most searing pictures of that day, he was not at the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m., or 9:03 a.m., when the planes hit the towers. He had been on assignment at a maternity fashion show in Midtown when his office called: "'A plane has hit the World Trade Center,' very calmly," he recalled.

He dove into the subway and emerged on the southern tip of Manhattan.

Correspondent John Dickerson asked, "When did you start making pictures?"

"The minute I came out of the subway," Drew replied.

"What's going through your mind when you're taking them?"

"It's all reflexive. You just do it. You just do your job."

"All of your senses are heightened - then, on the other hand, you have to basically shut something down in order to do your work?"

"You do," Drew said. "You have to just pretend that it's not there. You just do your thing."

Richard Drew has been "doing his thing" since age 19 when, growing up in a suburb of Los Angeles called Temple City, he bought a police scanner: "And I would listen to the police, and then I could, you know, go chase a car accident or a fire or something."

If he wasn't chasing breaking news, he learned to put himself near where news might break.

On June 5, 1968, he decided to see presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy speak at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. "The office didn't know I was there; I just assigned myself to go to this job," he said.

Drew went into the kitchen looking for a glass of water. Robert Kennedy was there, too. So was a gunman.

As the 42-year old junior senator lay on the ground, Drew climbed on a table, photographing the chaos. Kennedy's wife approached Drew and the other photographers.

"I also have a picture of Ethel going like this. You know, like, 'Don't, please, don't take pictures of that.' She was asking us, myself and the UPI photographer, not to photograph it."

Dickerson asked, "What did you think when Ethel said, 'Don't take the picture'?"

"Well, that was her choice, but not mine."

"What's your choice?"

"My job is to record history, and I record history every day."

"What happens if you mess with that rule?"

"You're not a journalist," Drew replied. "Then, you're just a person with a camera."

Dickerson asked, "What's the difference between a photograph and just a picture?"

"Whether you're gonna wanna look at it."

Or, in the case of his most famous photograph, whether you're going to want to look away.
Warning - Graphic image:

Dickerson asked, "When you made the 'Falling Man' picture, did you know that you had done something extraordinary?"

Drew said, "I didn't take the picture. The camera took the picture of the falling man. And when these people were falling, I would then put my finger on the trigger of the camera and I'd hold the camera up, and I'd photograph and follow them going down, and then the camera would open and close and take the pictures as they were going down. I have, I think, eight or nine frames of this gentleman falling, and the camera just happened to cycle in that time when he was completely vertical. I didn't see that picture really until I got back to the office and then started looking at my stuff on my laptop. I didn't see it."

"Were you scared when you were making pictures on the day you were at the World Trade Center?" Dickerson asked.

"Not really," he replied. "It's interesting that this camera's a filter for me. I didn't know that the building, the first building had collapsed because I was looking at it through a telephoto lens. And I'm only seeing a piece of whatever's going on."

Drew's image, which came to be known as the "Falling Man," appeared in a number of newspapers the next day. Many people found the lonesome vision too shocking.

One high-profile viewer was mesmerized by its deeply-human pull. Five years ago, Sir Elton John told "Sunday Morning" correspondent Anthony Mason that that he had to purchase the photograph for his personal collection. "It's not a shot that a lot of people probably would want to hang on their wall," John said.

Mason asked, "Why did you want it?"

"Because it's, again, it's just the most incre ... it's the most beautiful image of something so tragic. It's probably one of the most perfect photographs ever taken."

Twenty years after the attack, it captures, perhaps more than any other picture, the horror of that day.

Drew said, "It's still sort of that 'verboten' picture. I'll show it to somebody and they'll say, 'Oh, the "Falling Man" - Oh, no, I don't wanna see that.'"

"Why do you think they have that reaction?"

"Because they can identify with it. They can identify, I think, that that could be me."

"When you look at the pictures you made from that period today, what do you think?"

"I think that I would do it the same," he said. "I wouldn't change anything, 'cause, like I said before, it's my job to record history."

Dickerson said, "A picture stops a moment in time. It captures a moment in time."

"And, hopefully, I can stop a reader for that moment in time to catch their attention. And that's what it's really about."

"And is it about transporting them back to that moment?"

"It's to show them what happened in that moment in time, that they weren't there to see," Drew said. "I have that privilege that I can do that."

"And the reader can then come to their own conclusions?"

"They can come to their own conclusion about the 'Falling Man' also, and that's what that's about."

The identity of the falling man has never been determined, though journalists have found two possibilities. Their names, Jonathan Eric Briley and Norberto Hernandez, are only one name apart on the parapets of the 9/11 Memorial.

But Drew was able to help identify another victim on that day: "I can't remember how many actual people I photographed during it, but it wasn't just one or two people. A gentleman called the AP and said that he knew what his fiancée was wearing that day, and they had not recovered her body or anything. And he was wondering if he could look at my photographs at the AP. I actually sat with him on my laptop, and we looked at it, frame by frame, of the people falling from the building. And he saw it. Yeah, he said, 'Oh, that's her.' And that was it."

For a month after the attack, Drew photographed the aftermath: "And my cell phone rang. And it was my daughter. And she says, 'Dad, I just wanna tell you that I love you.' And to this day, she calls me on September 11th no matter where I am to say, 'Dad, I love you.' Because I might not have survived."

Twenty years of phone calls that, in an instant, conjure the searing emotions from that day ... just like Richard Drew's photographs.

For more info:
Story produced by Jay Kernis. Editor: Joseph Frandino. More

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Richard Drew on photographing the "Falling Man" on 9/11

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One of the Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist's most famous images is of a figure falling from the World Trade Center's Twin Towers during the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. He says that viewers identify with it because they think, "That could be me."

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We're a few days away from the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks. I wanted to use this edition of The Press Box to revisit two magazine stories about the attacks that have lodged themselves in my mind since I first read them.

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The Falling Man | Behind The Photo | 100 Photos | TIME

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9/11/01 Timeline: How the terror attacks unfolded on September 11, 2001

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Here’s how the 9/11 terror attacks unfolded on September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and on Flight 93 in Shanksville.

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September 11 Attack Timeline. On September 11, 2001, nineteen al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial U.S. jetliners, deliberately crashing two of the planes into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center and a third plane into the Pentagon.

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9/11 Timeline: Three Hours That Changed Everything

For Americans and people watching around the world, September 11, 2001, is a day that will never be forgotten.

Within three hours, New York's tallest buildings were reduced to rubble, and the Pentagon-the nerve center of the American armed forces-was burning and partially collapsed. Thousands of civilians had lost their lives and were seriously injured, and the entire country was in collective shock, still trying to make sense of how a coordinated act of terrorism of that magnitude was allowed to take place on American soil.

In the 20 years since 9/11, the events that occurred that morning have been analyzed in-depth from a thousand different angles. Even though the attacks took place in the era just before mobile phones had viable cameras, there are countless images and videos of the event. As well, we now have the 9/11 Commission Report, which compiles interviews from over 1,200 people in 10 countries, and draws upon two and a half million pages of documents to present its findings.

For many people younger than Generation X, 9/11 is a feeling-a grim milestone from their youth-but the details are likely more fuzzy. The timeline visualization above is a high-level record of what happened that morning during the three hours when everything changed.

A Chronology of Terror

In its most simple form, the 9/11 attacks can be described as a coordinated hijacking of four commercial airplanes, which were then used to fly into high profile targets in New York City and Washington, DC. Here is a summary of the planes involved in the incident:

These four flights play a central role in what unfolded that morning. In the early hours of September 11, 2001, a collection of 19 would-be hijackers made their way through security at airports in Boston, Newark, and Washington, DC.

Our three-hour timeline begins just before 8am, as the first plane involved in the attack leaves the tarmac just outside of Boston. (In situations where the exact time isn't known, a range is given.)

Sept 11, 2001, 7:59am - American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 carrying 81 passengers and 11 crew members, departs from Logan International Airport in Boston, bound for Los Angeles International Airport.

8:14 - United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767, carrying 56 passengers and 9 crew members, departs from Logan International Airport in Boston, bound for Los Angeles International Airport.

8:14 - Flight 11 is hijacked over central Massachusetts. There are five hijackers on board.

8:20 - American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 with 58 passengers and 6 crew members, departs from Washington Dulles International Airport, for Los Angeles International Airport.

8:42 - United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 with 37 passengers and 7 crew members, departs from Newark International Airport, bound for San Francisco International Airport.

8:42-8:46 - Flight 175 is hijacked above northwest New Jersey. There are five hijackers on board.

8:46 - Flight 11 crashes into the north face of the North Tower (1 WTC) of the World Trade Center, between floors 93 and 99. All 92 people on board are killed.

8:50-8:54 - Flight 77 is hijacked above southern Ohio. There are five hijackers on board.

9:03 - Flight 175 crashes into the south face of the South Tower (2 WTC) of the World Trade Center, between floors 77 and 85. All 65 people on board are killed.

9:28 - Flight 93 is hijacked above northern Ohio. There are four hijackers on board.

9:37 - Flight 77 crashes into the western side of The Pentagon. All 64 people on board are killed.

9:45 - United States airspace is shut down; all operating aircraft are ordered to land at the nearest airport.

9:59 - The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses, 56 minutes after the impact of Flight 175.

10:03 - Flight 93 is crashed by its hijackers in a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Later reports indicate that passengers had learned about the World Trade Center and Pentagon crashes and were resisting the hijackers. All 44 people on board are killed in the crash.

10:28 - The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses, 1 hour and 42 minutes after the impact of Flight 11. The Marriott Hotel at the base of the two towers is also destroyed.

10:50 - Five stories of the western side of the Pentagon collapse due to the fire.

Two and a half hours after the first plane left Boston, the iconic "Twin Towers" lay in ruins in Lower Manhattan, and brave first responders and military personnel were scrambling to save lives and secure the country.

Life in America was set on a new trajectory.

Information Shockwave

Two decades is a long time in the world of technology and media. Though the communication channels of that era may seem slow by today's standards, the September 11 terrorist attacks still took place in the age of 24-hour cable news coverage and nascent online reporting.

Add in the fact that New York was (and still is) a linchpin of global media, and it's easy to see why media coverage of the attack spread so quickly.

Within two minutes of the first impact on the World Trade Center, a nearby camera crew covering New York's mayoral primary election was already broadcasting a live feed of the burning building to a TV audience. Within three minutes, news of the attack hit the Associated Press newswire, and moments after that, most major networks cut away from scheduled programming to cover the story.

Less than 10 minutes after the impact, President Bush-who was attending an event at a Florida elementary school-was informed of the crash (which at that point was characterized as an accident).

Because media outlets were able to cover the incident so quickly, millions of people witnessed the second plane striking the South Tower in real-time a mere 17 minutes after the first impact. This was a defining moment as millions of people around the world experience the events precisely as they unfolded.

The still-young internet was strained that day. Moments after the impact of the North Tower, the CNN and MSNBC websites experienced a crushing load of traffic that overwhelmed servers. The FBI's website also experienced issues after posting the images of the 9/11 hijackers later that day.

Lasting Impact

The Pentagon has been repaired, and a shiny, 94-story World Trade Center now punctuates the skyline of Lower Manhattan, but not all wounds have healed.

For one, many 9/11 survivors are living with lingering health issues believed to be linked to the toxic smoke from the attack and building collapse. Many others are living with the absence of the nearly 3,000 loved-ones who died during the attacks.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is still a lasting legacy of the 9/11 attacks. When DHS began operations in 2003, it was the largest U.S. government reorganization in the 50 years since the Department of Defense was created. In addition to this largely "hidden" layer of security, people now encounter more vigorous security protocol at airports around the world.

As well, the recent withdrawal from Afghanistan was a reminder that long shadow of the attack is still influencing events today, even two decades later.

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9/11 Timeline: Three Hours That Changed Everything

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For Americans and people watching around the world, September 11, 2001, is a day that will never be forgotten. Within three hours, New York's tallest buildings were reduced to rubble, and the Pentagon-the nerve center of the American armed forces-was burning and partially collapsed.

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September 11, 2020

David Pan is currently assigned to the National Counterterrorism Center at the ODNI. Pan has over 37 years of federal service.

"I remember that day as clearly as yesterday."

It has been 19 years since the tragic attacks in New York, NY, Arlington, VA, and Shanksville, PA. Nearly 3,000 of our friends, family members, neighbors and colleagues never made it home that night.

For David Pan, a career intelligence officer who was inside the Pentagon on the fateful morning of September 11, 2001, these events changed his life forever. Pan was fortunate to make it out of the Pentagon alive; however, the emotional impact the day made on him is everlasting.

"To me, 9/11 was a life defining moment. The world will never be the same as the day before," said Pan, currently a contractor at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). "Our innocence at our home front was forever shattered. We look at the world and ourselves differently."

Pan has committed over 37 years of his life to protecting the national security of the United States of America, but the emotions that he felt on 9/11 created a new sense of what service means.

"I felt a very strong sense of national cohesion in the aftermath of 9/11. We rallied behind our president and were determined to find and punish those who perpetrated the attack on all of us," said Pan. "Nineteen years have passed, but I think we are still united in preventing another 9/11 on our soil."

The hijackers of the plane that hit the Pentagon flew the aircraft into the western façade of the Pentagon, the exact location of where Pan's office used to be.

On the day of the attacks, Pan and his colleagues were working on a global nuclear command and control exercise in the basement of the Pentagon.

To Pan, and many others, the day appeared no different than other late summer days in the D.C. area.
"Sept 11, 2001 started as a beautifully clear morning when I arrived at the Pentagon parking lot at 7:00 that morning. I remember watching a plane take off from the National Airport while walking inside. We had TVs in the room in the basement of the building, near corridor 8."
When they turned the TVs on that morning, nobody in the Pentagon basement thought they would witness the largest terrorist attack on American soil since the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
"I watched the events unfolding in New York City, with the report of the first plane crashing into the North Tower, and then the second going into the South Tower. It was then I knew that it was a terrorist attack."
With these attacks occurring just four hours north of the Pentagon, the question arose as to where the next attack or target would be.
"We kept working on our exercise after that, but I made a remark that the Pentagon police better tighten up security as we're probably next. A short time later, the officer working the exercise with us ran into our space and told us that a plane had hit the building and we needed to evacuate."
But many did not feel the urgency and seriousness of the attack right away.
"It was surreal, walking up the stairs with others with no sense of urgency that felt like a fire drill. It was only when we arrived at the exit we knew it was not normal. The security guards told us to keep moving, not to swipe our badges and exit the building to the parking lot."
As the masses made it outside, the attack became very real. Even from the other side of the world's largest office building, smoke and flames could be seen.
"I looked up and saw smoke coming over the building from the other side of the Pentagon where the plane had struck. I went to my car and turned on the radio. I could see the smoke from the other side by Route 27. After a while, I decided that it wasn't wise to stay there, as things were very confusing. I got on the road."
As thousands of Americans learned about the Pentagon attack on TV, they began to worry about their loved ones who were in the building that day. All they wanted to do was call and see if they were alive. Unfortunately, that was not an option.
"My wife didn't know what happened to me since all the cell phones lines were jammed and I couldn't get through."
Pan ultimately made it home safely to his wife and began to reflect on his morning. Each year, he remembers the events, the smells, and the chaos that ensued the Pentagon that morning.

On September 11, 2001, the United States suffered a loss that no one expected. What started as a normal day turned into an ongoing 19 year Global War on Terrorism. On behalf of the ODNI and the entire Intelligence Community, we mourn the lives lost on that day and salute the brave men and women who serve our nation to ensure another 9/11 does not happen on American soil.

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September 11, 2020 "I remember that day as clearly as yesterday." It has been 19 years since the tragic attacks in New York, NY, Arlington, VA, and Shanksville, PA. Nearly 3,000 of our friends, family members, neighbors and colleagues never made it home that night.

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In the year since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Stanford community has been affected in many different ways: emotionally, spiritually, logistically and financially, to name just a few. During that time, Stanford Report has covered the university's response to the attacks, campus incidents that included several bomb threats and anthrax hoaxes, and especially lectures and panels featuring faculty who are experts in such fields as terrorism and Middle East politics. Today, on the anniversary of the attacks, 14 members of the community from a wide variety of perspectives -- from President John Hennessy to an anonymous Iranian student -- speak about what the past year has taught them; how it has affected them, their offices and the university as a whole; and what it may mean for future years.

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In the year since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Stanford community has been affected in many different ways: emotionally, spiritually, logistically and financially, to name just a few.

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Voices of 9.11 is a unique collection of personal video testimonies recorded in 2002 and 2003. At a time when language to describe the experience was still being formed, we traveled from New York City, to Shanksville, PA, Washington DC and the Pentagon to record over 500 video narratives.

Voices of 9.11 was explicitly designed to give each individual control of their own story. Inside a private video booth participants started and stopped their own recording. Absolutely no restrictions were placed on what could or could not be said. Participants could speak for any length of time and in whatever language they felt most comfortable.

Voices of 9.11 was created by Ruth Sergel and a dedicated team at here is new york: a democracy of photographs. In 2011 many of the people who worked on the original project came together to bring the entire collection online and accessible to all. As each recording was posted, the original participant was offered the opportunity to add a written update and to receive a DVD of their testimony. We never edit or alter the testimonies. Instead we provide the viewer with search tools to locate the narratives they might find compelling.

Today Voices of 9.11 is jointly held by the New-York Historical Society and the September 11 Digital Archive which has initiated a long term plan to donate its entire collection to the Library of Congress for permanent preservation.

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Voices of 9.11 is a unique collection of personal video testimonies recorded in 2002 and 2003. At a time when language to describe the experience was still being formed, we traveled from New York City, to Shanksville, PA, Washington DC and the Pentagon to record over 500 video narratives.

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On September 11, 2001, members of the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda coordinated four attacks using hijacked commercial airliners in the United States.

Two iconic towers fell. The Pentagon sustained major damage. Nearly 3,000 victims lost their lives. Countless more suffered immediate injuries and long-term health issues that are still being felt to this day.

The 9/11 attacks changed America, and the world, forever.

Here's what it looked like on the ground, from the streets of New York to the Pentagon to a field outside of a Pennsylvania town, from the point of view of people who were there.

The first attack

The first tower was struck at 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001.

Five attackers, armed with box cutters, crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the north face of the north tower of the World Trade Center complex in lower Manhattan.

Minutes later, the south tower was hit by a second hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 175.

A fourth attack

The final hijacked plane, United Flight 93, took off from Newark International Airport.

Investigators believe the intended target was likely either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. But passengers, who learned of the other hijackings in cellphone calls to loved ones, attempted to rush the cockpit and retake control from the terrorists.

In this photo, emergency workers look at the crater created when that plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Bravery

Firefighters battle the flames at ground zero.

On the day of the attacks, 343 New York City firefighters died in the twin towers. At least 200 more have since died from illnesses related to their work at the site.

Also killed that day were 37 officers from the Port Authority Police Department and 23 members of the NYPD.

View at the Pentagon

Meanwhile, rescue operations were also underway at the Pentagon, where 184 people died.

The building itself would be fully repaired within the year.

Sickening smoke

An unidentified New York City firefighter walks away from ground zero after the collapse of the twin towers on September 11, 2001.

In the years following the attack, comedian and former "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart became a prominent advocate for better health care for the first responders. In 2019, Congress permanently extended the victims' compensation program.

Rescue efforts

Rescue workers sift through the wreckage of the World Trade Center on September 13, 2001.

Thousands of people showed up in the days following the attacks, eager to help with the rescue effort.

Several people, including first responders, were rescued from the rubble within a day of the attacks. But after that, no more survivors were found.

9/11 Memorial & Museum

A view of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City. Names of those who died are etched into the fountain.

First published on August 23, 2021 / 12:18 PM

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Photos of 9/11 and its aftermath to mark the 20-year anniversary

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On September 11, 2001, members of the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda coordinated four attacks using hijacked commercial airliners in the United States. Two iconic towers fell. The Pentagon sustained major damage. Nearly 3,000 victims lost their lives. Countless more suffered immediate injuries and long-term health issues that are still being felt to this day.

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The second tower of the World Trade Centre bursts into flames after being hit by a hijacked airplane in New York (Photo: Sara K Schwittek/Reuters)

Saturday 11 September will mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, which killed almost 3,000 people.

The attacks remain the deadliest terrorist incident in world history. They changed the US - and the world - forever.

The 20th anniversary comes as the Taliban regain control of Afghanistan, after the US withdrew its remaining troops.

Western forces have rushed to evacuate their citizens, as well as qualifying Afghans, from the country.

What happened during the attacks?

Al-Qaeda hijacked four planes on the morning of 11 September 2001, each with the aim of crashing into a prominent American landmark.

American Airlines flight 11 was the first to hit, striking the North Tower of the World Trade Centre in New York City at 8.46am local time. United Airlines flight 175 struck the South Tower 17 minutes later.

At 9.37am American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the side of the Pentagon in Washington, DC. The fourth flight, United Airlines 93, did not hit its intended target - believed to be the White House or the US Capitol - after passengers on the plane attempted to regain control from the attackers. It went down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

A total of 2,977 were killed in the attacks, along with the 19 hijackers. Of those, 246 were on the four planes, 2,606 were in the World Trade Centre and the surrounding area, and 125 were at the Pentagon.

Most deaths were civilians, but 344 firefighters, 71 law enforcement officers and 55 military personnel were also killed.

What happened after the attacks?
11 September 2001
President George Bush was in Florida at the time of the attacks, but by 7pm it was deemed safe for him to return to the White House.

Two hours later he gave a televised address from the Oval Office, telling the nation: "Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve."
7 October 2001
Operation Enduring Freedom, the US operation to remove the Taliban from Afghanistan, is launched, and with the help of a coalition of other countries including the UK, manages to remove the group from power in around two months.
25 November 2002
President Bush passes the creation of the Department of Homeland Security into law - a new US government department responsible for preventing terror attacks, as well as border security and immigration issues.
27 November 2002
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States is formed to investigate the events of 11 September 2001.
22 July 2004
The report is published, naming Khalid Sheikh Mohammed the "principal architect of the 9/11 attacks".

He remains imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay detention camp. His trial was due to take place earlier this year, but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
2 May 2011
Osama bin Laden, the brains behind the 9/11 attacks, is found and killed by US forces in Pakistan.
28 December 2014
Nato formally ends combat operations in Afghanistan and officially transfers full security responsibility to the Afghan government. Nato launches Operation Resolute Support to back up the Afghan government's continued fight against the Taliban, which has regrouped and is mounting an insurgency.
29 February 2020
The US and the Taliban sign a peace deal in Doha, Qatar, which requires US troops to withdraw from Afghanistan within 14 months as long as the Taliban does not to allow terror groups to use Afghan terriroty to "threaten the security of the United States and its allies". Over the next 18 months, the remaining US troops are pulled out of the country.
15 August 2021
The Taliban retake Kabul and declare victory.
30 August 2021
The last American military plane departs Afghanistan, ending 20 years of western military presence in the country, amid coondemnation from many quarters over the entire operation.

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The timeline of events after 9/11, and why the US invaded Afghanistan

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Saturday 11 September will mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, which killed almost 3,000 people. The attacks remain the deadliest terrorist incident in world history. They changed the US - and the world - forever. The 20th anniversary comes as the Taliban regain control of Afghanistan, after the US withdrew its remaining troops.

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(CNN) - When this century began, you could pull up to the airport 20 minutes before a domestic flight in the United States and stroll straight over to your gate. Perhaps your partner would come through security to wave you goodbye. You might not have a photo ID in your carry-on, but you could have blades and liquids.

Back in 2001, Sean O'Keefe, now a professor at Syracuse University and former chair of aerospace and defense company Airbus, was deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget in the George W. Bush administration.

"At the White House, I was a member of the National Council Security team," he told CNN Travel. He and his colleagues had been briefed on the al Qaeda terrorist group and understood the threat it posed, "but at the same time our imaginations simply did not give us the capacity to think that something like [9/11] could happen."

It had been nearly 30 years since Palestinian terrorist attacks at Rome airport in 1973, which killed 34 people and demonstrated that air travel was vulnerable to international terrorism. "That seemed to have changed the whole security structure in Europe and in the Middle East in a way that didn't really penetrate the American psyche," O'Keefe said. "It's this typical American mindset; we have to experience it to believe it."

Then on the morning of September 11, 2001, a team of 19 hijackers was able to board four different domestic flights in the northeastern US in a series of coordinated terror attacks that would claim 3,000 lives. Flying in America, and the rest of the world, would never be the same again.

O'Keefe was in the White House's West Wing with Vice President Dick Cheney when the news came through. They "had the television on, matter of fact it was CNN," he recalled. "The phone rang. His receptionist was on the hotline to tell him to (turn the sound up); something just happened in New York City."

Like millions of people around the world watching the same scenes live after the first plane hit the World Trade Center's North Tower, O'Keefe and his companions assumed they were witnessing a terrible accident, a matter for the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation.

But when the second plane hit the South Tower 17 minutes later, O'Keefe said, "That was the moment where it was really evidence that this was something more than an accident, this was a premeditated effort. The security guards, the Secret Service, all mobilized."

The events of that morning in the US changed the nation "automatically, immediately, into one obsessed, in big ways and small, with protecting its security," wrote historian James Mann in 2018. "The way that 325 million Americans go through airports today started on September 12 and has never gone back to what it was on September 10."

The US government immediately began work on the security manifesto that by November 19, 2001, would be passed into law as the Aviation and Transportation Security Act.

"The fact that they had orchestrated that strike with three different flights in three different places" made clear how vulnerable the US was, O'Keefe said. "That was a real slap in the face. It reminded us how naive we had been."

Getting agreement from Congress on security changes was fast and unanimous, he recalled. We needed "to make the resources available right away, to reinforce all those doors and cockpits (and) actually establish security perimeters."

In airports and on airlines, meanwhile, tougher security measures were introduced as soon as civilian air travel resumed on September 14. The National Guard provided armed military personnel at airports, and travelers faced long lines as the new systems got their start.

Those early post-9/11 passengers -- people who hadn't canceled or rescheduled their trips -- were, O'Keefe said, largely accepting of the new high-security regime, with its disruptions and delays. "We all had an epiphany on the same day."

Some of the 9/11 hijackers had been able to board flights without proper identification. After the attacks, all passengers age 18 and overwould need a valid government-issued identification in order to fly, even on domestic flights. Airports could check the ID of passengers or staff at any time to confirm that it matched the details on their boarding pass.

Before the events, the US federal government had a small list of people deemed a threat risk to air travel. However, what we know today as the No Fly List -- a subset of the Terrorist Screening Database denoting people who are barred from boarding commercial aircraft for travel into, out of and inside the US -- was developed in response to 9/11.

Around the world, countries became more stringent with identity checks, security screening and their own versions of the No Fly List. In 2002, the European Union introduced a regulation demanding airlines confirm the passenger boarding the aircraft is the same person who checked in their luggage, which meant checking ID both at luggage check-in and when boarding. Later in the decade, fingerprint IDs and retina and iris scanning was introduced in some countries.

Airport screening in the US used to be piecemeal, undertaken by private security companies appointed by airlines or airports.

As part of the new security act, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was introduced in November 2001. Now an agency of the US Department of Homeland Security, which was formed a year later, the TSA took over all the security functions of the FAA and US airlines and airports.

Looking back 20 years later, O'Keefe reflected that it was "an enormous challenge in that immediate time afterward to mobilize a whole new cadre of security forces, thousands of trained professionals to do this."

"It was not without its flaws," he added. "Recruiting issues and right training and all the things that were necessary: We went through plenty of fits and starts to make that happen."

The fact that America's "allies and friends and partners" around the world "had already been through this," was a huge benefit, he said. "We were able to learn from them, how they did it and what they did."

Before long, with the new streamlined enforcement by the TSA, potential weapons like blades, scissors and knitting needles were no longer allowed on board, and airport workers were better trained to detect weapons or explosives.

By the end of 2002, the TSA met a key mandate of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act by deploying explosives detection systems nationwide. In the following years, other terrorists attacks would further change what we could and could not bring on board planes.

In August 2006, a foiled plot to detonate liquid explosives on multiple transatlantic flights led to today's restrictions on liquids, gels and aerosols in carry-on luggage. That same month, the TSA began requiring passengers to remove their shoes to screen for explosives -- five years after the "shoe bomber" incident of 2001 -- and the agency also deployedfederal air marshals overseas.

Metal detectors were standard at airports before 9/11, but by March 2010 -- a few months after the "underwear bomber" was apprehended on a Christmas Day flight after a botched midair attack using a device hidden beneath his clothing -- full body scanners were starting to be installed at US airports, and about 500 were in action by the end of that year.

By July 2017, in response to increased terrorist interest in hiding improvised explosive devices inside commercial electronics and other carry-on items, the TSA began requiring travelers to place all personal electronics larger than a cell phone in bins for X-ray screening. By the following February, f acial recognition technology was also being piloted.

"It used to be (that getting) into a cockpit on an American aircraft that was flying in American airspace was as easy as the doors you use to get into the (toilet)," O'Keefe recalled.

Bulletproof and locked cockpits became standard on commercial passenger aircraft within two years of 9/11.

The Arming Pilots Against Terrorism Act was signed into law in November 2002, and by the following April, the first weapon-carrying pilots were on board US commercial flights.

While aviation fans and children could once hope to get a visit to the flight deck, that dream swiftly came to an end.

Private jet pilot and social media star Raymon Cohen told CNN Travel in July that he believes the unprecedented inaccessibility added to flying's mystique.

"People are not welcome in the cockpit anymore, so it's like a big secret," Cohen said. "Now this (following pilots on Instagram) is one of the only ways people can see what's happening."

The immediate impact of 9/11 included a big drop in travel demand. Not only had passenger confidence taken a hit, but the additional security meant the flying experience was no longer fast and hassle-free.

In 2006, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated that airline revenues from domestic US flights fell by $10 billion a year between 2001 and 2006. For comparison, the net losses globally due to the Covid pandemic in 2020 were $126.4 billion in total, according to the IATA.

In a study from 2005 on the impact of 9/11 on road fatalities, Cornell University's Garrick Blalock, Vrinda Kadiyali and Daniel H. Simon found an increase in travelers choosing to drive rather than fly. The unintended consequence of this was that "driving fatalities increased significantly following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001." They estimated that a total of 1,200 additional driving deaths in the past five years were attributable to the effect of 9/11.

Speaking to CNN ahead of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Kadiyali said, "There's been the fall of Kabul and and all these recent events in Afghanistan (...) It did cross my mind whether people would start getting nervous about flying again."

Delays, long lines and confusion over restrictions are also all back on the agenda in the pandemic era.

As to whether something like 9/11 could happen again, O'Keefe reflected upon the fact that the greatest achievements of Homeland Security, and of security services around the world, can never be shared with the general public.

"In the process of educating the public, what you also do is educate the terrorists," so we will never know of all the near-misses, he said. "You almost get into a false sense of security."

That September morning in 2001 "flipped the switch right away from almost non-existent security to unbelievable, in-your-face, all the time."

However, two decades later, there have been no aviation-based terrorist attacks anywhere near the scale of 9/11. Said O'Keefe, "These security measures have worked."

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(CNN) - When this century began, you could pull up to the airport 20 minutes before a domestic flight in the United States and stroll straight over to your gate. Perhaps your partner would come through security to wave you goodbye. You might not have a photo ID in your carry-on, but you could have blades and liquids.

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As much of the nation was just starting the day on the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists hijacked four East Coast flights, crashing three of the airplanes into targets in New York and Washington, D.C., with the fourth plane slamming into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back.

In the end, 2,977 people died, making it the deadliest attack on U.S. soil in history.

The al Qaeda-led attacks prompted President George W. Bush to announce a global "War on Terror" military campaign, in which he called on world leaders to join the U.S. in its response.

"Every nation in every region now has a decision to make," he said in a national address. "Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists."

Below is a timeline of notable events.

America Responds to 9/11

* Sept. 11, 2001: Terrorists hijack four U.S. planes, crashing two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, while a third hits the U.S. Pentagon minutes later. The fourth plane, targeted to hit the White House, crashes in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attacked the terrorists. The death toll, not including the `9 hijackers, was 2,977.

* Sept. 12, 2001: Bush addresses the nation, announcing war and stating: "The United States of America will use all our resources to conquer this enemy. We will rally the world. We will be patient. We'll be focused, and we will be steadfast in our determination. This battle will take time and resolve, but make no mistake about it, we will win."

* Sept. 20, 2001: In a speech addressing Congress and the nation, Bush announces the War on Terror, saying, "Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."

* Sept. 25, 2001: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announces the anti-terror campaign as "Operation Enduring Freedom," which he says will take years to fight. The following day, Saudi Arabia ends diplomatic ties with Afghanistan's Taliban government.

War in Afghanistan Begins

* Oct. 7, 2001: Airstrikes by the United States and Great Britain are launched in Afghanistan at Taliban and al Qaeda training camps and targets. "What America is tasting now is only a copy of what we have tasted," al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden says in a video statement released the same day. "Our Islamic nation has been tasting the same for more than 80 years of humiliation and disgrace, its sons killed, and their blood spilled, its sanctities desecrated."

* Oct. 19-20, 2001: The ground war begins, with special forces striking in Kandahar. In the coming weeks, Britain, Turkey, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, France and Poland all announce they will deploy troops to Afghanistan.

* Nov. 9, 2001: The Afghan Northern Alliance captures Mazar-e-Sharif, a Taliban stronghold.

* Nov. 13, 2001: Kabul falls following airstrikes and ground attacks by the United States and Afghan Northern Alliance.

* Dec. 6-17, 2001: The Battle of Tora Bora rages in a cave complex in Eastern Afghanistan's White Mountains. U.S.-led coalition forces attempt to capture al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but he escapes.

* Dec. 7, 2001: Kandahar, the last major stronghold of the Taliban, falls.

* Feb. 21, 2002: A video confirms the execution-style death of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a self-described mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

* June 13, 2002: Hamid Karzai, a favored candidate of the U.S., is elected by a traditional Afghan Loya Jirga council to a two-year term as Afghanistan's transitional head of state. In 2004, he becomes Afghanistan's first democratically elected president.

Iraq War Begins

* March 19, 2003: U.S. and coalition forces invade Iraq following intelligence that the country and its dictator, Saddam Hussein, possessed or were developing weapons of mass destruction.

* May 1, 2003: Bush delivers a speech aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln proclaiming, " Mission Accomplished," saying that major combat efforts for the war in Iraq will end. "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11th, 2001 and still goes on," he says.

* Aug. 19, 2003: Twenty-three people, including a top United Nations official, are killed and 100 wounded after a suicide bomber drives a truck into UN headquarters in Baghdad.

* Dec 13, 2003: Saddam Hussein is captured by U.S. soldiers in ad-Dawr, Iraq.

* March 11, 2004: A coordinated bombing of four commuter trains in Madrid kills 191 people and injures more than 2000. Islamic militants, based in Spain but inspired by al Qaeda, are later considered the prime suspects.

* July 7, 2005: Terrorist bombings on the London Underground and atop a double-decker bus kill 52 people and injure more than 700. Documents recovered in 2012 will reveal the attacks were planned by a British citizen working for al Qaeda.

Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden Killed

* Dec. 30, 2006: After being sentenced to death by hanging for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Saddam Hussein is executed in Baghdad.

* June 30, 2009: Sgt. Bowe R. Bergdahl walks away from his post in Afghanistan and is kidnapped by the Taliban. Released in 2014, he is later dishonorably discharged.

* Aug. 30, 2010: In an Oval Office address, President Barack Obama declares an end to U.S. combat operations in Iraq.

* May 2, 2011: Osama bin Laden is killed by U.S. special operations forces during a raid at an Abbottabad, Pakistan compound.

* June 22, 2011: In a televised address, Obama announces a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and a hand-over of power to Afghani security by 2014.

* August 2011: Thirty-eight service members are killed when the helicopter they are aboard comes under fire. This month becomes the deadliest ever for U.S. forces in Afghanistan with 66 fatalities.

* Dec. 28, 2014: The War in Afghanistan officially ends, though Obama states 10,800 U.S. troops will remain.

* Jan. 28, 2019: The U.S. and Taliban leaders work toward an agreement for the withdrawal of the 14,000 U.S. troops who remain in Afghanistan.

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The War on Terror - Timeline & Facts | HISTORY

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In the wake of the attacks of 9/11, President George W. Bush called for a global 'War on Terror,' launching an ongoing effort to stop terrorists before they act.