Testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Department of Justice

Delivered on December 6, 2001

"Your tactics only aid terrorists—for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve."

On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four U.S. airplanes en route from the East Coast to the West Coast. Two planes were forced to fly into the World Trade Center in New York City, each bringing one of the twin towers crashing to the ground. A third plane was intentionally flown into the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., killing nearly two hundred people inside the U.S. military headquarters building. The fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania, evidently forced down by its passengers and crew who, aware of the other hijackings, were determined to thwart the terrorists' plan.

The federal government immediately set about trying to find out who was behind the attacks....