We come from different parties and have walked different paths, but we share something few Americans do: we have held the weight of this country’s security in our hands.
On Sept. 11, 2001, parties and titles didn’t matter. We were Americans, and that was enough.
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We have stood at the intersection of crisis and consequence. One of us leaned down in a second-grade classroom in Sarasota, Florida, and whispered four words into former President George Bush’s ear: “America is under attack.” While the room was quiet, the world was not. The other watched the news unfold at a meeting with members of Congress at what was another possible terrorist target: the U.S. Capitol. He was soon drawn back into the urgent work of rebuilding a safer nation, leading the CIA in the operation that brought the leader of Al Qaeda and mastermind of 9/11, Osama bin Laden, to justice.
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We remember everything about that day. And that’s exactly why we’re working together to ensure all Americans never forget.
Memorial Day is a time to honor those who gave everything in service to this country. Sept. 11 is part of that story. This fall marks the 25th observance of the attacks, and for the first time, we are approaching that milestone in a country where millions of young Americans have no living memory of that day at all.
Those who will mark this observance as adults were toddlers in 2001, or not yet born. Their understanding of that fateful day, what caused it, what it cost, and what it meant will come not from personal experience but from what they’re taught. And right now, what they’re being taught is not enough.
In 36 states, schools still have no requirement to teach about 9/11. A defining moment in our country’s history, a day that reshaped America, is optional coursework for so many students. That’s not a gap, that’s a complete failure.
The 9/11 Legacy Foundation exists to preserve the memory of Sept. 11, 2001, so it is never forgotten. In this pivotal year of remembrance, the Foundation is working toward a national awareness and education program aimed at ensuring every American, especially our young people, learns what happened on 9/11, why it mattered, what it cost, and what it demonstrated about our resilience, courage, and unity as one nation.
We joined the Foundation’s efforts because we know remembrance is not passive. It’s an active choice — a decision a society makes, or doesn’t. The generation that lived through 9/11 is aging. The first responders who ran toward the towers, the families who lost someone that morning, the service members who deployed in the years that followed, they deserve to know the country they sacrificed for hasn’t moved on. That kind of courage deserves more than our gratitude. It deserves our commitment to ensuring it’s never forgotten. This means educating all Americans, with an emphasis on those still in the classroom, about why those towers fell, what happened at the Pentagon, and what unfolded in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
We have watched and worked for this country at its worst and its best. What has always held America together is not any party or ideology. It’s a shared story. A collective memory of who we are, what we’ve endured, and what we refused to let break us.
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The 25th observance of Sept. 11 is not a milestone to simply mark on a calendar. It is a call to recommit: to the families who grieve, to the heroes who served, and to the young Americans who deserve to know the true strength of our nation and what we collectively lived through.
This Memorial Day, let’s all pledge to remember 9/11, so they never forget. That’s not just a phrase. It’s a promise. And it’s one we invite you to keep with us.
Leon Panetta served as the CIA director and Secretary of Defense under President Obama. He previously represented California in Congress for 16 years and served as White House Chief of Staff under President Clinton. Andy Card served as White House Chief of Staff under President George W. Bush and as Secretary of Transportation under President George H.W. Bush. Both are board members of the 9/11 Legacy Foundation.
