---
title: "The September 11 Attacks"
year: 2001
country: "United States"
canonical: "https://recap.at/2001/september-11-attacks"
slug: "september-11-attacks"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "2001-09-11"
endDate: "2001-09-11"
---

# The September 11 Attacks

> Four hijacked planes, ninety-one minutes, and the day that ended the post-Cold-War decade

On the morning of September 11, 2001, nineteen hijackers seized four commercial jets in the northeastern United States, flew two into the World Trade Center towers in New York and one into the Pentagon, and crashed the fourth in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back. 2,977 people were killed. The decade that followed was reorganized around the response.

## Summary

At 08:46:40 EDT on September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 - a Boeing 767 that had departed Boston for Los Angeles - was flown into the 93rd through 99th floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Seventeen minutes later, at 09:03:02, United Airlines Flight 175 - also Boston-LAX - struck the South Tower between the 77th and 85th floors. The second impact was televised live; the world watched in real time as a terrorist attack escalated from accident to coordinated act.

Flights had been delayed, transponders disabled. Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker on Flight 11, had passed through Portland, Maine, that morning. The plan was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's, the operation was funded by al-Qaeda, the order was Osama bin Laden's. Nineteen hijackers - fifteen from Saudi Arabia, two from the UAE, one from Egypt, one from Lebanon - boarded four planes that morning. Two more crashed before noon. At 09:37:46, American Airlines Flight 77 hit the western face of the Pentagon. At 10:03:11, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers stormed the cockpit.

The South Tower collapsed first, at 09:58:59. Fifty-six minutes after impact, the structural steel had softened past its yield strength; the floors above the burning zone pancaked down. The North Tower fell at 10:28:22, 102 minutes after impact. Dust covered Lower Manhattan in a layer six inches thick. 2,977 people died on the day, not counting the 19 hijackers: 2,753 at the World Trade Center, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 on Flight 93. Approximately 3,000 children lost a parent. Over 6,000 were injured. First-responder cancer deaths and 9/11-related illness deaths have since exceeded the day-of toll.

U.S. airspace closed at 09:45. President George W. Bush, who had been reading to second-graders in Sarasota, Florida, was airlifted to a SAC base in Nebraska before returning to Washington that night. He addressed the nation at 20:30 EDT: 'These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed.' Three days later, Congress authorized the use of military force against those responsible - a 60-word resolution that would underwrite American military operations for the next 20+ years.

The response reshaped the decade. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, beginning what became the longest war in American history. The Patriot Act was signed October 26. The Department of Homeland Security was created in 2002. The Transportation Security Administration was created in 2001. The Guantanamo Bay detention facility opened in 2002. Iraq was invaded in 2003 on a pretext later acknowledged as wrong. Surveillance authorities expanded under FISA. Bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011 - 3,519 days after the attack. U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021. The wars cost approximately $8 trillion and roughly 940,000 lives (combined U.S. military, allied military, contractors, and civilians per the Costs of War project). The reorganization of American institutions around terrorism remains in place.

## Key facts

- **Date**: Tuesday, September 11, 2001
- **Hijackers**: 19 (15 Saudi, 2 UAE, 1 Egypt, 1 Lebanon)
- **Hijacked aircraft**: 4 (AA 11, UA 175, AA 77, UA 93)
- **First impact**: 08:46:40 EDT · WTC North
- **Second impact**: 09:03:02 EDT · WTC South
- **Pentagon impact**: 09:37:46 EDT
- **Flight 93 crash**: 10:03:11 EDT · Shanksville, PA
- **South Tower collapse**: 09:58:59 EDT · 56 min after impact
- **North Tower collapse**: 10:28:22 EDT · 102 min after impact
- **Killed**: 2,977 (excl. 19 hijackers)
- **Injured**: ≥6,000
- **Mastermind**: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (planner) · Osama bin Laden (ordered)

## Timeline

- **2001-09-11** - AA 11 hits the North Tower
  08:46:40 EDT. Boeing 767 from Boston, 92 aboard. Hits floors 93–99 of WTC 1 at ~440 mph. Captain John Ogonowski's stuck radio mic transmits Atta's announcement.
- **2001-09-11** - UA 175 hits the South Tower
  09:03:02 EDT. Boeing 767 from Boston, 65 aboard. Live on CNN. First time the world watches a terrorist act in progress on camera.
- **2001-09-11** - FAA grounds all civilian flights over the U.S.
  09:42 EDT. First nationwide ground stop in U.S. aviation history. ≈4,000 aircraft in the air; all are routed to the nearest airport. Many divert to Gander, Newfoundland.
- **2001-09-11** - AA 77 hits the Pentagon
  09:37:46 EDT. Boeing 757 from Dulles, 64 aboard. 125 killed in the building (the construction crew was in the renovated wedge).
- **2001-09-11** - UA 93 crashes in Shanksville
  10:03:11 EDT. Boeing 757 from Newark, 44 aboard. Cockpit voice recorder captures the passenger revolt. Target was likely the U.S. Capitol.
- **2001-09-11** - South Tower collapses
  09:58:59 EDT. 56 minutes after impact. Structural steel fails; floors pancake. Estimated 600 in the building above the impact zone.
- **2001-09-11** - North Tower collapses
  10:28:22 EDT. 102 minutes after impact. Survivors above the impact zone: 0. The dust cloud reaches Lower Manhattan rooftops.
- **2001-09-14** - Authorization for Use of Military Force
  Congress passes AUMF - 98-0 in the Senate, 420-1 in the House. Rep. Barbara Lee casts the lone no vote. The 60-word resolution still underwrites U.S. counterterrorism operations.
- **2001-10-07** - U.S. invades Afghanistan
  Operation Enduring Freedom begins. Air strikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets. Kabul falls November 13.
- **2001-10-26** - Patriot Act signed
  George W. Bush signs P.L. 107-56. Expands surveillance, search, and detention authorities. Becomes the legal scaffolding of two decades of counterterrorism.
- **2011-05-02** - Bin Laden killed in Abbottabad
  00:43 PKT. SEAL Team Six raid on a compound in Pakistan. 3,519 days after the attack.
- **2021-08-30** - Last U.S. troops leave Afghanistan
  23:59 EDT. Twenty years minus 38 days of war. The Taliban - driven from power within months of October 7, 2001 - is back in Kabul.

## Relationships

- **ended**: berlin-wall-fall - The unipolar moment that followed the fall of the Wall (1989–2001) - Pax Americana, the end-of-history thesis - was the world 9/11 ended. Bush's post-attack address explicitly framed it as the start of a new era.
- **caused by**: american-civil-war-begins - Timeline of "The September 11 Attacks" references "American Civil War" (2 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
- **caused by**: assassination-john-f-kennedy - Timeline of "The September 11 Attacks" references "Assassination of John F. Kennedy" (2 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
- **caused by**: gulf-war - Timeline of "The September 11 Attacks" references "Gulf War" (3 shared tokens incl. title anchor).

## Consequences

- **2001 - War in Afghanistan begins**: U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan starts October 7, 2001. Becomes the longest war in U.S. history; ends August 30, 2021 with the Taliban back in power.
- **2001 - USA PATRIOT Act signed**: Expands surveillance, search, and detention authorities. Becomes the legal scaffolding of two decades of counterterrorism.
- **2001 - TSA created; airport security reorganized**: Aviation and Transportation Security Act of November 19, 2001 federalizes airport screeners. Shoe removal, liquid limits, and body scanners follow.
- **2002 - Department of Homeland Security stood up**: Largest reorganization of the U.S. federal government since 1947 - 22 agencies merged. 240,000 employees by 2003.
- **2003 - Iraq invaded on a contested premise**: March 20, 2003. WMD claims that drove the war were later acknowledged as wrong. 4,431 U.S. military deaths; estimated 600,000+ Iraqi civilian deaths.
- **2011 - Bin Laden killed in Abbottabad**: May 2, 2011. SEAL Team Six raid on a compound in Pakistan, 3,519 days after the attack.
- **2021 - U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan; Taliban return**: Last U.S. military aircraft leaves Kabul August 30, 2021. The Afghan Republic falls within days. 20 years of war end approximately where they started.

## Then vs now

- **U.S. defense spending**: 2001: $314B (2001) → 2024: $842B (2024) - Roughly doubled in real terms across two decades.
- **TSA budget**: 2001: $0 (agency didn't exist) → 2024: $11.8B / 60,000 employees - TSA was created by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, Nov 19, 2001.
- **U.S. citizens killed by terrorism on U.S. soil per year (avg)**: 2000: ≈8 (1990s avg, excluding 9/11) → 2024: ≈15 (2010s avg, excluding the largest single events)
- **Cost of post-9/11 wars (Costs of War project, est.)**: 2001: $0 → 2023: ≈$8 trillion
- **U.S. troops in Afghanistan**: 2001: 0 (Oct 6, 2001) → 2021: 0 (Aug 31, 2021 - full withdrawal) - Peaked at 100,000 in 2010. The republic raised in 2004 fell within months of withdrawal.

## Media coverage

- **The New York Times** (2001-09-12): [U.S. ATTACKED - HIJACKED JETS DESTROY TWIN TOWERS AND HIT PENTAGON](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/us/us-attacked-hijacked-jets-destroy-twin-towers-and-hit-pentagon-in-day-of-terror.html)
  > Hijackers rammed jetliners into each of New York's World Trade Center towers yesterday, toppling both in a hellish storm of ash, glass, smoke and leaping victims, while a third jetliner crashed into the Pentagon in Virginia.
- **BBC News** (2001-09-11): [America under attack](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1537469.stm)
  > Hijacked airliners have crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington in apparently coordinated attacks that have stunned the United States and the world.
- **Le Monde** (2001-09-13): [Nous sommes tous Américains](https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2001/09/12/nous-sommes-tous-americains_201627_3232.html)
  > Le 11 septembre 2001 est une date qu'oubliera difficilement le siècle qui commence. Nous sommes tous Américains - comme dans les heures les plus graves de notre propre histoire.
- **Bild** (2001-09-12): [Der Angriff auf die freie Welt](https://www.bild.de/)
  > Tausende Tote, ein Land im Schock, die freie Welt erschüttert. Was am 11. September geschah, war ein Angriff nicht nur auf Amerika, sondern auf alles, was die westliche Demokratie ausmacht.
- **CNN** (2001-09-11): [America under attack - continuing live coverage](https://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/wtc.attack/)
  > CNN broke into regular programming at 08:49 EDT with footage of smoke from the North Tower. By 09:03 the second impact was on live air. The network aired commercial-free for 93 consecutive hours.

## Voices

- **Sarasota, FL - Emma E. Booker Elementary School** (official, shocked) - Andrew Card to George W. Bush, whispered (9:05 AM EDT)
  > America is under attack.
- **United 93, cockpit voice recorder** (consumer, predictive) - Todd Beamer, UA 93 passenger
  > Are you guys ready? Let's roll.
- **Rubble of WTC, Ground Zero** (official, predictive) - George W. Bush, U.S. President (Sept 14, 2001)
  > I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people - and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.
- **U.S. House floor, Sept 14 AUMF vote** (official, skeptical) - Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)
  > However difficult this vote may be, some of us must urge the use of restraint. Our country is in a state of mourning. Some of us must say, let's step back for a moment. Let's just pause, just for a minute, and think through the implications of our actions today.
- **Tora Bora, Afghanistan - al-Qaeda video, recovered Nov 2001** (expert, shocked) - Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda leader (recorded ~Nov 2001)
  > We calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy, who would be killed based on the position of the tower. We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors.
- **Lower Manhattan, near WTC site** (media, shocked) - David Bloom, NBC News
  > Oh my God - the tower has come down. The tower has come down. We are running.
- **Berlin, Bundestag - Sept 19 speech** (official, celebratory) - Gerhard Schröder, Chancellor of Germany
  > Diese Tat war eine Kriegserklärung gegen die zivilisierte Welt. Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland steht in dieser schwersten Stunde uneingeschränkt an der Seite der Vereinigten Staaten.
- **Manhattan apartment, eyewitness account** (consumer, shocked) - Bill Biggart, photojournalist (last call to his wife Wendy, ~10:15 AM)
  > I'm okay, I'm just going to be a little late.

## Impact

The September 11 attacks ended the 1990s unipolar moment. The American response - two wars, the Patriot Act, DHS, TSA, Guantanamo, expanded surveillance - reshaped the relationship between U.S. citizens, their government, and the rest of the world. The republic the U.S. tried to build in Afghanistan fell within weeks of the August 2021 withdrawal. The wars cost roughly $8 trillion and about 940,000 lives. The institutional reorganization remains in place.

## Sources

- [September 11 attacks - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks) - Wikipedia
- [Q10806 - September 11 attacks](https://web.archive.org/web/20260512133808/https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10806) - Wikidata
- [The 9/11 Commission Report (final report, July 2004)](https://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf) - 9/11 Commission
- [September 11 - Library of Congress collection](https://www.loc.gov/search/?q=september+11+2001) - Library of Congress
- [September 11 attacks - media files](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:September_11_attacks) - Wikimedia Commons
- [September 11 Television Archive - over 3,000 hours of TV news](https://archive.org/details/911) - Internet Archive
- [CNN.com homepage, September 11, 2001 (captured snapshot)](https://web.archive.org/web/20010911153937/http://www.cnn.com/) - Wayback Machine
- [Global event coverage stream - September 11, 2001](https://api.gdeltproject.org/api/v2/doc/doc?query=%22september+11%22&mode=ArtList&startdatetime=20010911000000&enddatetime=20010912235959) - GDELT
- [The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 - Lawrence Wright (2006)](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16809W/The_Looming_Tower) - Open Library
- [102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers - Jim Dwyer & Kevin Flynn (2005)](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2718946W/102_Minutes) - Open Library
- [HN discussion archive - 9/11 (Algolia historical search)](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=september%2011%202001&type=story) - Hacker News

---
Canonical: https://recap.at/2001/september-11-attacks