© 2024
NPR News, Colorado Stories
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
In commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, KUNC presents a day of special programming from NPR News, StoryCorps, The Sonic Memorial Project, and independent radio producers and reporters nationwide. All coverage will be collected in this archive.6:00 AM – 12:00 PM: NPR Special Coverage“To mark 10 years since the attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon on September 11, NPR will air coverage leading up to September 11 and on the day itself. The overarching theme of coverage is: How has America changed? NPR will air rigorous reporting on everything from national security to politics to our culture, and also reflecting on the human toll -- the impact of September 11th on people's lives and our country. Hosted by Audie Cornish”12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: StoryCorps: We Remember“An intimate look at lives forever changed by the attacks on 9/11. These are stories from families and friends who tell us about their loved ones and their loss: the father who recalls the last words he shared with his son, the recovery worker who discovers a new meaning for normal, the fireman's daughter who knew that her dad who perished in the line of duty wouldn't have wanted it any other way. On the 10th anniversary of the attacks, host Audie Cornish checks in with StoryCorps families to find out how they make their way today.”1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Our 9/11: Growing Up in The Aftermath“WNYC's Radio Rookies and PRX, in partnership with the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, looks at the 9/11 attacks through the eyes of young people who were just kids when the towers fell: a girl whose dad never returned from police duty, two families ripped apart by trauma, a Muslim girl who coped with the angry reaction to her faith, and a young man who has helped one community remember. Hosted by On the Media's Brooke Gladstone.”2:00 PM – 3:00: The Sonic Memorial Project“On the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, we re-visit The Sonic Memorial Project, which commemorates the life and history of the World Trade Center and the people who passed through its doors. A collaboration between The Kitchen Sisters Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, PRX, NPR, independent producers, and stations and listeners nationwide, the project was created with audio artifacts, rare recordings, and the input of thousands of people who called in with their personal stories.”3:00 PM: Bob Edwards Weekend Doyle McManus, Washington columnist for the Los Angeles Times joins Bob to talk about 9/11, then and now. Shortly after the terror attacks of September 11th, 2001 writer Joan Murray read her poem, “Survivors Found,” on NPR’s Morning Edition, the program Bob hosted at the time. Ten years later, she’s back to reflect on that poem, and how it helped people heal from the tragedy.4:00 PM: This American LifeTEN YEARS IN: In this show, we return to people who've been on This American Life in the last ten years, whose lives were drastically altered by 9/11, including Hyder Akbar, an Afghan-American teen who moved to Afghanistan after his father was tapped to become governor of Kunar province there; Marian Fontana, whose husband Dave was a fireman who died in the Twin Towers; and Lynn Simpson, who escaped from the 89th floor and made it out of the World Trade Center with about a minute to spare.6:00 PM: NPR Special CoverageNPR will offer live, anchored coverage of A Concert for Hope, which will be held at The Kennedy Center at 8pm ET. President Obama will speak during the concert, which will also feature performances by Patti Labelle, Alan Jackson and Denyce Graves.

With TSA, Are We Safer Or Sorry?

Transportation Security Administration screeners check passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta last month. The TSA was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Erik S. Lesser
/
AP
Transportation Security Administration screeners check passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta last month. The TSA was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

At the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, a small temporary exhibit marks Sept. 11, 2001. Along with artifacts found in the wreckage of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon — like a smashed firetruck door and twisted bits of fuselage — is a bin filled with every imaginable object people have tried to carry on airplanes.

"The quantity was overwhelming, from grenades — as a couple of people have noticed today — to firearms regularly," says Mike Boeshman, a screener from Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Conn., who was at the opening of the exhibit. "It's gotten better as we've been around for nine, 10 years."

The 2001 attacks resulted in far-reaching changes in the nation's aviation security. Just two months after the attacks, Congress established the Transportation Security Administration, eventually hiring some 50,000 airport screeners.

At the Smithsonian exhibit, TSA Administrator John Pistole recalled watching on TV as a plane flew into the second tower of the World Trade Center.

"The thought that came to mind almost immediately after that was — this changes everything," he says, "and in fact it did change everything for what we know as the American way of life, especially when it comes to travel."

Especially air travel. What before Sept. 11 had been a simple walk through a metal detector before boarding a flight has become an ordeal.

Yet after the government spent $40 billion to overhaul airport security, critics say the system still has holes.

In June a man traveled across the country on an expired boarding pass. On Christmas Day 2009, a man boarded a Detroit-bound flight with explosives in his underwear.

"Our conclusion is that despite 10 years of working on the problem, the detection system still falls short in critical ways," Lee Hamilton, co-chairman of the 9/11 Commission, said at a recent conference.

Rafi Ron agrees. Ron is a former head of security at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport and is now a consultant in the U.S.

"What we have been and are still doing at the checkpoints is not necessarily providing us the level of security that is needed," he says, "and there is more that needs to be done."

Ron says the key is not searching for dangerous items, but rather for dangerous people. He says the TSA needs to do more than physically screen passengers. It should use behavior analysis and interview those people it deems suspicious — similar to what security officials do in Israel. He says it does not mean racial profiling and would involve only 1 or 2 percent of passengers.

"If you look at a full 747 flight with 450 passengers, we're probably looking at five or six passengers that will have to be interviewed," he says.

The TSA has in fact deployed some 2,800 behavior detection officers to look for signs of trouble in airports around the country. Pistole says his agency is working on less intrusive screening for members of trusted groups, such as frequent fliers and veterans.

"We're working with the actual pilots in charge of aircraft on how we can do different intelligence-based screening for them," he says.

Homeland Security officials say that behavioral screening will eventually lead to an end to the requirement that passengers remove their shoes, though it's unclear when that day might arrive.

"I can't say except that I think you'll be able to leave your shoes on significantly earlier than you'll be able to take on a extra-large bottle of shampoo," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says.

At the TSA, change comes one step at a time.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

NPR News' Brian Naylor is a correspondent on the Washington Desk. In this role, he covers politics and federal agencies.