On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four commercial jets and carried out the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history. One plane struck each of the Twin Towers in New York City, causing the towers and World Trade Center Building 7 to collapse.
Another plane crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside of the nation’s capital. The fourth plane, widely believed to be bound for a target in Washington, D.C., crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania when passengers were able to overtake the hijackers.
Together, the attacks on Sept. 11 caused the deaths of 2,977 people, excluding the hijackers. Thousands more were sickened or died later from health impacts traced back to the attacks and their aftermath. The World Trade Center Health Program within the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that the health effects could extend to an estimated 400,000 people, who “were exposed to toxic contaminants, risk of physical injury, and physically and emotionally stressful conditions in the days, weeks, and months following the attacks.”
The terror and uncertainty of that day continued in the days, weeks, months, and years that followed. Within just a couple of weeks of the 9/11 terror attacks, letters containing anthrax spores began arriving by mail to media organizations and congressional offices, ultimately killing five people and sickening 17 others. On October 7, 2001, the United States led a coalition to begin airstrikes on Afghanistan as part of what then-President George W. Bush referred to as the “War on Terror.”
The attacks deeply affected people, families, and communities.
Beyond the immediate loss of life, it was very clear that 9/11 had fundamentally transformed the United States and the world. That transformation included changes to safety and security protocols in the United States, particularly around flying. The attacks also contributed to changes that may not be as obvious.
As the country reflects on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, we connected with several faculty members at University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) who have unique personal and professional perspectives to share about the long-term impacts of the attacks.
Meet the Faculty Members
Bruce deGrazia, JD, is a collegiate professor at UMGC who teaches cybersecurity management and policy. Previously, he served in a variety of leadership positions, including as Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Environmental Quality during the Clinton Administration and as Deputy General Counsel for Versar, Inc. He also served in the U.S. Navy as an officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He currently serves as senior vice president of the National Capital Region Chapter of ISC2. He has a bachelor’s degree in history, a bachelor’s degree in divinity, a master’s degree in archeology, a master’s degree in cybersecurity technology, and a law degree.
Richard Ehrlich, JD, is an adjunct professor at UMGC who teaches criminal justice. Earlier in his career, he served approximately six years in the U.S. Army in Second Ranger Battalion and then as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician. He joined the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., in May 2000. During his 25-year career with the Metropolitan Police Department, he served as a patrol officer and patrol sergeant, detective, and police academy instructor and spent his final years as an internal affairs agent investigating serious uses of force as well as allegations of misconduct, before retiring in 2025. He has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Joshua Gray, PhD, is an adjunct professor at UMGC who teaches biotechnology. He is also a civilian professor at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and currently serves as the department head of chemical and environmental sciences there. Gray has a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology and a PhD in pathobiology from Pennsylvania State University. He also began postdoctoral training at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, which is now at Rutgers University. At UMDNJ, Gray worked on research funded by the National Institutes of Health in the wake of the anthrax attacks that followed 9/11.
Chuck Hamby is an adjunct associate professor who teaches criminal justice at UMGC. He served as a police officer for the Prince George’s County Police Department for more than 20 years and held titles including detective, lieutenant, captain, major, and homeland security division commander. During his law enforcement career, he was also deputized by the Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, D.C. as a Task Force Officer/Investigator. He has certifications in All Hazards Incident Management—Unified Command from Texas A&M University, Emergency Operations Center Management and Operations from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Weapons of Mass Destruction Operations from Louisiana State University. Hamby has a master’s degree in management, a graduate certificate in homeland security management, and a bachelor’s in social science from UMGC.
Donell Harvin, DrPH, MPH, MPA, is the portfolio director for homeland security, emergency management, and intelligence at UMGC. He is a homeland security and weapons of mass destruction expert who provides analysis for MSNBC/NBC News and CNN. He also serves as a visiting scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, where he oversees the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s (HHI) Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) preparedness program. He has been a subject matter expert for the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, the INTERPOL Counterterrorism/CBRNE Directorate, and RAND Corporation’s Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center. He has more than 30 years of experience in both operational and executive roles in emergency planning and response, homeland security, and domestic intelligence. On 9/11, he was a paramedic for the FDNY and responded to the towers before they collapsed.
What do you remember from 9/11?
deGrazia: I was working for a defense contractor after having recently finished a term in the Defense Department as a political appointee. When I heard the news of the first attack, I initially thought that there had been an air traffic control mishap. I knew that the system was antiquated. When the second plane hit the Twin Towers and subsequently a third crashed into the Pentagon, where I had spent the previous four years, it became clear that the U.S. was facing an enemy attack. I was also a Navy veteran, and I wondered whether I would be recalled to active duty, even though I had left the service almost 10 years previously.
Ehrlich: I was a patrol officer assigned to the Third District in Washington, D.C. Following an enforcement the prior night, I had 20 or so arrestees to present to the prosecutor for their review. I was sitting in the Fraternal Order of Police restaurant eating my breakfast when the first plane hit the Twin Towers. Not too long after that, I heard and felt the impact of the plane hitting the Pentagon, which was less than three miles away. I spent the rest of the day guarding our Operations Center and ended up returning to work just a few hours after I got home. That night, we drove to the Pentagon and saw firsthand from a distance the damage done to the building and the massive response. We then spent the next few weeks providing extra security around the Vice President’s home at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Gray: I was in graduate school at the time, and I remember having CNN on at home that day when the first plane struck the tower. It wasn't until a few hours later that we all realized the significance of the event, especially when the second plane struck the other tower and they eventually fell.
Hamby: I was an undercover narcotics detective with the Prince George’s County Police Department in Maryland at the time. I had gotten home from work late the night before, so I woke up alone at home. My wife had taken our two children to daycare and elementary school. I turned on the television and saw live information regarding hijacked aircraft, which I assumed was a fictitious program. I changed channels and discovered it was live coverage of the attacks. Prince George’s County includes the University of Maryland, College Park, campus; Andrews Air Force Base; and the Goddard Space Flight Center-NASA. It also directly borders Washington, D.C. All narcotics detectives were immediately placed on duty and assigned undercover positions on major roadways and adjacent to critical infrastructure. We conducted active surveillance at these locations and maintained communication with uniformed officers for immediate response.
Harvin: For me, this is a hard one. It was a beautiful day. I was a member of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), and I was the lead instructor for the FDNY Cadet/EMT program at John Jay College in New York City. I was in Manhattan heading to the college to teach when I received word that a plane had hit the towers. I arrived on scene and was about three blocks north of the North Tower when I heard the loudest sound I have ever heard in my life. We all instinctively ran, but there was no way to outrun the mountain of dust and chaos that descended on us.
Thus began a nearly three-day ordeal for me and many of my friends (coworkers) working at what was immediately turned into the massive rubble mound known as Ground Zero. I’d rather not detail the sights and sounds of that day. What I do want to remember is the herculean efforts and heroism that I witnessed firsthand and my fellow first responders, who saved one another and the public. It also comforts me to recall how there was an American flag on every home, building, and car. I would watch the news and see massive American flags flying over the capitals of foreign countries and school children who had never stepped foot in the United States waving our flag. For that one brief moment in history, the free world was united in a way that humanity had never been before.
How did 9/11 change your industry in the short-term?
Ehrlich: In the short term, there was mass confusion. Leadership at all levels of government had discounted the possibility of an attack like this succeeding and, as a direct result, the response of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department was somewhat unfocused. Would there be an attempt to strike Washington, D.C., directly? Would it be a bombing, or an attack on the infrastructure such as the water supply, or even a direct attack on the President and other government leaders? The simple fact is that no one knew what was next, so the Department scrambled to do the best it could to try to protect the city.
Harvin: It literally changed everything. Overnight. I was a young New York City first responder at the time, and I don't think people entering these professions today can fully appreciate just how unprepared we were for an attack of that scale. We had emergency plans, but many of them were built around traditional disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.) and smaller, more localized incidents. We weren't thinking in terms of coordinated attacks involving commercial aircraft, the collapse of major infrastructure, mass casualties, and the possibility of additional follow-on attacks.
The most immediate change was the breakdown of traditional organizational and sector-based silos. Public health, emergency management, intelligence, law enforcement, fire, and EMS all had to learn how to work together in ways they hadn't before. Information sharing became the rule rather than the exception.
There was also an entirely new sense of urgency. We (the homeland security and emergency management enterprise) felt like “the clock was ticking” in terms of the next attack. So, agencies that had historically focused on response suddenly had to think about prevention, intelligence, threat analysis, and preparedness at the same time. The pace of change was extraordinary, as was the amount of funding made available.
Hamby: The biggest immediate change to law enforcement and investigations was significant and focused on interagency coordination, cooperation, information sharing, investigations, and enforcement. At the time of the attacks, the Prince George’s County Police Department routinely assumed the primary role in the county, but dozens of other law enforcement agencies operated in the area, including federal and state agencies. Multi-agency efforts required the deputization of staff. As a narcotics detective, I had already been deputized by the FBI and DEA, so it was not “new” to me; however, for many in law enforcement this was a new and very necessary change. This multi-agency, collective effort focus remains a significant part of investigative and enforcement efforts in the National Capital Region to date.
Gray: One short-term effect was that new federal funding became available to help universities contribute to the development of therapies for chemical and biological agents. This funding helped me complete my postdoctoral training conducting research focused on the development of medical countermeasures (drugs, vaccines, and biologics) for the treatment of civilians exposed to the chemical weapon mustard gas.
deGrazia: In the cybersecurity field, not much changed right away. Cell phones had not yet become smartphones, and many communications were still analog, not digital. I was one of the first in my office to figure out how to send password protected documents over the Internet, which in those days could take up to an hour to transmit. I had one of the first personal digital assistants (PDAs), a Palm V, which I carried with me constantly. I used dialup connections to download emails. With the country on a war footing, communications and the security of those communications, became increasingly important. There had been instances of government communications being intercepted by a simple scanning device. The password-protected documents that I sent by email in 1995 could be easily decrypted and as a result encryption methods needed to be improved. Cybersecurity—although it was not called that then—became something people needed to think about.
What new roles or fields emerged over the past 25 years?
Gray: The Department of Homeland Security emerged from 9/11, as did countless new careers focused on biosecurity and biodefense inside and outside of government. Programs like BioWatch monitor the air in cities to look for fragments of DNA from potential bioterrorism agents. The discipline of emergency management has been altered to integrate biodefense capabilities.
deGrazia: The field of cybersecurity management and policy emerged. Previously, cybersecurity had been a technical field and the province of IT specialists and computer engineers. There were very few full-time cybersecurity jobs at that time; computer security was a secondary duty. As more people began to use computers, smartphones and other computing devices, and wi-fi became ubiquitous, it became apparent to management that policies needed to be established to protect data and communications. It also turned out that technical people were not always the most appropriate individuals to write and promulgate these policies. Lawyers were needed to navigate the laws and regulations that were being developed. Risk management specialists who had a background in cyber were increasingly sought after. Subspecialties began to emerge: my own area of aviation cybersecurity became an important field. And, of course, someone needed to teach these subjects, so universities, with UMGC as a pioneer, established cybersecurity programs.
Hamby: Many multi-agency units have emerged. The numerous drug enforcement units that operate in the H.I.D.T.A. program (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas), FBI Safe Streets Task Forces, Drug Enforcement Administration State, and Local Task Forces and many more were either initiated after the 9/11 attacks or their multi-agency cooperative efforts increased considerably as a result of those attacks. The development and activation of the Prince George’s County Police Department Homeland Security Division, which coordinates with other agencies regularly in both Maryland and Washington D.C., also occurred in the wake of the attacks.
Harvin: One of the biggest changes has been the development of entire professions that either didn't exist before 9/11 or existed only in very limited ways. Fusion center analysts and threat assessment specialists are good examples. Today, most large jurisdictions have personnel dedicated to intelligence analysis, critical infrastructure protection, cybersecurity, information sharing, emergency planning, and interagency coordination. Pre-9/11, only the large jurisdictions had them, and their training and capabilities varied greatly from state to state. The private sector also changed dramatically. Before 9/11, security was often viewed as a physical protective function, mostly aimed toward preventing property loss. Today, it's much more integrated into organizational strategy, risk management, business continuity, and resilience planning.
After 25 years, what do you think some of the biggest impacts of the attacks have been within your field?
deGrazia: The 9/11 attacks created the entire field of homeland security. Government departments sprung up everywhere at every level. Cybersecurity became an obvious area that the new government departments should address. Eventually cybersecurity became part of homeland security. The same areas of critical infrastructure that homeland security needed to protect from physical attack, at least initially, had to be hardened against cyberattacks as well. Policymakers began to recognize that cyberattacks could be just as devastating to the country as physical attacks.
Ehrlich: One of the biggest changes to arise from 9/11 is the acknowledgement that anywhere can be a target of terrorism, both international and domestic. Even smaller cities and towns need to remain vigilant against these kinds of attacks and make use of available resources to detect and prevent them. However, agencies must also remember to respect the rights of the citizens and balance their efforts against these rights.
Gray: In my field, multiple drug and vaccine approvals to combat agents of bioterrorism have made us much better prepared for an incident. Perhaps the biggest impact was the preparedness we had for COVID-19's emergence. The technology of the mRNA vaccines and the ability to rapidly develop drugs and vaccines using emergency authorizations and using animal models instead of human clinical trials for diseases that simply don't readily occur in humans provided the regulatory structure necessary for a rapid response to the COVID threat. The Strategic National Stockpile now includes the fruits of the research that was invested in for the past 20 years, including therapies for smallpox, Ebola, plague, and many other potential biological and chemical terrorism agents.
Hamby: In my field, the most significant “impact” has been twofold. The first impact is the attention, focus, and involvement of numerous agencies in multi-agency focused investigations, enforcement, and information sharing. The Homeland Security Division’s cooperative investigation and focus on multi-jurisdictional threats is an example of that impact. The second is the creation and availability of very important training and multi-agency cooperation and involvement in Emergency Management Centers, All Hazards Incident Management, abilities to recognize, identify and react to Weapons of Mass Destruction and “cross-border” criminal operations.
Harvin: The biggest impact has been the creation of a homeland security architecture that fundamentally changed how we prepare for and respond to crises. We've built institutions, developed professional standards, improved training, codified and legislated information sharing, and created entirely new capabilities. We've become much better at coordinating across agencies and jurisdictions.
At the same time, I think we're at an inflection point. On the anniversary of 9/11 last year, I wrote an op-ed arguing that much of the architecture built after 9/11 has been weakened or dismantled. Some of the people who built these systems are retiring, institutional memory is fading, and counterterrorism expertise is declining. It seems the further away we get from that fateful day, the less it serves as a reminder of the threats that we face as a nation.
The danger is assuming that because another 9/11-scale attack hasn't occurred, the lessons from that day are no longer relevant. We have lost more first responders to 9/11-related injuries and illness in the last 25 years than on that fateful day. So for me, the first responders that have died after responding to 9/11 motivates me to continue to use my voice and influence to keep us vigilant against future threats.
Many of today's students weren't alive on September 11, 2001, or were too young to remember it. Our responsibility today isn't just to teach homeland security theory in some abstract way; it's to pass along the lessons learned by a generation of responders and practitioners who experienced an event unlike anything the world had ever seen.
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