1/ I was 27 on September 11, 2001. A second term state legislator. For people like me, in their formative stage of public service in 2001, 9/11 was definitional. It charted our course.
2/ I was at a meeting at Southington High School, just around the corner from my one bedroom apartment. I watched the initial reports of a plane crash on the small televisions in the school’s library. It looked like an accident at first, and I headed back home.
3/ As a poor state legislator who spent my entire salary on law school tuition, I didn’t own a proper television or have cable back then. So I pulled out a tiny black and white set and found the antenna only picked up one channel - WTNH.
4/ I was glued to the TV the rest of the morning, making occasional calls to see if I could connect with friends in the city.
Eventually I headed to my parents house in Wethersfield where my parents had cable. We would learn that we lost 3 family friends who were in the towers.
Eventually I headed to my parents house in Wethersfield where my parents had cable. We would learn that we lost 3 family friends who were in the towers.
5/ The national conversation naturally launched into talk of retribution.
That night I watched with my parents as Bush declared “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those that harbored them.”
This made perfect sense to me.
That night I watched with my parents as Bush declared “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those that harbored them.”
This made perfect sense to me.
6/ Within two years America was at war in two far off nations.
I knew Afghanistan was the right war, but as my friends were being sent to fight a war of choice in Iraq, I became more and more worried we had made a costly error as a nation.
I knew Afghanistan was the right war, but as my friends were being sent to fight a war of choice in Iraq, I became more and more worried we had made a costly error as a nation.
7/ But I was a state legislator with no role to play in the biggest issue that affected my generation. I grew frustrated.
So in early 2005, just over 3 years after 9/11, I decided to make a long shot race for Congress. There I could make a difference I thought.
So in early 2005, just over 3 years after 9/11, I decided to make a long shot race for Congress. There I could make a difference I thought.
8/ People always ask me why I spend so much time working on foreign policy and national security issues.
It all comes back to 9/11. My generation was formed by it. We are defined by it. The choices we have made since then are derivative of it.
It all comes back to 9/11. My generation was formed by it. We are defined by it. The choices we have made since then are derivative of it.
9/ I was deeply uncomfortable about the way in which America over militarized our response to 9/11. But I didn’t want America to withdraw from the world. So I set about the work of properly learning the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan, and course correcting U.S. foreign policy.
10/ Today I’m grieving for all the families who lost loved ones twenty years ago today. And I’m also remembering the day that set in motion the work of millions of Americans chose, in the wake of that terrible day, to try to make their country better and safer.
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