Attack at the Economic Heart of America: What 9/11 Taught the United States about Its Economic Security

It's a great pleasure to have this opportunity to speak at VMI1. I graduated many years ago from that "other school" down the street. Moreover, at that other school I was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity, which was founded at VMI shortly after the Civil War, in 1869. So while I didn't attend VMI, I'm far from a stranger to this distinguished institution, which has contributed so greatly to the strength and security of the Commonwealth and the nation. One of the purposes of this conference is to affirm the Institute's commitment to America's current, high priority effort to increase homeland security. It's hard to imagine a more worthy objective, and I am privileged to participate. By now, the observation that the September 11 terrorist attacks changed the world — and especially the United States — forever has become a cliché, but it's quite literally true. Prior to 9-11, most Americans had assumed that we were relatively insulated from terrorism. To be sure, Oklahoma City and the first World Trade Center bombing in 1994 had showed us that significant incidents on U.S. soil were possible. But the risk of brazen attacks on the scale of 9-11 were, I believe it's fair to say, largely discounted.