Thousands Honor Flight 93 Passengers And Crew At Shanksville Pennsylvania Memorial On 25th Anniversary

25 Years, Flight 93

Thousands gathered at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and to honor the passengers and crew who fought back after terrorists hijacked the plane.

The memorial stands where the United Airlines plane crashed in a common field that became “a field of honor forever,” and retired Capt. Morrie Weiner said, “The name Flight 93 has become synonymous with ideas of bravery and sacrifice.”

Stephen M. Clark of the Flight 93 National Memorial reflected on the actions aboard the flight, saying, “Their selfless act prevented Flight 93 from reaching the Capitol, the center of our democracy.”

During the remembrance ceremony, the names of the 40 passengers and crew members were read aloud, including Flight 93 co-pilot First Officer Leroy Homer of Marlton, New Jersey, and Michelle Hargus said, “He was a hero and I love him, and I miss him, and I love everyone who was on that flight.”

Reporting for this section6abc Philadelphia

Threat Bulletin and AI

Ahead of the 9/11 anniversary, ABC News reviewed a federal bulletin warning that foreign terrorist organizations “continue to encourage attacks in the United States” and have released 9/11-related propaganda in advance of previous anniversaries. The bulletin said the FBI is concerned terrorism actors in the U.S. may be inspired to conduct violence or engage in hoax threats in response to the 25th anniversary, and it described a terrorism threat environment that DHS said is “heightened and increasingly complex.”

In the past year and a half, the FBI has arrested at least 16 people inside the U.S. homeland for allegedly plotting or supporting plots to kill Americans on behalf of al-Qaeda or ISIS, officials said. The DHS spokesperson also warned that terrorists are experimenting with generative AI to create and circulate violent online propaganda and to explore ways to use explosives and biological agents, and said, “AI advancements "could make terrorist activity faster, more scalable, and harder to detect," according to the spokesperson.”

Reporting for this sectionABC News

Memorials, Illnesses, Security

Across New York City, the Pentagon in Virginia, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, ceremonies marked 25 years since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks that claimed the lives of 2,977 people at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and another 9,000 people have died from 9/11-related illnesses over the last 25 years.

At the 9/11 Memorial & Museum ceremony in Lower Manhattan, the first moment of silence was held at 8:46 a.m. for the time American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower, and the second followed at 9:03 a.m. when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.

The anniversary also included a silent moment to honor people exposed to the clouds of toxic dust released by the twin towers’ fiery collapse who have since died of cancer and other illnesses, and the ceremony took place with heightened security in Lower Manhattan.

A major security operation was in effect in Lower Manhattan, with the NYPD securing the site with fencing and counterterrorism officers, while traffic restrictions were in place south of Canal Street to Battery Place and trucks were prohibited from entering the area.

Reporting for this sectionABC NewsABC7 New York