Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice apologized to the families of 9/11 victims on Friday, stating she carries "deep personal remorse" for the government's failure to prevent the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Rice, who served as President George W. Bush's national security adviser at the time of the attacks, acknowledged that leaders in the U.S. government did not recognize the severity of the threat in time to avert the tragedy.
"Those of us in authority on that day did not see the nature of the danger in time to prevent the attack of 9/11," Rice said during a ceremony at the Pentagon, where 184 victims were killed. "We did what we knew to do, but by definition, it was not enough."
She addressed the families directly, saying, "I will always carry deep personal remorse for the pain that you, the families of the fallen, still feel, and for the trauma that our country endured."
Her remarks came on the 25th anniversary of the coordinated attacks by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists who hijacked four commercial airliners. American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon, while two planes hit the World Trade Center towers in New York, and United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew attempted to regain control.
Rice recounted the initial moments of confusion on September 11, 2001, when she was informed of an aircraft crashing into one of the World Trade Center towers. "The attack came quite literally out of the blue, an assault on our cities that we have not experienced since the War of 1812," she recalled. Initially thinking it was a strange accident, the second impact confirmed that the nation was under attack.
Rice was taken to the White House's secure underground complex as the administration grappled with the unfolding crisis and the possibility of further attacks.
The aftermath of 9/11 led to significant overhauls in American security and intelligence operations and initiated a global war against terrorist organizations. Rice, who later became Secretary of State, expressed gratitude that a large-scale follow-on attack did not occur.
"For that miracle, we owe a deep debt of gratitude to our armed forces and to the intelligence community. Their service and their sacrifice in the war on terror kept us safe," she stated.
Rice concluded her remarks by focusing on the nation's resilience in the wake of the attacks. "September 11 tested us, but it did not break us," she said. "As we meet the many challenges ahead, may the memory of our response to that searing experience bring hope for our future as a country and as a people."
In the years following the attacks, Rice and other Bush administration officials faced scrutiny regarding the government's foreknowledge of al-Qaeda's plans. Rice testified before the 9/11 Commission in April 2004, addressing intelligence received prior to the attacks, including a Presidential Daily Brief titled "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US."