9/11 Memorial Unveiled by CJIS; Monument Area Can Be Visited by Public at Any Time
By Chris Johnson on September 11, 2024
September 11, 2001, is a day that none of us will ever forget.
On Wednesday, the 23rd anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States, a ceremony took place on the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division campus in Clarksburg, that reminds us all why it’s so important to remember.
The highlight of the ceremony was the public unveiling of a 9/11 Memorial that is located on the grounds of the visitor's center by the Jerry Dove entrance. The memorial is available to be visited by the pubic, at any time.
“We are so very excited to be able to reveal this to the public,” said Tim Ferguson, the Acting Assistant Director of CJIS. “And we are so very excited to be able to put it in a place where the public can come visit without restrictions. “2001 is a memory for all of us as U.S. citizens. It marks a turning point in the FBI. It made us stronger and better. We share this with the public because we are partners in this fight every day.”
The 9/11 Memorial consists of four primary elements. Each element represents a building or structure destroyed or damaged as a result of the attack.
The primary element is a 22-foot artifact recovered from one of the towers representing the North Tower. The column shows failure at the welds due to the overload and heat during the event.
The secondary element is a 6-foot-tall granite monolith representing the South Tower. The monolith is engraved with a synopsis of the events of 9/11 and a diagram describing each of the memorial elements.
The final two elements represent the surrounding buildings with concrete benches and landscaping. The location of each element is specific in relation to the New York City scape. The intent is to give visitors a perspective of the breadth of damage.
Construction of the 9/11 Memorial began in 2018 when CJIS was offered a loaned artifact from the New York 9/11 Memorial and Museum Foundation.
The ceremony included opening and closing remarks to the audience from Ferguson, a video message from FBI Director Christopher Wray, a moving speech from Supervisory Special Agent John D. Sullivan, who was a responder at Ground Zero the day of the attacks and a roll call of current and former FBI employees located at the CJIS Division, who responded in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
In his closing remarks, Ferguson reiterated the importance of never forgetting those we lost 23 years ago but he also talked of the importance of remembering who we were as a nation the day after the attacks.
“I think about this a lot,” Ferguson said. “I think about how I felt on Sept. 12, 2001. I’m convinced that it is more powerful than ever to remember what we were on Sept. 12, 2001, how we came together as a country to fight against a terrorist attack that happened on our own soil and the amount of patriotism we felt from coast to coast. There was no divisiveness. Everyone was together, everyone was unified. Everyone was an American.”
Editor's Note: Top photo shows the 9/11 Memorial area at the CJIS visitor's center. Middle photo is of Ferguson and bottom photo shows the monolith at the 9/11 Memorial.
