The NYPD is treating the 20th anniversary of 9/11 as an “elevated threat environment” in New York City. The NYPD’s John Miller says there will be a heavy security overlay for the remembrance ceremony taking place in Lower Manhattan.
There will be explosive detection canines, heavy weapons teams and everyone will be screened before entering the ceremony area. Miller says there is no specific, credible threat. However, he says there has been propaganda released recently by terror groups and mentioned the situation in Afghanistan.
New York is expecting people from all over the U.S. that plan to stop by the 9/11 Memorial. The ceremony includes the reading of names of the nearly three-thousand people killed and today will mark the 20th anniversary.
U.S. troops have withdrawn from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years in the country. President Biden originally set a deadline of September 11th to pull out every U.S. troop out of Afghanistan to coincide with the anniversary.
Earlier this summer, the withdrawal deadline was moved up to August 31st. President George W. Bush sent U.S. troops to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Troops initially targeted members of al-Qaeda who planned the attack and members of the Taliban who aided them.