September has been a very emotional and busy month. I hope that this letter finds you and your family well and resting following the anniversary of September 11th.

We were very excited that an overwhelming amount of family members participated in our support groups at the Voices of September 11th Information Forum. Over the next several months we will be expanding our teleconference groups to meet your requests. In October VOICES will begin an evening teleconference group for siblings as well as a teleconference group for grandparents. We also invite you to join one of our eleven existing teleconference groups. Please contact our office to register.

I was honored to speak at several conferences this month to promote public policy reform for prevention, preparedness and response. On September 9th I joined 9/11 Commissioner and Center for National Policy (CNP) president Tim Roemer for a conference at New York University. The CNP conference, titled "Securing America in the 21st Century" examined such unfinished agenda items from the 9-11 Commission Report as the need for a reliable radio spectrum for our nation’s first responders and the recommendation that the Federal Government along with State and Local Governments create a nationwide Incident Command System to coordinate disaster response. A transcript of the event is available on the CNP website.

This week, VOICES members attended a screening in New York City of the film "Last Best Chance," which dramatizes the chilling possibility of a terrorist strike on America with nuclear weapons (for a free copy of the film, click here). The film was produced by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, founded by former Sen. Sam Nunn in 2001 to stop nuclear proliferation and account for all nuclear material around the globe. The program included a discussion with Sen. Nunn and Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), who have worked together for decades to limit the menace of nuclear weapons (pictured with VOICES members at left). In 1991, they sponsored the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program to provide funding and expertise for former Soviet states to decommission nuclear, biological and chemical weapon stockpiles. VOICES is truly grateful to these dedicated public servants for work to ensure a safer world for all people.

On September 9th I joined Dr. Yael Danelli on a panel to support the launch of her book, "On the Ground After September 11, Mental Health Responses and Practical Knowledge Gained". This important event, held at Pace University, provided an opportunity for service providers who contributed to the book to share their experiences working with those impacted by 9/11. This book provides important documentation for mutual learning among survivors, rescue workers and professionals.

In the wake of Katrina and the impending threat of Hurricane Rita we encourage you to be prepared in your home, community and work place. VOICES continues to distribute preparedness tips throughout the month of September. The tips for this week and previous weeks are listed below and posted on our website.

As always please don't hesitate to contact VOICES at (203) 966-3911 or toll free (866) 505-3911.

Warm Regards,

Based on the overwhelming success of support groups at VOICES Information Forum, VOICES will begin evening teleconference support groups for siblings and for grandparents, both starting in October. All those who are interested in participating can email dwestfal@voicesofsept11.org or call VOICES at 866-505-3911. Meeting times will be based on participant availability. The telephone groups are provided at no cost to the participants but prior registration is required. At this time, VOICES offers teleconference groups for Adult Children; Dads; Firefighter's Moms; Parents; Rescue and Recovery Workers; Survivor's and Witnesses; Siblings; and Wives. To see a complete schedule for the teleconference and in-person support groups offered by VOICES, please click here.

The National Institute of Mental Health recently released a report on coping with catastrophic situations such as Hurricane Katrina. While events such as this take an emotional toll on everyone, they can be particularly difficult for those who have already experienced tragedy and disaster first-hand. Please click here for a brief summary or read the full report here.

The destruction caused to the Gulf Coast by Hurricane's Katrina and Rita are a grim reminder of the need to be prepared. Please click on the links below to read this week's preparedness tips.

The Federal Government’s response to Hurricane Katrina has come under increasing criticism in the past week from members of Congress, and from state and local officials in the areas affected. Many critics claim the Federal relief effort was sluggish and uncoordinated, and must be subjected to a full investigation. The White House has announced that it will conduct its own investigation under the direction of senior White House aide Frances Townsend regarding the Federal response (article).

Last week Congress chartered a special committee to investigate Katrina response. The committee is chaired by Thomas M. Davis III (R-VA), and was to have 11 Republican and 10 Democratic members to reflect the Republican majority in the House. However, House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has refused to appoint any Democrats to the committee, calling it "a sham" (article). The panel began its hearings with limited Democratic Party participation on Thursday (article).

Last Wednesday on a strict 45 to 55 party-line vote, the Senate rejected a proposal by Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) to create bipartisan independent panel along the lines of the 9/11 Commission. However, in a CNN/USA Today Gallup poll taken Sept. 8-11, 70 percent of Americans surveyed supported an independent panel to investigate the government's response to the hurricane (article). Last week the Senate Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), began to hold its own hearings on the response to Katrina.

On Thursday, September 29, the full Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee will hold a hearing on "Communications Interoperability" in a disaster situation. The hearing will address the crucial issue of first responder communications. Please click here to read a recent article on this issue.

When: Thursday, Sept. 29 at 10:00 am
Where: Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 562, Washington, DC
Who: Full Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee (Witnesses TBA)

Last week, a $6 million Federal grant was awarded to several suburban New York and New Jersey counties to expand an emergency response radio network used by New York City police officers, firefighters and other city workers to the suburbs. NYPD Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said, "This grant recognizes the fact that disasters don't respect boundaries, and that we need to communicate beyond them." Read an article on the grant here and a response on the issue from the Skyscraper Safety Campaign.

On Wednesday the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on the Department of Defense’s controversial Able Danger intelligence collection program. According to Able Danger team member and Navy Capt. Scott Philpot, the operation identified future 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta in January or February 2000 as a potential al-Qaeda member, although the program never found evidence that Atta was in the U.S. or was actively planning a terrorist operation (article). Philpot’s claims seem to contradict the Commission’s assertion that no US intelligence agency had identified Mohammed Atta as a terrorist agent prior to 9/11. The 9/11 Commissioners issued a letter to the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday in which they stand by their Official Report, and point out that no documents have ever been produced to substantiate the claims about Mohammed Atta.

The revelations about Able Danger are explosive enough on their own, but Wednesday’s hearing was especially contentious because the Department of Defense actively barred military personnel, including the principal witness Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, from testifying, claiming that information about Able Danger is classified. Many Senators expressed dismay and confusion at the Pentagon’s actions, and vowed to continue pressuring the Defense Department to provide a full accounting of Able Danger (article).

On Thursday, the International Freedom Center (IFC) released its Content and Governance report, which outlines the various exhibits planned and defends the IFC’s right to a place in the World Trade Center Memorial quadrant. Members of Take Back the Memorial, which seeks to remove the IFC from the Memorial site, have responded that the plan does not satisfy their concerns that the center will possibly denigrate America, and is inappropriate for the Memorial grounds (article). Recent editorials in Newsday and the New York Post show two sides of the debate over the IFC. In an OP-ED article in today’s Post, New York Republican Congressmen John Sweeney, Peter King and Vito Fossella wrote that the IFC “is inconsistent with the view that the WTC site is hallowed ground that should memorialize and honor the lives of those killed on 9/11.” They also called for Congressional oversight hearings into the use of $2.8 billion in Federal funds devoted to Lower Manhattan, some of which has been earmarked for construction of the Memorial and may go to support the IFC. We encourage you to register your opinion on whether the IFC deserves a place on the grounds of the World Trade Center Memorial site by clicking here for a Newsday poll.

Sep 23, 2005

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Sep 23, 2005

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