On the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers took control of four commercial airliners en route to San Francisco and Los Angeles after takeoff from Boston, Newark and Washington, DC.  Many of us will always remember where we were and what we were doing that Tuesday morning in what turned out to be the worst attack on American soil that claimed the lives of 2,977 innocent victims.

Department of Energy researchers and national laboratories responded to the call to ensure that such an attack be avoided in the future.  DOE researchers have a long history of working on research that is now connected with the anti-terrorism effort, and in partnership with the federal government to carry out basic and applied research across many scientific disciplines that will help keep Americans safe.  These efforts include research on the early detection of deadly threats, providing expert analyses of and recommendations to address natural or terrorist-generated disasters that could affect the national infrastructure, developing sensors that can detect biological or chemical agents, and recommendations on how to improve energy and environment security.

To find out more about research results and DOE’s efforts to fight terrorism, go to: Science Accelerator. For example, a search using the term "terrorism" provides links to 731 reports.

We honor the victims, families, first responders and many heroes as we approach the ten year anniversary of this terrible event.  We will never forget.

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Science Accelerator is a gateway to science, including R&D results, project descriptions, accomplishments, and more, via resources from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), U.S. Department of Energy.