RELEASE: Ahead of the 25th Anniversary of 9/11, Gottheimer Announces More Than $5 Million in Federal Funds to Combat Terrorism

Above: Gottheimer unveils 9/11 legislation package.

NEW MILFORD, NJ — Today, Wednesday, September 9, 2026, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) announced several concrete actions including more than $5 million clawed back from Washington to Jersey for local law enforcement in North Jersey to combat terrorism. 

Watch Gottheimer’s remarks here.

The new funding will go toward expanding and modernizing intelligence and coordination, officer training, and additional resources to protect Jersey families. 

The resources include:

• More than $5 million in counterterrorism funding clawed back for local law enforcement across Bergen, Sussex, and Passaic Counties.
  • Every single town — all 65 in the Fifth Congressional District — in Bergen, Passaic, and Sussex Counties — will receive $50,000 to be utilized for counter-terrorism training.
  • $1.5 million dollars for Bergen County to expand and modernize the Bergen County Real-Time Intelligence Center. 
  • Newton in Sussex County will receive $200,000 in funding to be able to purchase a real-time intelligence platform to enhance its capabilities.
  • Bloomingdale will receive $100,000 to purchase a response drone and active-threat gear — ballistic shields, armor, breaching kits.
  • Vernon will receive $30,000 in funding for a thermal search-and-overwatch drone for fast response at any time of day or conditions.
• Highlighted the bipartisan 9/11 Review Task Force Report that lays out twenty bipartisan recommendations for the Intelligence Community to protect against the new and emerging threats — including faster information sharing between agencies, adopting AI to stay ahead of our enemies, and deeper partnerships with our state, local, and private-sector partners to fight terror.
• Sent a letter pressing the FAA and Secretary Duffy to fully implement secondary flight deck barriers on all commercial aircraft — the only 9/11 Commission recommendation still not fully implemented 25 years later — to require the barriers on every plane, including older aircraft already flying. In 2018, I wrote the bipartisan Saracini Aviation Safety Act, requiring these barriers on all new aircraft and it was signed into law in 2018. Years later, the FAA still hasn’t finalized the rule to retrofit the existing fleet.
• Introduced a 9/11 education bill with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (NY-21) to ensure that 9/11 is taught in every school across America. Only 15 states require 9/11 education. 
• Introduced a resolution, cosponsored by every member of the New Jersey House congressional delegation, formally recognizing the state’s law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel who responded to the World Trade Center attacks and carried out the rescue, recovery, and relief efforts in the days and months that followed. The resolution honors their service and sacrifice, remembers those who have since died — including from 9/11-related illnesses — and reaffirms the federal commitment to the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

“We all have a responsibility, in honor of those who gave their lives, and for the sake of our democracy, to teach our children, our students, and our future leaders the history of our homeland,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “Today, I unveiled a package of federal action that lays out a series of steps we must take to not only honor those who perished on 9/11 and in its aftermath, but to be prepared to stop any future attacks. With today’s actions, we will keep fighting to protect our state, our homeland, and ensure that a tragic day like that one in September of 2001 never happens again.”

Gottheimer was joined by Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella, Sussex County Prosecutor Dan Perez, New Milford Mayor Michael Putrino, New Milford Councilwoman Lisa Sandhusen, New Milford Councilwoman Randi Duffie, New Milford Councilman Matt Seymour, Bloomingdale Councilman David Bronkhurst, Newton Police Chief Dan Finkle, Vernon Mayor Anthony Rossi, Vernon Police Chief Daniel Young, Sussex County Chief of Detectives Nicholas T. Elmo, Sussex County Lieutenant Kyle Phlegar, Sussex County Detective Andrew Moore, Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco, Bergen County Commissioner Germaine Ortiz.

Below: Gottheimer unveils 9/11 legislation package.

Gottheimer’s remarks as prepared for delivery:

Good morning, everyone. 

Twenty-five years ago, this week, New Milford lost one of its own.

Stephen Dorf was 39 years old. He worked as a communications technician for Euro Brokers, on the 84th floor of the South Tower. 

Stephen was one of six kids in a close-knit family from Brooklyn, and by every account I’ve read, he was exactly the kind of guy you’d want as a neighbor and friend. He was the neighbor grilling in the backyard, the guy who’d give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. That’s who New Milford and Jersey lost on September 11, 2001. Not a statistic. Not a name on a wall. A friend from this remarkable community and our great state.

The steel beam behind us from the towers, the plaque, this plot of land — they mean something. Because behind them is a piece of New Milford’s story that this town will never be torn down.  

Because of 9/11, and the havoc monsters wreaked that day, we have memorials like this one across our state and country.  I’ve prayed at beautiful memorials like this one more times than I can count over the years. They are both powerful remembrances of our loved ones, a reminder of the strength of our democracy and the flag we pledge to, the indefatigable will of our people, and, in our hours of need, our ability to come together as a nation.

Last week, I was at memorials at the Pentagon, in Lower Manhattan, in Shanksville — and every time, I think about the same thing: the people we lost and their families. 

The nearly 3,000 souls that day, and the 750 who called New Jersey home. One hundred and forty-seven from Bergen County alone.

I think about the passengers on Flight 93, who fought back over a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, so that plane never reached its target — the United States Capitol. They literally came together and voted, on the spot, to swap their lives for the terrorists — to protect us. 

I think about the more than 400 first responders who ran into those towers instead of running away — because that’s what they do, and that’s what they still do, every day, right here in New Milford. 

And I think about something that doesn’t get said enough: more than 9,000 first responders and survivors have died from illnesses tied to what they breathed in at Ground Zero. That is three times the number of people who died on the day of the attack itself. I think about the 60,000 servicemen and women who gave their lives in or were injured in the War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

For those of us who lived through this tragedy, where we were and how we learned about the attacks is seared in our memory. But, twenty-five years is a long time. 

It’s long enough that we have college students graduating this spring who weren’t alive for 9/11. We have educators in our classrooms who weren’t alive. 100 million Americans have been born since that tragic morning — nearly a third of our country.  Their only connection to that day is a memorial like this one, a story from their parents, a paragraph in a textbook, if they’re lucky enough to get a paragraph at all. 

So, when we say never forget, we all have a responsibility, in honor of those who gave their lives, and for the sake of our democracy, to teach our children, our students, our future leaders the history of our homeland. Otherwise, TikTok will do it — and they may say what the most despicable people are posting and what some of our enemies are spreading — that 9/11 was our fault. I will do everything in my power, and I know you will, too, to ensure that our children learn the truth, honor the fallen, and protect the greatest country the world has ever known. 

But that takes work. In 2004, the 9/11 Commission published a report with clear steps to help prevent another terror attack on our soil.  As a result, Congress established the National Counterterrorism Center. We created the Director of National Intelligence. We built a system where our intelligence agencies can escape their silos and share information – it was one of the great weaknesses that contributed to the attack that day.  

Twenty years later, there is still one 9/11 Commission recommendation — just one — that has never been fully carried out: secondary barriers, to keep terrorists out of the cockpit on every commercial flight in America. Many of us have been working on that for years – but we’re still not there, and there’s no excuse for the airlines’ failure to fully meet that demand. And, there is still work to be done to make sure threats are better shared between our intelligence agencies, especially as they develop faster and grow more sophisticated 

As we’ve said, twenty-five years is a long time.  America is facing new threats that didn’t exist in 2001, like Artificial Intelligence and the government of China. 

For the past year, I served as Co-Chair of the House Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan 9/11 Review Task Force, with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Chairman Rick Crawford, and Ranking Member Jim Himes. We spent a year in hearings and briefings, grading our own government’s homework: how well did we actually carry out the original 9/11 Commission’s recommendations, what worked and what didn’t — and how do we prepare for the next generation of threats. 

Our report [hold up a copy] lays out twenty bipartisan recommendations to close the gaps for the next 25 years. Things like faster information sharing between agencies, adopting AI to stay ahead of our enemies, and deeper partnerships with our state, local, and private-sector partners to fight terror. 

Today, I want to lay out a series of steps we must take to not only honor those who perished on 9/11 and its aftermath, but to be prepared to stop any future attacks. 

The first step starts here, in our communities, and it’s about ensuring that our towns and first responders have the resources they need to protect our families here in Bergen, Sussex, and Passaic Counties. This morning, I’m announcing $5 million in new federal counter-terrorism resources that I secured for every community in the Fifth District.  

Every single town — all 65 in the Fifth Congressional District — in Bergen, Passaic, and Sussex Counties — will receive $50,000 to be utilized for counter-terrorism training — to be prepared for any threats, especially the new ones. That’s $3.25 million in new training dollars.

That funding will allow our towns to receive advanced tactical training for responding to active shooters and violent threats. New specialized training will help identify and mitigate threats to our schools and houses of worship, and it will ensure the maximum number of officers can receive this crucial training without impacting day-to-day operations.

What worked twenty-five years ago doesn’t work today. We must invest in our first responders so they can protect themselves and our families. 

 In addition, to ensure we are prepared and coordinating, we are investing more than 1.5 million dollars here in Bergen County to expand and modernize the Bergen County Real-Time Intelligence Center. That’s the hub that connects more than 70 law enforcement, fire, and EMS agencies countywide — to better integrate and coordinate emergency response across the county.

The Intelligence Center ensures that agencies don’t miss a beat when a thief flees from one town to the next, and all hands will be on deck for major events at MetLife Stadium. 

As part of the federal dollars I secured, Newton in Sussex County will be able to purchase a real-time intelligence platform and help existing systems that aren’t connected. Vernon will receive funding for a thermal search-and-overwatch drone for fast response at any time of day or conditions. And Bloomingdale will receive dollars to purchase a response drone and active-threat gear — ballistic shields, armor, breaching kits. Those are major tools — major federal investments — in the hands of the men and women who are the first on the scene when we need them most – to handle any major threat thrown at them, including terror.  

My hope is that all of our communities and agencies will be able to work hand-in-hand, locally, seamlessly, across the state, and with federal partners. That is so critical and one of our biggest lessons from the original 9/11 report and our review. 

Second, I’m sending an urgent letter to the FAA and Secretary of Transportation Duffy to finally finish the job on secondary cockpit barriers. Years ago, I wrote the bipartisan Saracini Aviation Safety Act, requiring these barriers on all new aircraft.  It was signed into law in 2018. 

I then helped pass legislation to require the barriers on every plane — including older aircraft already flying.  Yet, years later, the FAA still hasn’t finalized the rule to retrofit the existing fleet. When it finally happens, it will take years to implement. We need the FAA to implement a final rule and get every plane in our skies equipped with a secondary cockpit barrier. 

It makes no sense for flight attendants to drag a drink cart into the aisle when the pilot needs to leave the cockpit to use the restroom. 

We know that won’t work if a terrorist wants it — studies show that they will literally push over the cart.

Third, I’m leading a resolution this week with the entire New Jersey Congressional House delegation formally honoring New Jersey’s 9/11 first responders. The cops, the firefighters, the EMTs who ran toward the towers, who searched the rubble for months afterward, drawn from all twenty-one of our counties. The ones who helped run the largest waterborne evacuation in American history, carrying an estimated half a million people to safety across the Hudson. 

This resolution remembers them, and it reaffirms our commitment to funding the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund for as long as they’re needed.

Finally, this step addresses what I discussed at the beginning of my remarks. With my colleague Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York, I just introduced a bipartisan bill to ensure that 9/11 is taught in every classroom in America. Not on TikTok, but in our textbooks. 

Why? Because if a generation of kids grows up not understanding what happened that day, and why, we haven’t just failed the memory of those lost. We’ve failed the future, we’ve our democracy, and our ability to protect our country. I will not let that happen. Only fifteen states have a requirement to teach about 9/11 – and, believe it or not, New Jersey isn’t one of them. We should change that today, and, in the meantime, I will fill that gap with bipartisan federal legislation. 

Twenty-five years ago, I remember, like a lot of you probably do, watching President Bush stand on a pile of smoking rubble at Ground Zero, grab a bullhorn, and shout back to rescue workers who couldn’t hear him: “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you.” Out of the worst morning in this country’s history, that’s what America decided to be — loud, united, and unafraid.

That’s the New Jersey I know. That’s the New Milford I know. A place where our memory and our pride outlast fear. A place where a guy named Stephen Dorf, who just wanted to go to work and come home to his family, will never, ever be forgotten.

With today’s actions — with real funding, a real report, and real legislation — with the best first responders in the country, the best service men and women, and intelligence officers in the world, we will keep fighting to protect our state, our homeland, and ensure that a tragic day like that one in September of 2001 never happens again.

Because in the greatest country in the world, I know that if we work together, our best days will always be ahead of us.

Thank you. God bless you, God bless our first responders, and God bless the United States of America.

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