On the recordSeptember 11, 2019
I thank Representatives Maloney and Nadler for organizing this Special Order to mark a day that is engraved in the memory of every American, September 11, 2001. Eighteen years later we honor the lives of the fallen, the firefighters and the law enforcement officers who ran towards danger when everyone else was running away from it. And we recognize the 911 dispatchers who were working around the clock behind the scenes to organize emergency response across our Nation. I was working at the LAPD 911 center that morning. It was all hands on deck, and I didn't know when I would be able to go home. My first assignment that day was to assemble two mobile field force units and send them out to protect places of worship, water treatment plants, cell phone towers, and anything that could be considered a target. I had no idea what would come next. None of us did. But like every first responder working that day, 911 dispatchers had to cast their own fears aside. They had jobs to do. They had to protect and secure their communities, just like firefighters and police officers. And they had to be the calm reassuring voice on the other side of the line for every person who dialed 911, for every resident who was fearing the worst, for every child who was calling to ask should I go to school or stay home. We received calls from all over the world at our 911 center that day.…
