Remarks by Acting Director of the National Counterterrorism Center
Brett M. Holmgren
An Event Honoring 9/11 and the Voices Center for Resilience
January 10, 2025
McLean, Virginia
As Prepared for Delivery
Good morning, and thanks to everyone who is joining in person and tuning in online. It is my great honor to welcome to the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) two people whose tireless advocacy and steadfast commitment to honoring those lost on September 11, 2001, led to the creation of NCTC and the larger Office of the Director of National Intelligence. To Mary and Frank Fetchet, welcome to NCTC.
This past September, I had the pleasure of meeting Frank and Mary when they invited me to speak at their VOICES Resilience Symposium held annually in New York on the week of September 11th. The event brought together other 9/11 families and survivors, as well as partners from government, the private sector and first responders to discuss how to deliver better support to communities dealing with tragedies. Later that week, I had the privilege of joining President Biden at the base of what used to be the Twin Towers to observe the 23rd anniversary of 9/11. During both events, it was clear to me that while 23 years may seem like a long time ago, for the families who lost a loved one that day, it can seem like just yesterday.
On 9/11, Mary and Frank experienced the unimaginable – the loss of their 24-year-old son Brad, who worked on the 89th floor of the South Tower. The oldest of three sons, Brad was a gifted athlete, a loving son and brother, and a devoted boyfriend who was planning to get engaged to his longtime girlfriend. Brad was one of the nearly 3,000 beautiful lives taken from us that day. For the Fetchets and other families, they lost a piece of their heart. And yet, Mary and Frank summoned the strength not only to carry on, but to roll up their sleeves and help other families heal while pushing for reforms to prevent another 9/11 in the future.
Mary resigned from her job as a social worker and in 2002 founded the Voices of September 11th, now known as the Voices Center for Resilience, a non-profit organization that assists communities in preparing for and responding to tragedies. Mary advocated for respectful recovery efforts at the attack sites, improvements to the family notification process, and a proper memorial at the World Trade Center site. But perhaps most notably for those of us gathered here today, she campaigned relentlessly for the passage of congressional legislation to establish the independent 9/11 Commission, whose efforts were ultimately instrumental in creating NCTC and codifying our authorities in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) of 2004. As part of these efforts, Mary testified before the 9/11 Commission and Congress many times.
For his part, Frank joined Voices in 2005 as Development Director after a 33-year career as an executive at IBM. As the Chief Operating Officer for Voices, Frank oversees grants, partnership opportunities and sponsorships, and works with the Board of Directors on strategic planning.
In reflecting on the recent 20th anniversary of IRTPA this past December, Senator Susan Collins of Maine—a champion of NCTC and a driving force behind the IRTPA—recalled that members of Congress drew inspiration from Mary’s words at the hearings regarding post-9/11 intelligence reforms some two decades ago. As Senator Collins noted, during one of the committee hearings Mary said that, “When American lives are at stake, indifference or inertia is unacceptable...When critical reforms are implemented to make our country safer, I will know that neither Brad’s life, nor the lives of nearly 3,000 others who perished on September 11th, were lost in vain.” According to Senator Collins, Mary’s words made all the difference in uniting the committee to get the bill over the finish line.
In the wake of tragedy, the questions before us are always: How do we preserve – how do we honor – the memory and legacy of those we lost? How do we take action to prevent such unspeakable loss from occurring again in the future?
Whiles the answers are not always clear, here at NCTC I am proud to be part of an organization whose very existence and purpose honors everyone we lost on 9/11. NCTC serves as the U.S. government’s lead agency for analyzing, understanding, and responding to the global terrorism threat. We fulfill these responsibilities in several key ways: integrating international terrorism information across foreign and domestic sources, analyzing threats, sharing information, maintaining an authoritative database of known and suspected terrorists, and conducting strategic operational planning to drive a whole-of-government approach to terrorism.
Thanks to the extraordinary work of NCTC and the larger U.S. counterterrorism enterprise—servicemembers, intelligence and law enforcement officers, diplomats, and homeland security professionals—there have been no terrorist attacks on the scale of 9/11 in the United States and our Nation is safer and more secure. While the risk of a large-scale foreign terrorist attack against the United States has been greatly diminished, make no mistake—we are still threatened by those seeking to harm Americans at home and abroad, as we tragically saw in New Orleans on January 1st. We are now in a new transformational phase of the terrorism threat landscape—the latest incarnation of an ever-evolving threat that is now defined by its diversity, complexity and decentralized nature.
At NCTC, our headquarters in McLean, Virginia, provides a constant and solemn reminder of our mission and why we serve. Hallways emblazoned with the words, “Never Forget.” Displays with debris from the attacks of 9/11. Steel beams from the Twin Towers. Limestone from a damaged section of the Pentagon. Fuselage from United Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. A torn American flag from Ground Zero in New York City.
But heroes like Frank and Mary Fetchet inspire us too. Their work embodies the very best of America and the true spirit of 9/11. And for those of us at NCTC, their story reminds us of the enduring importance of our counterterrorism mission.
Mary, Frank, I know there are no words to offer that can ever ease the pain of your loss, but we thank you for inspiring us, for supporting NCTC, for serving those in need, and for being here today. And know that Brad’s legacy—and the legacy of the nearly 3,000 people killed on 9/11—endures each and every day in the work of the National Counterterrorism Center.
Now, please join me in welcoming Frank Fetchet.
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