What shapes the resilience of our democracy? In part through the optic of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, The Steady State examined what happens when warnings are missed, fear overwhelms judgment, expertise is dismissed, institutions are weakened, history is forgotten or ignored, and when political power becomes more important than the rules designed to constrain […]
“The Pile” Speciali – ANSA.it The policies created after 9/11 were intended to keep Americans safe. But when fear becomes the organizing principle of national security, the tools created to protect democracy can eventually threaten it. On September 11, 2001, it was a stunningly beautiful day in the Washington, DC area, perfect because it felt […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 11, 2026 PDF IS AVAILABLE HERE Washington, D.C. — The Steady State, a nonpartisan organization of more than 430 former national security officials, today asked the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to investigate whether Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth violated the Hatch Act at a ticketed partisan fundraiser in Des […]
THE STEADY STATE ENDORSES PAT RYAN FOR NEW YORK’S 18TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT WASHINGTON — The Steady State, an organization of more than 420 former national security, intelligence, diplomatic, military, law enforcement, and homeland security officials, today endorsed Hon. Pat Ryan for New York’s 18th Congressional District. Pat Ryan represents New York’s Eighteenth Congressional District and […]
The Justice Department’s recent call for employees to volunteer as election monitors brings renewed attention to a fundamental responsibility: protecting every eligible American’s ability to vote freely and have that vote counted. The reported September 10 recruitment email and accompanying letter from the Acting Deputy Attorney General, concerns federal monitoring assignments; our invitation is to […]
I have this picture in my office and I will never forget their sacrifice. The attacks showed us what hatred could destroy. The days that followed showed us what solidarity could preserve. Twenty-five years later, the choice between fear and principle remains ours. On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was working in an […]
On this 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001, The Steady State honors the nearly 3,000 lives lost, the families forever changed, and the first responders and service members who ran toward danger in defense of our country and our values. In tribute to those we lost, and mindful of those values, we remember 9/11 as […]
THE STEADY STATE ENDORSES JASON CROW FOR COLORADO’S 6TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT WASHINGTON — The Steady State, an organization of more than 420 former national security, intelligence, diplomatic, military, law enforcement, and homeland security officials, today endorsed Hon. Jason Crow for Colorado’s 6th Congressional District. Jason Crow represents Colorado’s Sixth Congressional District and is an Army […]
By Harry Hannah Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance, in 2001—two days before the attacks of September 11. Twenty-five years later, I still think about a phone call the night before 9/11—and what it says about what intelligence can see, what it can miss, and why expertise matters. September 10, 2001 about 7PM, […]