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To mark the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11, we reached out to our colleagues at the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security and the Schar School of Policy and Government for their remembrances. Many of them have worked in the intelligence and policy communities and each has a unique perspective on a day that changed our world.

Distinguished Visiting Professor Michael Morell is the only person who was with President George W. Bush on Sept. 11, 2001, when the 9/11 attacks occurred, and with President Barack Obama on May 2, 2011, when Osama bin Laden was killed.

Natalia Kanos and Veronica Mata met as they searched for roommates prior to starting as freshmen at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. Now they are leading Student Government.

As the government in Afghanistan collapsed and the Taliban seized power on the heels of the American exit from the country, Ellen Laipson, former vice chair of the U.S. National Intelligence Council and director of the international security program at the Schar School of Policy and Government, gave her assessment of the situation in an opinion piece for Asia Times.

Cynthia Lum and John S. Earle have been named Â鶹ÊÓƵ Professors. Their status was approved by a resolution of Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Board of Visitors in July.

A drone that autonomously attacked soldiers during a civil conflict in Libya last year raises concerns about the global use and spread of such weapons, said Zak Kallenborn, a Policy Fellow at Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Schar School of Policy and Government.

Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Schar School of Policy and Government will launch its new Race, Politics, and Policy Center in Fall 2021 under the leadership of Professor Michael Fauntroy. Fauntroy, who taught at Â鶹ÊÓƵ for 11 years before joining the faculty at Howard University in 2013, returned to Â鶹ÊÓƵ in June.

In April, Natalia Kanos was elected Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s new student body president.

Illegal goods can have deadly consequences. Whether it’s a counterfeit face mask that doesn’t provide a frontline worker adequate protection from COVID-19, or a counterfeit pill laced with fentanyl (a synthetic painkiller 50-100 times more potent than morphine), millions of lives can be at risk.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers and students at Â鶹ÊÓƵ is working to stop such criminal activity. Thanks to a nearly $650,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF)—and a $16,000 grant supplement awarded to two undergraduates on the team—they will be investigating how to disrupt illicit supply chains, influence policy, and ultimately save lives.

Playing football for University of Notre Dame was something Steve Elmer said he could only dream of when he was younger. His talent combined with a scholarship had him playing on the field with a golden helmet as freshman. He became one of the team’s most experienced offensive linemen, having 30 starts to his name.