Past Public Programs

Welcome to the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s Public Programs Archive, where you can explore past programs and learn more about the continuing impact of 9/11 on the world today.

Three men and a woman take part in a moderated discussion on stage at the Museum. The woman is speaking, second from the left, as the three men listen. The black silhouettes of audience members are in the foreground.
Photo by Monika Graff

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Public Programs Results

  • Nine Years Later: Finding Osama Bin Laden

    A decade of hard-fought teamwork culminated in Operation Neptune Spear, the raid on the Abbottabad compound which brought Osama bin Laden to justice. On the ninth anniversary of the raid, Robert...

    Friday, May 1, 2020
    A screenshot from a video conference call shows two men with graying hair. A man to the left of the frame is listening intently with his hands clasped in front of him. To the right, a man in glasses is speaking.

  • New York Stories: Danny Meyer

    Celebrated restaurateur Danny Meyer shares his own 9/11 experience as a midtown resident and business owner. He reflects on a post-9/11 industry-wide initiative to breathe life back into New York City...

    Thursday, March 5, 2020
    Two men in suits sit cross-legged on a blue-lit auditorium stage. One man gestures with his arms in front of him while the other looks on and listens. The heads of the audience members appear in silhouette in front of them.

  • Prosecuting Domestic Terrorists

    Mary McCord of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection and Seamus Hughes of George Washington University’s Program on Extremism discuss what constitutes “domestic terrorism” and the...

    Thursday, February 20, 2020
    Mary McCord of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy speaks onstage during a public program at the Museum Auditorium. McCord is sitting with her legs crossed as she gestures with her left hand and looks out at the audience. To her right is Seamus Hughes of George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. He is listening with his legs crossed. To the left of McCord is the moderator. She is holding a clipboard.

  • A Woman’s Place: U.S. Counterterrorism Since 9/11

    Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation Joana Cook discusses her new book, A Woman's Place: U.S. Counterterrorism Since 9/11, which explores the significant...

    Monday, February 10, 2020
    In this close-up view, author Joana Cook gestures with both hands as she speaks with moderator Clifford Chanin onstage at the Museum Auditorium. Chanin is in the foreground and out of focus. A wall behind the two of them is lit blue.

  • K-9 Courage Family Day

    A family-friendly K-9 festival celebrates the opening of the K-9 Courage special exhibition and honors the work of canine responders. 

    Saturday, February 1, 2020
    A person in a FDNY Fire & Life Safety dog mascot suit greets a young visitor, whose arms are outstretched.

  • New York Stories: Preet Bharara

    Preet Bharara reflects on the impact of the 9/11 attacks on law enforcement practices from his unique vantage point as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

    Thursday, December 12, 2019
    Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, smiles as he sits on stage with moderator Clifford Chanin. Bharara is holding his left index finger to his face as he listens to Chanin speak. Chanin is holding a clipboard in his left hand and a pen in his right hand. The two men are seated in front of a wall that is lit blue from the stage lights.

  • The Targeter: How to Hunt Terrorists

    Nada Bakos recounts her experience as an analyst and then as a targeting officer, and gives an engrossing account of the intelligence work that helps to keep our country safe.

    Monday, November 25, 2019
    Author and former CIA analyst and targeting officer Nada Bakos sits onstage with Clifford Chanin, the executive vice president and deputy director for museum programs, as she takes part in a public program in the Museum Auditorium. Bakos gestures with her left and right hand as she looks at Chanin while speaking.

  • Al-Qaeda Today

    To complement the 9/11 Museum's special exhibition Revealed: The Hunt for Bin Laden, al-Qaeda experts Peter Bergen, Bruce Hoffman, Mary E. Galligan, and Mark Stout discuss the future of the terrorist...

    Tuesday, November 19, 2019
    Mark Stout, who advised the Museum in the creation of the exhibition, speaks onstage at the Museum Auditorium as three people—al-Qaeda experts Peter Bergen, Bruce Hoffman and Mary E. Galligan—sit to his right looking on. Clifford Chanin, the executive vice president and deputy director for museum programs, sits to the left of Stout holding a clipboard. Audience members are silhouetted in the foreground.

  • Combating Terrorist Content: The Social Media Challenge

    David Tessler of Facebook and Joan Donovan of the Harvard Kennedy School discuss the challenges that social media platforms face in countering violent extremism.

    Tuesday, November 5, 2019
    David Tessler of Facebook speaks onstage as Joan Donovan of the Harvard Kennedy School and Clifford Chanin, the executive vice president and deputy director for museum programs, look on to his left. The silhouettes of audience members are visible in the foreground. The wall behind them is lit up blue and the logo of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum is displayed on it.

  • ISIS without the Caliphate: What Happens Now?

    The so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria is no more, but ISIS remains active. Graeme Wood of The Atlantic and Devorah Margolin of George Washington University’s Program on Extremism discuss what the...

    Tuesday, October 29, 2019
    Devorah Margolin of George Washington University gestures as she speaks to Clifford Chanin, the executive vice president and deputy director for museum programs, onstage during a public program at the Museum auditorium. Graeme Wood of The Atlantic is seated next to her.

  • Playing for Peace: Music by Karim Wasfi

    Celebrated cellist Karim Wasfi performs a site-specific musical composition for those affected by the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 9/11 attacks. 

    Thursday, October 17, 2019
    Cellist Karim Wasfi performs while seated onstage in this wide-angle photo of the Museum Auditorium. His bright orange-brown cello contrasts with the blue lights of the stage. The silhouettes of audience members are visible in the foreground.

  • American Diplomacy in a Post-9/11 Era

    Ronald E. Neumann of the American Academy of Diplomacy, Gérard Araud, former Ambassador of France to the United States, and Peter Ammon, former Ambassador of Germany to the United States discuss the...

    Monday, October 7, 2019
    The silhouettes of audience members are visible in the foreground as Peter Ammon, former Ambassador of Germany to the U.S., speaks onstage during a public program in the Museum auditorium. He is seated next to Gérard Araud, former Ambassador of France to the U.S., and Clifford Chanin, the executive vice president and deputy director for museum programs.

  • Essential Intelligence: The CIA’s Response to 9/11

    Former senior leaders of the CIA, including two former acting directors, discuss how 9/11 ushered in a new era of intelligence work.

    Thursday, September 26, 2019
    Former Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin sits between Former Acting CIA Director Michael Morell and former CIA Senior Paramilitary Officer Phil Reilly while onstage at the Museum Auditorium. McLaughlin holds up his right hand as he speaks to the crowd during the public program, “Essential Intelligence: The CIA’s Response to 9/11.” Morell and Reilly watch McLaughlin as he speaks. The silhouetted heads of audience members are visible in the foreground.

  • Only Plane in the Sky

    Journalist and historian Garrett Graff recounts the harrowing story of 9/11 in Only Plane in the Sky, a comprehensive, minute-by-minute account of the attacks.

    Thursday, September 19, 2019
    Journalist and historian Garrett Graff gestures with both hands as he speaks onstage during the public program “Only Plane in the Sky.” A woman hosting the program sits next to him as she watches on and holds a pile of papers and books. The silhouetted heads of several audience members are in the foreground.

  • Confronting Hate

    Emmy Award–winning documentarian Deeyah Khan has long explored how people are drawn to extremist ideologies.

    Thursday, May 16, 2019
    Emmy Award–winning documentarian Deeyah Khan smiles as she leans forward and gestures with her left hand onstage while speaking during a public program at the Museum Auditorium. Curtains behind her are lit up blue.

  • Holding Back the Hudson

    Remnants of the original World Trade Center are embedded throughout the 9/11 Memorial Museum. This is seen most visibly in the Slurry Wall, a retaining wall built in the late 1960s to hold back the...

    Monday, May 6, 2019
    Peter Rinaldi, the former engineering program director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, speaks onstage at the Museum Auditorium as Harriet Senie, director of art history at the City College of New York, and Ken Lustbader, the former advisor to the Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund, listen on. A woman hosting the event is seated to the right of the three panelists. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum logo is on a projector above them. Audience members are silhouetted in the foreground.

  • Fall and Rise

    Former Boston Globe reporter Mitchell Zuckoff discusses his experience reporting on 9/11 and the process of writing Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11, which drew inspiration from the 9/11 Memorial...

    Tuesday, April 30, 2019
    Boston Globe reporter Mitchell Zuckoff gestures with both of his hands as he speaks while seated onstage at the Museum Auditorium. He is speaking with a woman who is hosting the event and seated to his right. The walls behind him are lit a bright shade of blue.

  • The ISIS Files

    New York Times foreign correspondent Rukmini Callimachi and Lorenzo Vidino, director of the George Washington University Program on Extremism, discuss “The ISIS Files,” a collection of 15,000 pages of...

    Wednesday, April 17, 2019
    New York Times foreign correspondent Rukmini Callimachi and Lorenzo Vidino, director of the George Washington University Program on Extremism, are onstage at the Museum Auditorium, along with Clifford Chanin, the executive vice president and deputy director for museum programs. Callimachi is speaking as the two men look on. She is holding a microphone in her right hand as she gestures with her left hand. Vidino and Chanin listen on with their legs crossed.

  • Bernie Williams: Remembering the 2001 World Series

    Former Yankees player Bernie Williams discusses the series, recounts President Bush’s famous first pitch, and reflects on what it meant for the Yankees to become “America’s Team.”

    Thursday, April 4, 2019
    Former Yankees player Bernie Williams plays an electric guitar on stage in the Auditorium as part of a public program. He is wearing a suit, tie, and hat.

  • NATO at 70: Does the Alliance Have a Future?

    Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO R. Nicholas Burns and former Deputy Secretary General of NATO Alexander Vershbow discuss the current state of NATO.

    Tuesday, April 2, 2019
    Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO R. Nicholas Burns gestures with both hands as he speaks onstage between former Deputy Secretary General of NATO Alexander Vershbow and Clifford Chanin, the executive vice president and deputy director for museum programs. Vershbow has his hands folded as he listens on. Chanin is holding a clipboard.