25 years after Sept. 11 attacks, America reflects and remembers

As thousands of first responders and emergency workers rushed to Ground Zero on 9/11, America's military also rapidly leapt into action.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine was the chief of Weapons and Tactics for the 121st Fighter Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland that day. He told CBS News' Norah O'Donnell that he had just entered a scheduling meeting when a young staffer burst in to say that a plane had struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. He and his colleagues then watched on live television as the second plane hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m.

"I still remember to this day, Norah, what I felt and what I thought as we all watched that news helicopter camera filming the burning tower. What I felt and thought when the second airplane entered that shot and hit the second tower," Caine said. "I knew right away that our nation was under attack, and we began to move right into action immediately."

There was "no doubt" that the country was at war, Caine said, and his squadron began preparations.

Caine gave orders for the base's weapons, including air-to-air missiles, to start moving, he said. With smoke from the Pentagon visible on the horizon, Caine received a call from the White House ordering the squadron "to get airborne to scramble to defend" Washington, D.C. The rules of engagement were "very liberal," Caine said.

The CIA on Friday released 71 intelligence reports from the months and years leading up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, providing a new look at what the spy agency told two presidents about al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden before the deadly strikes.

The trove of documents includes assessments prepared by analysts for the President's Daily Brief, which is distributed to the president and senior administration officials. The release includes 70 documents from before the 2001 attacks and one report from the day after. Two of the documents had previously been made public during the investigation by the 9/11 Commission.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the latest disclosure was "the single largest release of CIA analysis related to 9/11 ever."

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani exclusively told CBS News that he and former mayor Rudy Giuliani "exchanged pleasantries" when they interacted at Friday's 9/11 ceremony.

"He came over and we both extended our hands," Mamdani said after the ceremony concluded.

"I think the focus for all of us is a focus on the families, focus on the first responders, and to be here and hear the names of all those who were stolen from us 25 years ago and of how the families have persevered through that time," Mamdani added.

Giuliani has been a vocal critic of the new mayor, but when asked directly if he addressed that, Mamdani said, "We just shook hands."

"I think we're both here to ensure that the focus remained on the families," he said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani addressed his brief handshake with Rudy Giuliani at the 9/11 memorial ceremony, saying the two exchanged pleasantries and kept the focus on the families of those killed in the attacks. The meeting comes after several instances of tension between… pic.twitter.com/olza3VTtHV

A ceremony held by the National Park Service at the Flight 93 Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, began at 1 p.m. Friday.

Flight 93 crashed in a field near Shanksville at 10:03 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, killing all 33 passengers and seven crew members aboard.

Passengers had stormed the cockpit to prevent the terrorists who had taken control of the plane from hitting their intended target in Washington, D.C.

The ceremony Friday includes musical performances and multiple speakers, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.

There will also be a wreath laying at the Wall of Names, where 40 marble panels are inscribed with the names of each passenger and crew member.

The final moment of silence for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks was held Friday at 12:52 p.m. ET, following the reading of the names at Ground Zero.

It was the seventh moment of silence — an addition to the traditional six — and was held for the thousands of people who have died of 9/11-related illnesses. It will become a permanent part of the annual ceremony.

The previous moment of silence was at 10:28 a.m., when the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.

CBS News national security correspondent David Martin, who started covering the Pentagon for the network in 1993, recalled what he witnessed on Sept. 11, 2001.

"I was driving up to the Pentagon when I heard a boom and saw a pillar of smoke going up on the other side of the building. I ditched my car and ran against the tide of people evacuating the building," he said.

He knew planes had struck the Twin Towers at that point, but he said he "couldn't believe that an airliner had just gone into the Pentagon."

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on Friday that it's probably not a matter of if, but when, another terrorist act happens, blaming immigration enforcement failures. That, he said, won't be because DHS didn't do their job, but because "one little person" went unnoticed.

"Unfortunately, it's probably not a matter of if, it's more a matter of when, something happens again," Mullin said in a speech outside the Department of Homeland Security headquarters during a remembrance ceremony. "And it won't be because we didn't do our job. It's because that one little person that wanted to tear down our American dream went unnoticed."

Mullin said it's "tough to protect all the homeland."

He said while "he's not trying to get political," he will, and accused sanctuary cities of "harboring and abetting activities just like this."

"One thing we should all agree on is we should all be in the same boat, we should all be on the same war, trying to protect the homeland, regardless of your politics," Mullin added.

Mullin said that if the U.S. takes care of the small criminals, they won't become large criminals, and those large criminals won't become terrorists.

Mullin said securing the border "shouldn't be political."

"And if anything, when we start looking at the 25th anniversary, if there's anything we should agree on, it should be that," he said.

Kathleen Curatolo keeps memories of her brother, Robert Curatolo, close. His badge number is tattooed on her ankle and pinned to her dress.

Robert was an FDNY firefighter who responded to the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

"When the second tower fell, he dove under a fire truck as he was trained to do. But, of course, it was crushed. For us, we believe it's a miracle he was found two days later because there are people still waiting to recover loved ones," said Curatolo, the principal at St. Patrick Catholic Academy in Bay Ridge.

Twenty-five years after the attacks, 9/11 is a difficult but important part of the school's curriculum.

"Most of the parents in this school are firefighters, they're police officers, they're medical professionals," Curatolo said.

However, teaching this history a quarter century later presents a unique set of challenges. None of the school's current students were alive that day. But many have parents or loved ones who witnessed the attacks, responded to them or helped save lives.

A drone show lit up the skies over Lower Manhattan earlier this week.

The display brought 2,977 lights over New York Harbor and the 9/11 memorial, one light for each person killed in the attacks. It recreated the outline of the Twin Towers at full height. The drones first swirled in a helix, spiraling upward, before revealing their final shape.

It was part of an art exhibit commemorating 25 years since the terror attacks.

CBS News National security contributor Samantha Vinograd, who was inspired to go into a life of public service after 9/11, said on Friday the security protocols that undergird our security today were really born out of the attacks.

"We saw a huge sea change in the physical security requirements to travel, to access government buildings, mass gatherings, monuments and more," she said.

"We saw structural shifts, of course - the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, where I served, the creation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Counterterrorism Center, the consolidation of data sets of terrorists into one list. Again, all to try to create cohesion and integration and to avoid inefficiencies," she said.

The U.S. also saw an expansion in government surveillance powers and presidential authority to engage in the use of force, she said.

She also noted that "the threat landscape has materially changed" since 2001, when "we saw primarily foreign terrorist organizations with relatively large physical footholds overseas, with strong hierarchies in place and direct command and control."

"Today, what we see is technology enabled, foreign terrorism and a real explosion in the domestic terrorist threat here in the homeland," she said.

The names of the passengers on Flight 93 were read aloud by their loved ones in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Friday. Their names were accompanied by the toll of a bell. A moment of silence was then held in their honor.

Flight 93 crashed in a field near Shanksville at 10:03 a.m. with 33 passengers and seven crew members aboard. All of them died.

On that morning, passengers stormed the cockpit to prevent the terrorists who had taken control from manning the plane. Through their actions, the passengers aboard the plane prevented an untold number of deaths at the intended target in Washington, D.C.

The Flight 93 Memorial was constructed in their honor.

In an interview with CBS News ahead of the memorial ceremony in New York, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch paid tribute to the courage and sacrifice of first responders on Sept. 11, 2001.

"It's awe-inspiring what those members of service did," she said, praising "the level of valor and heroism that we saw in the first responder community — police officers, firefighters running into those burning buildings and saving countless lives."

Tisch also said the threat environment the U.S. and New York City face today is "very different" than 25 years ago.

"This attack 25 years ago was directed centrally by al Qaeda. Now the threat is much more individualized, it's idiosyncratic, people can be radicalized from their couch at home. We saw that threat really change with the advent of social media," she said.

After recognizing the heroes of 9/11 at the Pentagon ceremony on Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth brought up the Iran war, saying the U.S. is raising up a new generation to fight.

"Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism," Hegseth said. "Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that have wished us death for nearly half a century, that cheered on 9/11. A regime that has sponsored terrorist attacks against Americans for decades, killing thousands, including our comrades in Iraq and Afghanistan. But they did not factor in this president."

"We're still sending terrorists where they belong, to hell, and tankers to the bottom of the ocean, where they belong," he continued. "And we're ensuring Iran will never have a nuclear weapon."

President Trump said in remarks at the Pentagon Friday that the U.S. is stronger than ever before, and urged Americans to raise children to believe that the U.S. is good.

"We can raise our children to know that their country is good, that their fathers are brave, and that our flag is a symbol of justice and freedom," he said. "And we can be a nation whose heroes are not fanatics for an abstract cause. ... But the kind who race into buildings and give their lives on a Tuesday morning for strangers they've never met."

"Today our country is stronger than it has ever been before," he said. "It has never been as strong as it is right now. Because of that spirit, when future generations come here in 25, 100 or 250 years from now, they will stand in a nation that is free and unyielding in the face of evil. And they will still honor the heroes of 9/11/2001."

Referring to the war on terror in the present tense, President Trump suggested service members are continuing the fight against terror through the war with Iran.

"Today, we salute every member of the United States military who served in the war on terror," the president said. "It is a war on sick, horrible terror. We salute our first responders and law enforcement and we love them. And we salute the service members working right now to ensure the world's number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never ever have a nuclear weapon."

Alluding to the ongoing military conflict with Iran, President Trump said at the Pentagon Friday that the U.S. won't ever forget the victims of Sept. 11, 2001, and that's why the U.S. must continue to fight.

"Today, we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names, a quarter of a century ago - we will never, ever forget," he said. "That's why we fight today. We don't have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard, we fight to win."

The president said the U.S. is still being tested today, and is winning that test.

President Trump has started speaking at the Pentagon ceremony Friday, while the remembrance ceremony in New York City continues.

"On the 25th anniversary of this tragic day, the president will remember those who were killed at the hands of evil terrorists, honor their loved ones, and pay tribute to the brave first responders who put their lives on the line to rescue their fellow Americans," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly previously said.

Two more moments of silence have been held, to mark when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed, and when Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. They were held at 9:59 a.m. and 10:03 a.m. ET, respectively.

Two additional moments of silence are set to be held, totaling seven throughout the morning. They will be at 10:28 a.m. to mark the North Tower collapse and at 12:13 p.m., for those who died of 9/11-related health issues.

Condoleezza Rice, who was President George W. Bush's national security adviser at the time of the attacks, recalled the events of that morning.

"The attack came quite literally out of the blue," she said. "An assault on our cities that we had not experienced since the war of 1812."

Rice was at her desk at the White House when her executive assistant told her a plane had hit the World Trade Center. She thought it was an accident, as did Bush when she called him. But within 17 minutes, a second plane hit the other tower. The president was rushed to Air Force One, and Rice was hurried to a bunker in the White House.

At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld couldn't be reached. His phone simply kept ringing. It turned out that Rumsfeld was trying to pull people to safety, while his security detail begged him to get to safety.

"There was no doubt, the United States of America was at war," Rice said.

"Here at the Pentagon, we feel the presence of 184 souls who were lost," she said. "Behind every name that we recite, there is a story. A life that mattered. A future unfulfilled. A void, a vast empty space. In the heart of a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter, a sibling, a colleague or a friend."

Rice remembered the many Americans she saw who stepped up, went without sleep, and made immense sacrifices to serve their fellow Americans.

"Those of us in authority on that day did not see the nature of the danger in time to prevent the attack of 9/11," she said. "We did what we knew to do. But by definition, it was not enough."

Rice said they owe a "deep debt of gratitude" to the armed forces and intelligence services who prevented future attacks. But as national security adviser at the time, she also shared a deep sense of personal remorse that they did not prevent the attacks.

"I will always carry deep personal remorse for the pain that you, the families of the fallen still feel, and for the trauma that our country endured," she said.

The wife of a man who died in the terror attacks called on the Trump administration to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its alleged role in the tragedy.

"We finally made it into a court and have proved that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fomented a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism around the globe and then sent its agents to support the radical Islamist hijackers so they could attack you and all of our loved ones," Terry Strada said in remarks addressing her late husband, Tom Strada, during the annual reading of the names at Ground Zero.

Strada then accused American leaders of choosing to "protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families."

She called on President Trump to take action with Saudi Arabia.

"Tell them that if they want to be friends with the USA they cannot continue to deny all of this, all of the pain, all of the destruction that we have all been suffering through," Strada said.

She addressed Vice President JD Vance, who was in attendance at the ceremony: "Stand with the families, stand with the survivors, stand with Americans. As my husband Tom would have said, that is always the right thing to do."

Strada's remarks were met with applause and cheers at the traditionally solemn ceremony honoring those who were killed.

Three moments of silence have been held so far — to mark when Flights 11 and 175 crashed into the North Tower and South Tower of the World Trade Center, and when Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

They were held at 8:46 a.m., 9:03 a.m. and 9:37 a.m.