Joe Biden to visit all three sites of September 11 hijacking attacks to mark 20th anniversary

On Saturday, Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit New York City, where two airliners destroyed the World Trade Centre and killed 2,753 people in 2001

Biden on Friday ordered the Department of Justice to review documents from the FBI’s investigation into the attacks for declassification and release

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A US flag posted in the rubble of the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 5:08am, 5 Sep 2021Updated: 5:08am, 5 Sep 2021

US President Joe Biden will visit all three sites of the September 11 hijacking attacks next week to honour the nearly 3,000 people killed and mark the 20th anniversary of the most lethal terrorist assault on US soil, the White House said.

On Saturday, Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit New York City, where two airliners destroyed the World Trade Centre and killed 2,753 people; the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, where a third airliner crashed; and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where passengers forced down a fourth aircraft believed to have been headed to the US Capitol or White House.

Vice-President Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff will travel to Shanksville for a separate event, then join the Bidens at the Pentagon, the White House said.

Biden on Friday ordered the Department of Justice to review documents from the FBI’s investigation into the attacks for declassification and release.

The order requires US Attorney General Merrick Garland to make the declassified documents public over the next six months as it oversees “a declassification review of documents” related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) review.