9-11 Anniversary: U.S. Attorney Reflects On Tragedy
Like most of us, U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner will never forget what he was doing that morning when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.
"I was taking my son to school, heard it on the radio," he says.
He heard: "The nation is on full terrorist alert. Planes crashing into the World Trade Center."
He reacted like most of us.
"I was just kind of in a state of shock," he says. "I pulled over to the side of the road, just to listen to the radio."
He heard: "Breaking news on WCBS 880 right here right now, oh my god this is horrible. It looks like the north tower of the World Trade Center has just collapsed."
But Wagner is not like most of us. He's the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District in California. His office is in downtown Sacramento. And he's a native of Brooklyn.
"It hit me pretty personally," he says.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Wagner was working as a federal prosecutor in Sacramento.
He once worked in a law firm in lower Manhattan, not far from the Twin Towers, and one of his friends was in one of those towers on that day.
"Of course being in New York, I had a friend on the 88th floor and just a few floors below where one of the planes hit," he said.
His friend lived to tell the story.
"He was in a conference room," Wagner said. "His back was to the window, but he was talking to some people on the other side of the table who were looking out and saw the plane approaching and he said he saw the expression on his face and turned around just in time to see the plane. He got out alive.
"Unfortunately, many other people didn't."
For much of his career Wagner has been studying terrorists and how they recruit new members.
He says foreign terrorists are recruiting not just young Middle Eastern men. They're also signing up American men.
"Born and raised in America, converts, they look like Anglo-American citizens who have been here for centuries," he says
Wagner says terrorists are looking for people who are alienated from society, who can be motivated, and who are angry.
And while he says the threat of terrorism is still very real, 10 years after 9-11, Wagner also believes in the future.
"I think better days are ahead of us in terms of getting a handle on this problem," he says.
