By A News Analyst | Tuesday, 08 September 2026 10:43 AM EDT
The White House senior deputy press secretary, Lauren Bis, said on Tuesday that the United States must continue confronting terrorism directly and teaching younger generations the lessons of Sept. 11 as the nation marks 25 years since the attacks.
“We have to call terrorism what it is,” Bis stated. “If you don’t call something what it is, you’re just letting it happen again and again.”
Bis, who also serves as a special assistant to President Donald Trump, previewed a White House ceremony on Tuesday honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed on Sept. 11, 2001, along with first responders and others who answered the call in the aftermath.
“It will be a special moment remembering all of the lives that were lost on 9/11 because of Islamic extremist terrorism,” Bis said. “It will be a moving day, 25 years on Friday. We look forward to honoring the Americans and remembering that pledge never to forget and never let it happen again.”
The ceremony at the Ellipse, just south of the White House, features a 21-foot, 16,900-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center’s South Tower.
The artifact is part of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s Steel Across America tour, which has carried the beam more than 10,500 miles to more than 35 stops in 21 states ahead of Friday’s anniversary. The White House stop is one of the final events of the four-and-a-half-month tour.
For Bis, the attacks also carry a personal connection. She was only in first grade on Sept. 11, but said a close call involving a neighbor helped shape her life and eventual interest in politics.
“My neighbor was supposed to be in the tower that day, but she missed her flight and it definitely had an impact on me,” Bis recalled. “I was only in the first grade, but I remember hearing those stories and how moving that it was and knowing that my friend’s mom could have been in that tower and killed.”
“It definitely had an impact on my life and my interest in politics and pursuing the career that I have today.”
The anniversary also comes as an increasing share of Americans have no personal memory of the attacks. About one-third of the U.S. population was born after Sept. 11, while at least 40 states now require or recommend that public schools address the attacks in some fashion.
Bis emphasized that remembering who carried out the attacks and confronting potential security threats remain essential 25 years later.
“We in this administration have taken a strong stance,” Bis said. “We call terrorism what it is. We have gone after public safety threats that were let into our country by Joe Biden to make sure another 9/11 isn’t able to happen on our soil.”
“It is important to not let political correctness or anything like that affect our national security,” she added.
