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特朗普马斯克政治行动委员会砸钱助共和党拉票

2026年9月12日 10:23 / 联合早报

共和党超级政治行动委员会斥资约710万美元，用于投放针对民主党候选人塔拉里科的攻击性广告。 （法新社）

现在距离美国中期选举日不到八周，共和党阵营最大的两位金主——美国总统特朗普和全球首富马斯克——开始砸重金拉抬共和党选情。

路透社报道，鉴于共和党可能失去国会至少一个议院控制权的局面，且民调显示民主党选民的投票意愿更高涨，一个与特朗普关系密切的超级政治行动委员会已开始斥资数千万美元，在竞争激烈的选区预订大批电视广告时段。

特朗普目前的民意支持率处于他从政以来的最低谷。他上周告诉记者，计划投入4亿至5亿美元（约5亿零684万至6亿3355万新元），协助提振共和党的选情。

政治广告研究公司AdImpact称，与特朗普有关联的共和党超级政治行动委员会“绝不回头”（No Going Back PAC Inc），本周斥资逾7400万美元预订广告时段，覆盖15个众议院席位的角逐，以及阿拉斯加、佐治亚、密歇根、北卡罗来纳、新罕布什尔、俄亥俄这六个摇摆州的参议院选举。AdImpact说，星期五（9月11日）下午还有更多订单涌入。

AdImpact透露，新成立的“绝不回头”在密歇根州投入的资金最多，达1570万美元。

在密歇根州参议院选举中，获多位知名民主社会主义者支持的民主党候选人埃尔-赛义德（Abdul El-Sayed），在上月的民调中领先于共和党候选人罗杰斯（Mike Rogers）。

“绝不回头”在当地投放的一则广告，安插了埃尔-赛义德的访问片段。他的受访时质疑警察是否有必要携枪，并呼吁“削减警察经费”。埃尔-赛义德的发言人未立即回应置评请求。

马斯克的“美国政治行动委员会”（America PAC）和特朗普的主要筹款组织“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA Inc），近日也分别向得克萨斯州的参议院选举注资260万美元和1000万美元。

由于得州参议员席位竞争激烈，其中约710万美元将用于投放针对民主党候选人塔拉里科（James Talarico）的攻击性广告。

根据《西尔弗简报》（Silver Bulletin）汇总的民调平均值，塔拉里科目前领先共和党候选人帕克斯顿（Ken Paxton）2.1个百分点。

弗吉尼亚州咨询公司的共和党策略师戴斯普林（Brad Dayspring）说：“共和党现在必须砸下真金白银，以守住已经扩大的选区战线。”

得州是共和党的传统票仓。戴斯普林说：“当你突然不得不向得州投入数百万美元时，特朗普总统和马斯克的慷慨解囊，让共和党人有能力巩固形势告急的选战，而不会抽干其他地区的资源。”

五角大楼吁国会批准1.9万亿新元国防预算案

2026年9月12日 11:41 / 联合早报

美国总统特朗普要求国会批准1.5万亿美元的新财年国防预算，比本财年增加五成。图为五角大楼。 （路透社）

美国五角大楼一高级官员说，为补充美国在对伊朗军事冲突中大量消耗的关键防空拦截弹及远程打击武器库存，国会议员必须“采取切实行动”，批准特朗普政府提出的1.5万亿美元（约1.9万亿新元）新财年国防预算案。

美国战争部负责采购与保障事务的副部长达菲（Michael Duffey）星期五（9月11日）接受彭博社《权力平衡》节目访问时说：“我们的合同已经准备就绪，采购改革也已到位。”

他说：“我们需要为一线作战人员提供这笔资金。”

达菲不愿推测国会拒绝通过“预算协调”（Budget Reconciliation）立法程序为五角大楼优先项目拨款的风险。

“预算协调”是美国国会的一项特殊立法程序，旨在加速推进与预算、税收、支出相关的法案。

达菲强调，无论采用何种拨款机制，取得全额1.5万亿美元对于实现特朗普总统的目标是至关重要的。他说，“在接下来几个月，我们有责任与国会合作确保我们的项目获得全额资金。”

他还说，授权五角大楼与国防承包商签署为期七年的生产合同，已“激励业界投入自有资金”来提高关键弹药的产能。

被问及战争部的优先事项时，达菲说：“我们专注于对我们的竞争优势至关重要，且在全球范围内备受青睐的关键弹药——比如爱国者导弹、战斧巡航导弹、萨德拦截系统和标准导弹等武器。”

美国政府已宣布与高端弹药的主承包商及核心部件供应商达成框架协议，旨在未来几年内大幅提高产能。

达菲说：“这些投资和产能提升速度将使我们能够更快地补充已消耗的弹药，同时确保我们正在为下一代武器建设产能。”

美国总统特朗普4月3日要国会批准2.2万亿美元的2027财年可支配开支预算，包括高达1.5万亿美元的国防开支。新的国防预算比本财年的1万亿美元增加五成，是美国自二战以来增幅最大的年度国防预算。

El-Sayed ignites firestorm after sharing 9/11 message on social media: ‘Piece of s—‘

Critics highlighted the Michigan Senate candidate’s association with the streamer notorious for his 9/11 comments

2026-09-11 8:11pm EDT | Fox News

By Leo Briceno, Fox News

Published September 11, 2026 8:11pm EDT | Updated September 11, 2026 8:21pm EDT

Former GOP national spokesperson: Abdul El-Sayed’s actions are ‘so easy to condemn’

GOP political strategist Erin Maguire and former GOP national spokesperson Elizabeth Pipko discuss U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s relationship with far-left streamer Hasan Piker, examining the political fallout and how the controversy could shape Michigan’s closely-watched Senate race on ‘Fox News @ Night.’

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Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, sparked social media backlash after posting his 9/11 message on his X account.

“They didn’t just attack America that day they attacked the idea of America,” El-Sayed said.

“The notion of a nation brought together by ideals — a place where freedom and commitment to justice bind us, even if, at times, we struggle to fully realize it,” the controversial far-left candidate continued.

“Today on 9/11 we remember the lives that were taken from us in a terrible act of terrorism.”

CBS NEWS TAKES HEAT OVER REPORT ON DEM HOPEFUL ABDUL EL-SAYED’S NOW-DELETED 9/11 POSTS

Hasan Piker, left, listens as Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, speaks in a green room before a campaign rally April 7, 2026, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

Online viewers quickly reminded El-Sayed of his friendship with Hasan Piker, the progressive streamer who has gone viral multiple times for previously claiming that the U.S. “deserved 9/11.”

“Shut up, you FRAUD,” the Libs of TikTok, a conservative X account that focuses on key social and cultural issues, said in a post Friday.

Steve Guest, a frequent political commentator and a former staffer for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, echoed the criticism in a post of his own, posting a picture of Piker and El-Sayed standing together.

“This you?” Guest wrote.

He also included a caption on the photo with another one of Piker’s quotes.

“‘I hate America… at least I say it with my f—ing chest,’” the picture’s caption read.

“Campaigning with a guy who said we deserved 9/11… his brazen dishonesty makes him all the bigger piece of s—,” GOP consultant Ryan Girdusky posted on X.

“You’re a disgrace. You remain unwilling to disavow your chief spokesman who said “America deserved 9/11,” National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director Joanna Rodriguez posted on X.

“You belittled the American lives lost year after year while giving excuses and showing sympathy for terrorists.”

“Good job reading from that script buddy,” GOP digital strategist Mike Hahn wrote on X.

Joey Mannarino, the co-founder of the Overton Institute, a right-wing media group, expressed surprise that El-Sayed had gained any kind of momentum in his campaign for Senate.

EL-SAYED TORCHED ONLINE AFTER BRUSHING OFF QUESTIONS ABOUT HASAN PIKER CAMPAIGN TIES: ‘WHAT A PAL’

Hasan Piker during an interview at a New Jersey protest.(Michael Dorgan)

“How in God’s name is Abdul El-Sayed even close to winning this race? The man campaigns with people who say America deserved 9/11. He is a radical Islamist extremist if I’ve ever seen one. And this is who Michigan wants to put in the Senate?” Mannarino wrote.

In the past, El-Sayed has made statements noting he doesn’t share all of Piker’s views.

“But I want to be crystal clear, nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokesperson,” El-Sayed said after Piker called Israel a “Jewish ISIS.”

“And while politicians and pundits try to make this race about a Twitch streamer, we’re going to be talking about gas, groceries, good schools and healthcare. Because that’s what Michiganders keep asking about.”

Chuck Ross, an investigative reporter with The Washington Free Beacon, noted that El-Sayed’s post didn’t focus on the wars that followed 9/11, a topic El-Sayed has frequently invoked when speaking about the terror attack.

“El-Sayed, reading off a teleprompter, gives a statement about 9/11. This time he sticks to just 9/11 and not the ‘War on Terror’ aftermath that he usually mentions in his 9/11 anniversary posts,” Ross wrote.

In the past, El-Sayed has held up the war on terror as an example of military aggression, using it as Israel prepared to strike Gaza back in October 2023.

ABDUL EL-SAYED SAYS RALLYING WITH HASAN PIKER DOESN’T MEAN HE ENDORSES ‘AMERICA DESERVED 9/11’ REMARK

Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, speaks during a primary election night event Aug. 5, 2026, at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

“The President’s visit to Israel as it plans a major escalation & invasion of Gaza is already being held up as an endorsement of the violence being unleashed on innocent Palestinians. I can’t help but hear echoes of 9/11. When do we learn that more violence doesn’t fix violence?” El-Sayed wrote.

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El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment on why he had not made more efforts to disavow Piker.

Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.

Heroes of Flight 93 remembered for their courage 25 years on from 9/11: “I can’t ever thank them enough”

September 11, 2026 / 8:05 PM EDT / CBS News

The Flight 93 National Memorial outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, is remote. Yet every year, more than 300,000 people make the pilgrimage here to walk the flight path and stand in the presence of the 40 souls who lost their lives at the far edge of this field on Sept. 11, 2001.

“It’s gratifying for us to know that people take the time to get off the turnpike and come up and spend a few hours here to learn about the story,” Gordon Felt, who lost his 41-year-old brother Edward Felt on United Airlines Flight 93, told CBS News.

Gordon Felt attended a National Park Service ceremony Friday held at the memorial to honor the victims of Flight 93.

His brother’s final moments — and the final moments of all those innocent passengers and crew members aboard Flight 93— are a story he wants people to learn.

It is a story that I told on that first day as a CBS News reporter assigned to cover the crash. At the time, it was a mystery as to why the plane had crashed in that specific location.

Twenty-five years ago, just hours after the crash of Flight 93, in an attempt to solve that mystery, I stood in the field where the plane went down near Shanksville, holding a map of the U.S.

From flight data, I knew the plane changed course somewhere near Cleveland, Ohio. So I drew a line from Cleveland to Shanksville, and then continued a hypothetical flight path that led right to Washington, D.C.

And it was then that I got this gut feeling, like a hunch, that in the sky above me, just hours earlier, something had happened. Something not only terribly wrong, but incredibly righteous.

“The good guys won that day,” Gordon Felt said. “The bad guys were defeated.”

We now know from phone calls to the ground that Edward Felt and the rest of the passengers and crew bravely decided to storm the cockpit that morning, preventing the terrorists who had taken control of the plane from flying it to its intended target, most likely the Capitol building.

“The hope that I think we had moving forward from September 11th was our flag was still flying proudly and defiantly above the Capitol,” Gordon Felt said.

Paul Pisano was working at the Capitol building that day.

“If they hadn’t taken the action they had stood up … It’s horrific to think about,” Pisano said.

On Friday, he stood before the memorial’s Wall of Names, pausing with his hat in hand before each stone.

“I can’t ever thank them enough,” Pisano said.

On 9/11, we all wondered when America would strike back, only to learn later that we already had.

也门胡塞武装巩固红海控制 欧亚海上贸易面临冲击

2026年9月12日 08:09 / 联合早报

也门政府地方官员9月11日说，胡塞武装已占领位于曼德海峡中央的迈云岛。图为摄于9月11日的迈云岛卫星图像。 （路透社）

获伊朗支持的也门胡塞武装以闪电攻势，夺取了也门整个红海沿岸的控制权，并占领三座战略岛屿，进一步控制连接欧洲与亚洲的重要航运通道。

与此同时，沙特阿拉伯星期五（9月11日）说，沙特东西输油管道10日遭发射自伊拉克境内的无人机袭击，导致人员受伤和设施损毁，暂时关闭了这条关键的输油管道。

这些事态发展恐加剧中东战事对国际贸易的影响。

沙特支持的也门政府地方官员星期五说，胡塞武装已“占领曼德海峡（Bab al-Mandab）和迈云岛（Mayyun，又称丕林岛，Perim Island）”。迈云岛位于曼德海峡最窄处，将这个狭窄水道分隔成两条航运通道。

法新社报道，胡塞武装占领包括迈云岛在内的战略岛屿后，进一步加强对曼德海峡的控制。自7月以来，沙特油轮一直是胡塞武装的重点攻击目标。

沙特是全球最大的石油出口国。自从伊朗封锁霍尔木兹海峡、切断沙特经波斯湾霍尔木兹海峡的石油运输以来，沙特便一直依赖红海航线。

新华社报道，胡塞武装发言人萨里亚（Yahya Sarea）11日在胡塞武装控制的“马西拉”电视台（al-Masirah TV）发表声明说，胡塞武装自9月3日发起的攻势已夺取也门西部约5400平方公里的领土。

萨里亚还声称，胡塞武装与沙特战机发生了32次交火，并击落了九架战机。新华社说，无法独立核实他的说法。

伊朗最高领袖穆杰塔巴的顾问莫赫贝尔11日向胡塞武装表示祝贺，称他们取得“辉煌胜利”。

查塔姆研究所（Chatham House）研究员穆斯利米说：“现在，伊朗人不仅控制着霍尔木兹海峡，还控制了中东另一个最具战略意义的战略咽喉。”

本周，国际油价已飙升至每桶100美元（约126新元）以上，而美国柴油均价也在11日首次突破6美元（每加仑），油价和燃料价格上涨也给特朗普政府及共和党迎战11月中期选举带来政治压力。

朝鲜凌晨向东部海域发射多枚弹道导弹

2026年9月12日 08:26 / 联合早报

朝鲜8月20日下午5时许从平壤一带向东部海域发射10多枚短程弹道导弹。 （法新社）

韩国军方说，朝鲜星期六（9月12日）凌晨从元山地区向东部海域发射了多枚弹道导弹。

综合韩联社和路透社报道，韩国总统府发表声明说，朝鲜发射弹道导弹违反了联合国安理会决议，韩国国家安全委员会为此召开紧急安全评估会议。

韩联参监测到朝鲜发射短程弹道导弹，称导弹飞行了约250公里。

韩联参也说，军方已加强监视和戒备；同时，韩、美、日三国正密切共享有关导弹的情报，并保持戒备态势。

这是朝鲜时隔23天再次发射弹道导弹。朝鲜8月20日下午5时许从平壤一带向东部海域发射10多枚短程弹道导弹。据推测，朝方当时发射的可能是600毫米超大型火箭炮（KN-25）。

Trump criticizes Smithsonian’s focus on oppression

2026-09-12T03:47:41.963Z / Reuters

By Kanishka Singh

September 12, 2026 3:47 AM UTC Updated 14 mins ago

• Summary
• Trump has repeatedly criticized Smithsonian during this term
• Civil rights groups, historians condemned his actions
• Smithsonian chief announced retirement this week

WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump criticized what he called the Smithsonian’s overwhelming focus ​on oppression on Friday and called for a five-year exhibition on George Washington, in ‌his latest critique of an institution he has repeatedly attacked.

The Republican leader has denounced the Smithsonian for months, in what critics call part of a campaign to present U.S. history from a conservative point of view. On Tuesday, Smithsonian chief Lonnie ​Bunch said he was retiring.

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Trump said on Truth Social that “under recently ended leadership,” the Smithsonian ​took steps “to focus attention overwhelmingly on those who have been oppressed, but there ⁠is almost no attention paid to those who triumphed over great oppression, and against great odds.”

“I ​am calling on the Smithsonian Institution to honor the Life and Legacy of George Washington, America’s Greatest ​Hero, with a five-year exhibition at the National Museum of American History, beginning now, and continuing through, February 22, 2032, the 300th anniversary of Washington’s birth,” Trump added.

Trump said he was also calling on the Smithsonian to “erect a 30-foot (9-m) ‘Colossus ​statue’” of Washington outside the museum.

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He also asked the Smithsonian to install an 11-foot (3.4-m)statue of Washington ​that was featured at the recent Freedom 250 Grand Prix race in the museum’s Flag Hall.

The Trump administration has previously ‌threatened to ⁠cut federal funding and federal agencies’ support for the Smithsonian, with Trump expressing displeasure at what he called the institution’s excessive focus on how bad slavery was.

Last year, his administration launched a review of some museums and his White House has accused the institution’s National Museum of American History of “thinly veiled anti-Americanism.”

Trump ​has also ordered installation ​of signs outside the ⁠museum to reflect his administration’s criticism.

Historians and civil rights advocates have denounced Trump’s attacks and his accusations against the institution, saying such steps risk reversing ​social progress and undermine the acknowledgement of critical phases of U.S. history.

blob:https://www.reuters.com/6cf86417-6598-43ec-9126-812fc8aef503

Trump ​says he aims ⁠to remove “anti-American ideology.”

Bunch has said the White House’s accusations against the National Museum of American History were unfair.

The Smithsonian is a vast museum and research complex and a premier exhibition space for U.S. history and ⁠culture, with ​21 museums and galleries and the National Zoo.

Trump has targeted U.S. ​cultural and historical institutions – from museums to monuments to national parks – with his declarations and orders leading to the dismantling of ​slavery exhibits and the restoration of Confederate statues.

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Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

US judge blocks Trump administration’s ‘loyalty’ question for job applicants

2026-09-12T00:08:30.993Z / Reuters

The logo of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is seen on the outside of their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 30, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly Purchase Licensing Rights

BOSTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) – A federal judge on ​Friday blocked U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration from continuing to ask applicants for civil service jobs throughout ​the government to respond to what unions described as a partisan “loyalty question.”

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Boston

sided with
three unions representing government workers who sued last year after the administration began asking applicants for nonpartisan federal jobs to write essays explaining how they would ​help advance Trump’s policies and executive orders.

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The unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees, argued the ​question mandated by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) unlawfully politicized the hiring process for career ⁠government workers by attempting to assess their support for the Republican president.

O’Toole, an appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton, ​said the question had been asked of applicants to positions ranging from an air traffic control specialist to a crane ​operator to a nuclear materials courier.

He said the unions’ members reasonably interpreted it as an attempt to determine the applicants’ political views, even though the Civil Service Reform Act bars making employment decisions for such jobs on the basis of political affiliation.

“The plaintiffs are ​thus likely to succeed in showing that there is no legitimate governmental interest in inquiring into the political beliefs ​of applicants to federal civil service vacancies,” O’Toole wrote.

The judge halted the use of the question on grounds that it likely violated ‌the Administrative ⁠Procedure Act by infringing on speech rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

Lawyers for the unions at the liberal group Democracy Forward welcomed the ruling, saying that over 70,000 federal job postings had included the question, undermining what is supposed to be a merit-based hiring system.

“Requiring federal job applicants to answer politically motivated questions goes against the very ​nature of the nonpartisan civil ​service,” AFGE National President Everett ⁠Kelley said in a statement.

The other two unions are the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the National Association of Government Employees.

OPM did not immediately respond ​to a request for comment. It has previously defended the question as optional and ​said that it ⁠had been clear that hiring decisions could not be based on political beliefs.

It had adopted the question in response to an executive order Trump signed in January 2025 that required it to develop a hiring plan that brought into the federal ⁠workforce “only ​highly skilled Americans dedicated to the furtherance of American ideals, values, and ​interests.”

OPM in a May 2025 memo to the heads of all executive agencies set forth various actions to implement Trump’s order, including by requiring ​that job applicants be asked to respond to the essay question.

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Tom Hogue

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

特朗普马斯克政治行动委员会砸钱助共和党拉票

2026年9月12日 10:23 / 联合早报

共和党超级政治行动委员会斥资约710万美元，用于投放针对民主党候选人塔拉里科的攻击性广告。 （法新社）

现在距离美国中期选举日不到八周，共和党阵营最大的两位金主——美国总统特朗普和全球首富马斯克——开始砸重金拉抬共和党选情。

路透社报道，鉴于共和党可能失去国会至少一个议院控制权的局面，且民调显示民主党选民的投票意愿更高涨，一个与特朗普关系密切的超级政治行动委员会已开始斥资数千万美元，在竞争激烈的选区预订大批电视广告时段。

特朗普目前的民意支持率处于他从政以来的最低谷。他上周告诉记者，计划投入4亿至5亿美元（约5亿零684万至6亿3355万新元），协助提振共和党的选情。

政治广告研究公司AdImpact称，与特朗普有关联的共和党超级政治行动委员会“绝不回头”（No Going Back PAC Inc），本周斥资逾7400万美元预订广告时段，覆盖15个众议院席位的角逐，以及阿拉斯加、佐治亚、密歇根、北卡罗来纳、新罕布什尔、俄亥俄这六个摇摆州的参议院选举。AdImpact说，星期五（9月11日）下午还有更多订单涌入。

AdImpact透露，新成立的“绝不回头”在密歇根州投入的资金最多，达1570万美元。

在密歇根州参议院选举中，获多位知名民主社会主义者支持的民主党候选人埃尔-赛义德（Abdul El-Sayed），在上月的民调中领先于共和党候选人罗杰斯（Mike Rogers）。

“绝不回头”在当地投放的一则广告，安插了埃尔-赛义德的访问片段。他的受访时质疑警察是否有必要携枪，并呼吁“削减警察经费”。埃尔-赛义德的发言人未立即回应置评请求。

马斯克的“美国政治行动委员会”（America PAC）和特朗普的主要筹款组织“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA Inc），近日也分别向得克萨斯州的参议院选举注资260万美元和1000万美元。

由于得州参议员席位竞争激烈，其中约710万美元将用于投放针对民主党候选人塔拉里科（James Talarico）的攻击性广告。

根据《西尔弗简报》（Silver Bulletin）汇总的民调平均值，塔拉里科目前领先共和党候选人帕克斯顿（Ken Paxton）2.1个百分点。

弗吉尼亚州咨询公司的共和党策略师戴斯普林（Brad Dayspring）说：“共和党现在必须砸下真金白银，以守住已经扩大的选区战线。”

得州是共和党的传统票仓。戴斯普林说：“当你突然不得不向得州投入数百万美元时，特朗普总统和马斯克的慷慨解囊，让共和党人有能力巩固形势告急的选战，而不会抽干其他地区的资源。”

Gen. Dan Caine reflects on responding to 9/11 attacks: “No doubt” nation was at war

2026-09-11T21:01:00-0400 / CBS News

By

Kerry Breen News Editor

Updated on: September 12, 2026 / 12:00 AM EDT / CBS News

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.

Orders were given to try to intercept United Flight 93, which hijackers planned to fly into a federal building in Washington, D.C., shortly before it crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

“They put the responsibility on us, and they came to our wing commander, Brig. Gen. Dave Wherley,” Caine said. “He said something that I’ll never, ever forget. He said, ‘Look, Dan, I don’t know what you’re going to have to do out there, but I know you’re going to do the right thing. I trust you.’”

Some planes were put in the air so quickly that there wasn’t time to arm them with missiles. Two of those planes were piloted by squadron operations officer Lt. Col. Mark Sasseville and wingman Heather Penney. In 2021, Sasseville and Penney told CBS News they had planned to ram their aircraft into the plane. It would have been a fatal maneuver.

“In the military, we don’t send our service members on suicide missions,” Penney said. “But it was clear what needed to be done that morning.”

Caine’s jet, however, was loaded with live missiles, and he took off knowing that he might have to take down a commercial airliner. All planes had been ordered to stop flying in the airspace over Washington, D.C., with a warning given that any disobedient craft would be shot down immediately.

Gen. Dan Caine CBS News

“I remember thinking, ‘Wait a minute, that’s me that’s going to do the shooting here,’” Caine said. “And I think the biggest thing that ran through my mind is the, sort of, the fighter jet pilot prayer: ‘Dear God, please don’t let me screw this up.’ I just want to get out there and be able to do my job, to think through chaos, to remain calm through uncertainty, and if possible, protect, protect the country.”

But because the passengers aboard United Flight 93 stormed the cockpit and crashed the plane in an empty field far from any intended target, Caine didn’t have to fire, and Washington, D.C., was not directly hit. Caine praised the courage of those passengers.

“We take an oath in the military to protect and defend the United States of America. They got on an airliner, and yet they were the first ones that fought back in those dark, dark moments on September 11,” Caine said.

Caine also commended the emergency workers who responded to the crash sites.

“That is what makes our country great: to set aside that uncertainty and that fear and move towards the problem for somebody else,” Caine said.

Even 25 years later, Caine said he still remains affected by the events of the day.

“I don’t think I understood what it means to serve this country until September 11,” Caine said. “You know, I was probably a young fighter pilot who thought it was cool to fly jets, but then it got very real on September 11 and the days that followed, and the examples that the American people got on that day of courage, tenacity, grit, patriotism, remain a gift in many ways for me 25 years later.”