President Joe Biden is due at a ceremony inside Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Monday to lead the nation as it solemnly remembers those who died during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The president will spend the time some 3,400 miles from ground zero in New York City due to a stopover on his return from a trip to India and Vietnam. He is set to speak in front of 1,000 first responders and their families.
First lady Jill Biden is due to lay a wreath at the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will also be in attendance.
As Breitbart News reported, Biden will be the first president to commemorate Sept. 11 in Alaska rather than the traditional New York City, Virginia or Pennsylvania events.
He and his predecessors have gone to one or another of the attack sites in most years, though Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Barack Obama each marked the anniversary on the White House lawn at times.
President Joe Biden (C) calls out as he is joined by (L-R) former President Bill Clinton, former First Lady Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama, First Lady Jill Biden and former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2021 during the annual 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony in New York City. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Obama followed one of those observances by recognizing the military with a visit to Fort Meade in Maryland.
For his part, Biden has marked the anniversary of Sept. 11 in different locations in each of his three years in office so far. He traveled to all three sites in 2021 for the 20th anniversary and attended a Pentagon ceremony in 2022.
He drew criticism in 2021 when he did not address the nation to mark the 20th anniversary of the event, as Breitbart News reported.
In a stunning decision, President Joe Biden will not address the nation on September 11th to mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. https://t.co/B2Iv6FTCqE
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) September 11, 2021
Former President Donald Trump delivered remarks at the Pentagon memorial to mark 9/11 in 2017 and 2019.
In 2018 and 2020, Trump spoke at the Flight 93 memorial.
As for the rest of the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris will be at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in lower Manhattan to honor the lives lost in the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield will join the vice president in New York.
File/President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive at the Flight 93 National Memorial commemorating the 19th anniversary of the crash of Flight 93 and the September 11th terrorist attacks on September 11, 2020 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will visit Shanksville, Pennsylvania, for a ceremony honoring the victims of United Airlines Flight 93, the only one of the four planes that day that did not reach its intended target after passengers attempted to overpower the hijackers.
And Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough will take part in a 9/11 National Day of Service event at a VA cemetery in Baltimore.
