Twenty-five years after 9/11, is the United States better prepared to prevent another terrorist attack?
The Center for Immigration Studies will convene a panel to examine that question, discussing the role immigration and border security played in the attacks, the major policy changes that followed, and the national-security challenges that remain.
Former U.S. Senator and Attorney General Jeff Sessions will introduce the panel and offer brief remarks. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest at the time of the attacks, Sessions was deeply involved in congressional oversight of immigration and national security in the years following 9/11.
The September 8 panel at 2 p.m. will examine how the attacks reshaped U.S. immigration policy, including the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, changes to visa screening and information sharing, and increased attention to border security. The panel will also revisit the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission: What was implemented? What was left undone? In addition, a European security expert will discuss how 9/11 affected policy there as well.
DATE: September 8, 2026 at 2:00PM ET
PANELISTS:
- Andrew R. Arthur, CIS Fellow in Law and Policy, who served as immigration oversight counsel to House Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner beginning in July 2001 and worked on major post-9/11 immigration and national-security legislation.
- George Fishman, CIS Senior Legal Fellow, who served for two decades as Republican Chief Counsel of the House Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee and worked on major post-9/11 immigration and national-security legislation.
- Jessica M. Vaughan, CIS Director of Policy Studies, who was at CIS on 9/11 and specializes in immigration screening, visa programs, immigration enforcement, and public safety.
- Viktor Marsai, CIS Fellow, Director, Migration Policy Institute in Budapest, and professor of security studies at Ludovika University of Public Service.
Mark Krikorian, CIS executive director, will moderate.
LOCATION: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2237, 50 Independence Ave SW, Washington, D.C.