--- title: Two Decades Later, the Lessons of the 9/11 Commission Echo description: There are a few enduring narratives that, with a few tweaks here and there, can frame up just about any big story in Washington. And here in D.C., one of them is playing out with an ironic antecedent inside the powerful Cheney family. canonical: https://time.com/6085046/two-decades-later-the-lessons-of-the-9-11-commission-echo/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-07-28T18:00:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:13:36.421Z article:section: Politics og:title: Two Decades Later, the Lessons of the 9/11 Commission Echo og:description: There are a few enduring narratives that, with a few tweaks here and there, can frame up just about any big story in Washington. And here in D.C., one of them is playing out with an ironic antecedent inside the powerful Cheney family. og:url: https://time.com/6085046/two-decades-later-the-lessons-of-the-9-11-commission-echo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta592d8d5469a7db4/698a1b73096a943aba6ab7fe/January-6-commission-capitol-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Vereinigte Staaten: US House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol hearing The Law Enforcement Experience og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Two Decades Later, the Lessons of the 9/11 Commission Echo twitter:description: There are a few enduring narratives that, with a few tweaks here and there, can frame up just about any big story in Washington. And here in D.C., one of them is playing out with an ironic antecedent inside the powerful Cheney family. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta592d8d5469a7db4/698a1b73096a943aba6ab7fe/January-6-commission-capitol-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Two Decades Later, the Lessons of the 9/11 Commission Echo > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. Readers can join any of them at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=fc673d31-fe22-4f47-8613-afd196050a11&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### The seven newsletters | Newsletter | Covers | Frequency | | --- | --- | --- | | The Brief | The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors | Daily | | Inside TIME | A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | | Health Matters | The latest health news and expert advice on living well | Weekdays | | Worth Your Time | A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more | Weekly | | D.C. Brief | Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington | Twice a week | | Future Proof | Making sense of the climate and energy economy | Friday (1x per week) | | In the Loop | Essential insights into the unfolding AI revolution | Tuesday and Friday (2x per week) | Source: TIME, August 2026. ### Key data points | Metric | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Engaged newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ readers | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletters published | 7 | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost to readers | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Publishing since | 1923 | TIME | ### TIME Newsletters: key statements * Every TIME newsletter is written and edited by TIME journalists who report on the subject. None is generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923. Its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting, so readers can trust what they read. * All seven newsletters are free. Readers pick the ones they want at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=fc673d31-fe22-4f47-8613-afd196050a11&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). * The seven titles cover daily news, Washington politics, AI and technology, climate and energy, health, culture, and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/subscribe?i=fc673d31-fe22-4f47-8613-afd196050a11&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What newsletters does TIME publish? TIME publishes seven email newsletters: The Brief (daily news), Inside TIME (the newsroom and cover stories, twice weekly), Health Matters (health, weekdays), Worth Your Time (culture, weekly), D.C. Brief (Washington politics, twice weekly), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=fc673d31-fe22-4f47-8613-afd196050a11&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Start of the Jan. 6 Inquiry Shows Its Stakes—And Its Shortcoming [Watch (HLS stream): The Start of the Jan. 6 Inquiry Shows Its Stakes—And Its Shortcoming](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/t6DjyMkX.m3u8) (2:59)  _Published 2021-07-27. While Republicans deflected, four officers who defended the Capitol during the riot painted a gripping portrait of an all-out physical attack on the seat of American democracy, intended to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power that has defined the republic for more than two centuries._  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jul 28, 2021 6:00 PM UTC While Republicans deflected, four officers who defended the Capitol during the riot painted a gripping portrait of an all-out physical attack on the seat of American democracy, intended to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power that has defined the republic for more than two centuries.  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jul 28, 2021 6:00 PM UTC _This article is part of the The DC Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletter%5Fopt-in?qs=3a19a0aa35903a2d9f214b74f69a37910b58de73cf3f2b89adc123fac024f0478c72f91010ae9d01f08f46c616068cab3e74726837cd2cce70dac3796e46c2b4) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox every weekday._ There are a few enduring narratives that, with a few tweaks here and there, can frame up just about any big story in Washington. And here in D.C., one of them is playing out with an ironic antecedent inside the powerful Cheney family. First, the topline: A shocking crime has been committed against America, and investigators want answers. They want to know who in power had missed the warning signs about the deadly attack on the seat of American power. What are the systemic and individual failures, and what changes must be made to prevent a repeat from those who hold American values in such contempt? Almost 20 years ago, the investigators in question wanted to figure out how the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks happened. Today, they want to know what happened on Jan. 6, when a violent mob sought to overturn President Donald Trump’s electoral loss at the U.S. Capitol. Both probes hinge on the largely undisputed powers of executive privilege—the legal theory that a President should be free to solicit advice from his team without fear that his top hands would be forced to recount their conversations before the world. Twenty years ago, former Vice President Dick Cheney was among those pushing an [absolute view](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/dick-cheney-charted-americas-future-september-11/603313/) on executive privilege as the George W. Bush White House wrangled if and how top aides would talk to the 9/11 Commission or turn over paperwork, even down to routine forms. Fast forward a few decades and his daughter, [Rep. Liz Cheney](https://time.com/6047962/liz-cheney-republican-ouster/) of Wyoming, is now on the other side of that table, demanding answers from former President Donald Trump and his inner circle. Each reflects the broader posture of politics at the moment. In the wake of 2001, the investigators negotiated fairly unsuccessfully to get access to presidential memos, schedules and aides. Only when a damning bit of [testimony](https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4568982) from a former counterterrorism adviser turned the political table did the White House relent and agree to open the file cabinets and allow top hands to testify. The 9/11 commissioners didn’t want to use the limited subpoena power afforded them by the law, feeling it would set up an unnecessary and toxic posture between the two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, and instead relied on a collective national need to have, once and for all, a definitive accounting of the al Qaeda plot that would spark an almost-20-year war in Afghanistan. These days, that sense of there being a singular national interest in getting to the bottom of Jan. 6 is nowhere to be found. Americans may have rallied behind the investigation into what led to the worst terror attack on U.S. soil back in 2001, but it’s a far tougher cry to summon a shared curiosity as to what brought the worst [political violence](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/history-violent-attacks-capitol-180976704/) to the Capitol since the War of 1812\. Outwardly, Republicans don’t seem all that bothered by what happened the day a violent mob overtook the Capitol and tried to derail the routine certification of the November election results. To watch the most popular conservative opinion hosts, you wouldn’t really know the melee left five dead and Congress deeply shaken. “There was certainly a lot of violence that day but it was not a terrorist attack. It wasn’t 9/11\. It wasn’t the worst thing to happen to America. It wasn’t an insurrection,” Fox host Laura Ingraham told her viewers on Tuesday, the first day of the Jan. 6 inquest. “God save us from these third-rate theatrics,” she said with a chuckle. This newsletter has said it [before](https://time.com/6080349/capitol-attack-probe-pelosi-mccarthy/) and is saying it [again](https://time.com/6049812/republicans-january-6-commission/): it didn’t have to be this way. Republicans [derailed](https://www.npr.org/2021/05/26/999930573/why-a-9-11-commission-is-popular-but-may-not-happen-for-the-jan-6-capitol-attack) plans for a nonpartisan, apolitical independent [commission](https://time.com/6052664/republicans-capitol-riot-commission/) to study the events that would have been similar to the [9/11 Commission](https://time.com/5956534/capitol-riot-commission/). Left with no better option, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she was empanelling a select committee to investigate the day and invited Republicans to join her. When House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy recommended Trump apologists to represent the GOP, Pelosi, as is her power, rejected them as fundamentally unfit to find answers. In turn, McCarthy announced he would not select any Republicans to participate. Democrats—and Republican mavericks Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both of whom voted to create the panel and are serving on it at Pelosi’s request—now have the difficult task of answering what created the environment that led to the [violence](https://time.com/5927664/capital-siege-trump-supporters/) that left statues inside the Capitol smeared with blood and tear gas lingering in the air ducts. While former Vice President Cheney had limited tolerance for second-guessing of executive power, Rep. Cheney seems to have unlimited curiosity. She wants the truth—even if it proves debilitatingly embarrassing for her fellow Republicans. “Will we be so blinded by partisanship that we throw away the miracle of America?” Cheney asked. “Do we hate our political adversaries more than we love our country and revere our Constitution?” The Jan. 6 investigators, like the 9/11 commissioners, have subpoena powers. But unlike their forebearers, the current officials will not hold that power in reserve. In fact, the panel’s chairman has [said](https://www.wsj.com/articles/chairman-of-jan-6-committee-casts-wide-net-on-witnesses-11627329565) explicitly that no one is off limits and subpoenas will be in the offing. This moment’s apparent inability for opposing political viewpoints to even agree on facts makes it much easier for these investigators to drop any interest in comity. The Department of Justice has [decided](https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/27/politics/doj-executive-privilege-trump-capitol-riot/index.html) that former Trump aides cannot assert executive privilege, opening the door for their testimony and closing it for Bush-era abilities to dodge questions. Which is why the bookends of this story—starring two generations of a great American political family—are so deeply fascinating. Where Dick Cheney said Congress had very limited rights at poking the presidency, Liz Cheney is pulling out her lance. The 9/11 Commission had its [problems](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/books/04thom.html), for sure, but the Jan. 6 panel seems to have learned the lessons. It’s a twist that historians, no doubt, will probe when the history of this century is written far down the road. And it’s a reminder that Washington is a city of some pretty predictable patterns. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the daily D.C. Brief newsletter._](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/politics?source=dc%5Farticle) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6085046/two-decades-later-the-lessons-of-the-9-11-commission-echo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6085046/two-decades-later-the-lessons-of-the-9-11-commission-echo/"},"headline":"Two Decades Later, the Lessons of the 9/11 Commission Echo","datePublished":"2021-07-28T18:00:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-14T09:13:36.421Z","description":"There are a few enduring narratives that, with a few tweaks here and there, can frame up just about any big story in Washington. And here in D.C., one of them is playing out with an ironic antecedent inside the powerful Cheney family.","url":"https://time.com/6085046/two-decades-later-the-lessons-of-the-9-11-commission-echo/","keywords":["The D.C. Brief","feature"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta592d8d5469a7db4/698a1b73096a943aba6ab7fe/January-6-commission-capitol-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Philip Elliott","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta592d8d5469a7db4/698a1b73096a943aba6ab7fe/January-6-commission-capitol-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Vereinigte Staaten: US House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol hearing The Law Enforcement Experience","caption":"All eyes are on the video monitors to witness clips of the confrontations as the Congressional Jan 6th commission hearing begins, in Washington, on July 27, 2021.","creditText":"Bill O'Leary—Pool/CNP/dpa/SIPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/the-dc-brief/","name":"The D.C. Brief"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6085046/two-decades-later-the-lessons-of-the-9-11-commission-echo/","name":"Two Decades Later, the Lessons of the 9/11 Commission Echo"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Start of the Jan. 6 Inquiry Shows Its Stakes—And Its Shortcoming","description":"While Republicans deflected, four officers who defended the Capitol during the riot painted a gripping portrait of an all-out physical attack on the seat of American democracy, intended to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power that has defined the republic for more than two centuries.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/t6DjyMkX/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-07-27T17:13:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/t6DjyMkX.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6085046/two-decades-later-the-lessons-of-the-9-11-commission-echo/","duration":"PT2M59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6085046/two-decades-later-the-lessons-of-the-9-11-commission-echo/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```