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>> Hi, my name is Anthony Alvarez,

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and I'm a special agent
with Homeland Security

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Investigations
here in the New York office.

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We're standing here today at the site
of the World Trade Center

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Memorial at the footprint
of the Twin Towers,

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where the Twin Towers once
stood in Lower Manhattan.

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Here, to talk
about 9/11

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and why I serve. 911
was very significant for me.

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I started my career
in law enforcement

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in the United States Coast Guard
here in the New York City area,

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right in the shadow
of the Twin Towers.

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On 9/11, I was working out of state
as a corrections officer.

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I had left New York and I was working
in a jail out of state

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and the inmates
were watching television.

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I was just supervising and we saw
what looked like a tragic plane crash.

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I had no idea it was a terror incident.
I thought it was just pilot error

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crashing into the buildings
and then they cut us off.

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They cut all communications off

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and we had no idea what was
going on in the country.

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I was working an eight
to four shift,

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eight a.m. to four p.m.
I didn't get relief until midnight

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and I didn't know what was happening
until midnight. At midnight

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when I got out of work
and I found out what happened,

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I was just devastated.

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It was just shocking to see
right in my backyard.

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You know, I grew up
just across the river

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from here in Hudson County,
New Jersey.

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And those towers were always
in my line of view

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before I went to bed
and when I woke up in the morning.

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So to see that they were gone.
It was a shock, just shock.

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And you know, I said,
I have to do something.

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Shortly thereafter, I ended up
coming back to New York

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because I felt weird
being out of the area.

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This happened
in my hometown

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and I just felt like
I had to get back.

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So I moved back to New York

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and immediately started trying to get
back into federal law enforcement.

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What 9/11 did was it
created a big,

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a big surge in federal
law enforcement hiring,

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specifically the Department
of Homeland Security.

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DHS started getting formed
and opportunities came about,

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and I ended up coming back
to Federal Service

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with the Department of Transportation's
Transportation Security Administration.

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I started there.

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I eventually ended up in
Customs and Border Protection.

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Then ICE and now HSI.  9/11

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had a very significant
impact on my life,

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both as a,
as an American,

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as a veteran and and as
a law enforcement officer.

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It gave me my my career back, right.
I had left federal law enforcement

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and now this event happened
and there was a need for people to serve

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and I was able to get back in and serve,
and that's why I'm here today.

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You know, as sad
as that event was,

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you know, it's just it
pains me to be here

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and these two buildings
are not there.

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I grew up with these buildings
in my backdrop, my whole life.

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And it hurts that they're not here.
But at the same time,

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it gave me the opportunity
to do what I do

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so that something like that
never happens again, right?

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I'm focused and determined,

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as are all my coworkers
in Homeland Security,

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to never let something
like this happen again.

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So I'm just grateful
for that opportunity to serve.