Kristen Breitweiser

Head shot of Kristen Breitweiser
Kristen Breitweiser, 9/11 widow, activist and lawyer, is known for pressuring
official Washington to provide a public accounting to the American people of
what went wrong on the morning of September 11 and in the months leading up to the disaster that claimed the life of her husband and more than 3000 others.

Breitweiser did not seek to be an activist. She was a stay-at-home mother in
suburban New Jersey when her husband was killed. Yet Breitweiser and the other so-called "Jersey Girls" (now September 11 Advocates) transformed by their grief and outraged by a lack of accountability are widely credited with
forcing the creation of the 9/11 Commission and were instrumental in insuring
the passage in Congress of the national security reforms the 9/11 Commission
recommended. She testified before the Joint Inquiry of Congress in September
2002 and the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in August 2004 with regard to national security reforms. She wrote a book called, "Wake Up Call, The Political Education of a 9/11 Widow." Breitweiser continues to be active
working on victims' rights issues including the closure of GTMO detention
facility, Sudan Claims Resolution Act (SCRA) legislation, the U.S. Victims of
State Sponsored Terrorism Fund (USVSSTF) legislation, Justice Against State
Sponsors of Terrorism Legislation(JASTA), and the 9/11 Transparency and
Accountability Act.

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