Most high school juniors’ top priorities include their SAT scores, relationship problems, and trying to find a parking spot on Burnet. But for junior, Kaitlyn Strada, trying to stop terrorism is first on her radar. Kaitlyn has been actively involved with her mother, Terry Strada, in the fight against terrorism. Kaitlyn lost her father, Thomas Strada, in the September 11th attacks in 2001. Kaitlyn’s mother is the national co-chair founder of 9/11 Families United Against Sponsors of Terrorism which represents the thousands of people involved in the lawsuit against Saudi Arabia regarding September 11th. Terry Strada is also involved in the fight of having the redacted twenty-eight pages of the 9/11 report held by the US government for unclear reasons declassified.
On September 9, 2014, Kaitlyn attended a press conference held by Congressman Walter B. Jones in Washington, D.C. with her mother and younger brother Justin. Congressman Jones introduced House Resolution 428, which urges the president to release the 28 missing pages from 9/11 reports to become open for the public to read. He feels that the declassification of the pages will make America a safer place by educating the public in full detail of by who and why the 9/11 attacks were perpetrated. Kaitlyn pleaded President Obama to declassify the missing pages for her and the other thousands of children who lost parents on 9/11.
The press conference has been picked up by major news networks including CNN and Aljazeera. Kaitlyn hopes her emotional speech reaches President Obama and that he is touched by her story and reconsiders his choices.
If you’d like to view the press conference, please click the link below.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4dbP2vwTEE