I was at CNN in Washington, DC on 9/11/01. Someone in the newsroom gave me a digital camera and told me to walk over to the Capitol to film things.
"Am I just waiting for more things to explode?"
"Yeah, whatever happens."
I dutifully walked over to the Capitol and waited, camera ready. A Capitol police officer -- there was just one on the scene -- said, "You might not want to get so close. There's still a plane unaccounted for."
In the months after 9/11, we tried to make sense of how the world was changing around us, and tried to answer basic questions: How much liberty were we willing to sacrifice for security? Was there such a thing as "winning" this "war"? And what is life worth?
For a piece called "The Enemy Within," CNN sent me to Florida to interview the Al-Arian family, whose brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar, was being held on secret evidence as a national security threat.
In 2005, CNN Presents sent me to Spain, which was actively trying to integrate new immigration communities into its society at a time other countries were closing their borders and cracking down for a piece called "Winning the War on Terror."
Although the country rallied in the initial days after 9/11, families were torn apart when price tags were placed on human lives. CNN Presents: "Twists of Fate."