[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio]

Good afternoon. Thank you for gathering with the U.S. Mission to NATO in solidarity to mark the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States of America.

I'm very pleased to be joined by our Secretary General, our Deputy Secretary General.

And I'm very proud to have my colleagues, the Ambassadors from all 28 of our [NATO] allies standing behind me today.

We pause here today in front of this monument of metal twisted by hate and violence to remember the nearly 3,000 victims from more than 90¹ countries who were taken from us when terrorists attacked my country.

As we stand here, we also remember the heroes of that day, including the first responders and the firefighters who raced into harm’s way to rescue and the ordinary citizens who put their own lives at risk to help complete strangers.

We remember all of them.

And we remember how we felt that day.

We will never forget that when the United States was attacked, our NATO Allies had our back. Article 5 was invoked for the first and only time in the Alliance’s history sending the message loud and clear: When one of us is attacked, we are all attacked.

From then until now, the scourge of terrorism has indeed affected other Allies: Madrid, Paris, Istanbul, Brussels, London. We remember those victims today as well.

As an Alliance, we have responded. Standing shoulder to shoulder, we are fighting terrorism in Afghanistan. Together, we're training Iraqi forces to help prevent the return of ISIS. We are projecting stability to ensure that there will never again be a haven where this kind of malevolence can germinate into plans that reach our homes and cause such harm.

9/11 was not just an attack on America. It was not just an attack on 3,000 innocent citizens. It was an attack on who we are. It was an attack on our freedom of speech, an attack on our freedom of religion, our freedom to choose our leaders, and the freedom to choose our quality of life.

NATO was the answer 70 years ago, when we first came together to provide for our collective security; and it is still the answer today.

For two things remain constant: There will always be people who want to destroy our values -- our values and the freedom we cherish. But two, as long as we remain united, we will always defeat the minions of tyranny.

[At this point, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg delivers remarks not included here but see "Video Note" below.]

I want to also recognize the members of our military committee, who are standing with us today in this long fight that we are having for our way of life and who we are.

And now I would like to do what all Americans do throughout the world on this very day, and that is at this time 18 years ago a dark cloud descended on our country. And we would like to ask you to join us for a moment silence.

Thank you.

Most of us remember where we were at this time 18 years ago. And thank you for helping us to never forget.

Thank you.