Bad weather forced Panetta to scratch plans to visit Shanksville, Pa., where hijackers flew United Flight 93 into the ground, killing all 40 passengers and crew shortly after the coordinated terrorist attack began in New York.
Noting that many of al-Qaeda's top leaders, including Osama bin Laden, have been captured or killed in recent months, Panetta said the nature of the terrorist threat had evolved to the point where al-Qaeda "nodes" outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan were now the most dangerous.
"Yemen has risen to the top of the list," he said.
Panetta's New York visit gave him an early glimpse at the memorial, with its majestic 30-foot walls of water that hug the sides of one-acre reflecting pools that encompass the ground where the twin towers stood. The water is meant to signify falling tears.
Panetta also took a peek inside the entrance to the museum, which is still under construction. And he was shown the "Survivor Tree," a non-fruit-bearing pear tree that was rescued from the World Trade Center grounds after the attacks. It stands amid the white oaks, near the reflecting pool at the former South Tower.
Dozens of workers scrambled Tuesday morning to put the finishing touches on the memorial, planting ivy as ground cover around the 225 white oak trees that surround the reflecting pools.
The 9/11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, including 184 at the Pentagon. The names of every person who died in the attacks, including those at the Pentagon and near Shanksville, are inscribed in bronze panels that edge the reflecting pools at the twin towers site.
Panetta's spokesman, Doug Wilson, said the Pentagon chief wanted to visit Shanksville and New York to highlight the role the military has played over the last decade in preventing attacks on the homeland.
