Kristen Breitweiser

Kristen Breitweiser, 9/11 widow and activist, 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 and a George Bush supporter. Yet Breitweiser and the other so-called "Jersey Girls" 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 it 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 campaigned as a primary surrogate for the Kerry-Edwards Presidential Campaign in 2004. Breitweiser lives in New York City with her six-year old daughter, Caroline Whitney and her golden retriever, Cooper.