Long Shadow

Through a series of riveting, complex narratives, LONG SHADOW makes sense of what people know — and what they thought they knew — about the most pivotal moments in U.S. history, including Waco, Columbine, Y2K, 9/11, COVID-19, January 6, and beyond.  Hosted by Pulitzer-finalist historian, author, and journalist Garrett Graff, this Peabody-nominated podcast has been called “rigorous, authoritative, and an electrifying listen” by the Financial Times and honored as one of the year's best podcasts by The Atlantic, Audible, Mashable, Rolling Stone, and The Week. A winner of the Edward R. Murrow Award and the RFK Human Rights Journalism Award, it has also been honored with eight Signal Awards, including for Best History, Best Documentary, Best Technology, and Best Activism, Public Service, & Social Impact Podcast. The second season of LONG SHADOW has been added to the history program at the University of Houston and the third season has been integrated into Harvard Law School's curriculum on the Second Amendment. OUT September 2026: “'Never again' / What is the legacy of 9/11?" a new episode of LONG SHADOW: 9/11's LINGERING QUESTIONS, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: In the wake of the September 11 attacks, a promise echoed through the halls of the U.S. government: "Never again." Fueled by post-9/11 fear, the country’s leadership embarked on the largest bureaucratic overhaul in half a century, consolidating 22 federal agencies under the banner of the Department of Homeland Security.  The new bureau’s mission was simple: Keep the nation safe and stop the next attack at all costs. But over the years, the obligation to safeguard the homeland slowly laid the groundwork for a different kind of terror — one we’re seeing on America’s streets today. In this special episode of LONG SHADOW, released 5 years after 9/11's LINGERING QUESTIONS premiered and became the #1 history podcast on Apple Podcasts, Garrett Graff traces how the government’s response to the events of September 11 led to the buildup of a massive federal police force, an apparatus that was overtaken by a wave of corruption and criminality amounting to one of the most destructive scandals U.S. law enforcement has ever faced. "In the wake of 9/11," Graff says in the episode, "we couldn't see what was being created." What was constructed, he says, is a “national secret police force stronger and larger than our country could have imagined in August of 2001.” Listen today, and find out how we got here. LONG SHADOW is produced by the award-winning journalism studio Long Lead and distributed by PRX. For more visit www.longlead.com and www.longshadowpodcast.com.