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President Bush's travels on 9/11. [Source: Yvonne Vermillion / MagicGrapix.com]Air Force One begins heading for Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana after the base is identified as a suitable interim destination for the president's plane. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 325] Washington, DC, was the plane's original destination. [White House, 8/29/2002; Lompoc Record, 9/11/2011] But after taking off from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport in Florida without a fixed destination (see 9:54 a.m. September 11, 2001), Air Force One changed course at around 10:10 a.m. and headed west (see (10:10 a.m.) September 11, 2001). This was because it had been determined that Washington was too unsafe for President Bush to return there (see (9:55 a.m.-10:04 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 39, 325] At that time, the plane's new destination was undecided. Military Base Sought for President to Make a Statement - Andrew Card, Bush's chief of staff, who is with the president on Air Force One, will later recall, "And so we started looking at potential Air Force bases or Navy bases where we could land the plane." [White House, 8/16/2002] Mark Rosenker, the director of the White House Military Office, will recall that Card comes up to him in the communications area of the plane and says, "We need to find a facility, a base that we can get to in a relatively short period of time so that the president can make a statement." [White House, 8/29/2002] Secret Service Told of Bush's Desire to Land - Card will recall: "I had a goal of landing the plane within an hour and a half. It was somewhat arbitrary, but I wanted to get the president down." [White House, 8/16/2002] Card similarly tells Edward Marinzel, the head of the president's Secret Service detail, that Bush wants to land so he can make a statement to the press. It is also noted "that the stop would provide an opportunity for the airplane to be refueled and those on board to effect necessary communication," Marinzel will say. [United States Secret Service, 2001] Offutt Air Base Rejected as Destination - Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gould, Bush's military aide, quickly researches the possibilities. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 325] The first plan that is considered, according to Rosenker, is to fly all the way out to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, but this idea is dismissed because it would take too long to get there, and it is "very important to the president to address the nation and make sure that the people could see that he was safe and in total control of the situation." [White House, 8/29/2002] (Air Force One will in fact head to Offutt later in the day, landing there at 2:50 p.m. (see 2:50 p.m. September 11, 2001).) Barksdale Makes 'the Greatest Sense' - Instead, at around 10:20 a.m., Gould identifies Barksdale Air Force Base as "an appropriate interim destination," according to the 9/11 Commission Report. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 325-326] Rosenker will recall: "Barksdale made the greatest sense to us. It was a highly secure Air Force base, had B-52s there; they had the capability to do what was necessary to secure Air Force One and to make sure that the president was safe, and make sure that we could provide the appropriate communications facility so the president could make his statement." [White House, 8/29/2002] Bush Agrees with Decision to Head to Barksdale - The final decision to head to Barksdale Air Base is made by Card, "after talking to the military and the Secret Service," according to White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. [Fleischer, 2005, pp. 142] Bush agrees with the decision and Barksdale becomes his plane's new destination. [Bush, 2010, pp. 130; Rove, 2010, pp. 255] Air Force One will land at Barksdale Air Force Base at around 11:45 a.m. (see 11:45 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 325]
Entity Tags: Ari Fleischer, Edward Marinzel, Andrew Card, Mark Rosenker, Thomas Gould, George W. Bush
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, George Bush
An air traffic controller at the FAA's Boston Center is concerned about an unidentified aircraft flying in from the east, approaching Cape Cod. Colin Scoggins, the military liaison at the Boston Center in Nashua, New Hampshire, has noticed the large, slow-moving target on his radar screen. It is just off the coast and heading directly for Boston. Concerned as to what the aircraft is, he phones the Fleet Area Control and Surveillance Facility in Virginia Beach, Virginia. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 242] The facility, known by its call sign, "Giant Killer," is the Navy air traffic control agency that handles all over-water military operations. [New York Times, 2/10/1997; Spencer, 2008, pp. 143] Scoggins says: "We have a large, slow-moving target approaching Cape Cod and heading for Boston. Do you have it? What is it?" The person at Giant Killer only replies, "We're looking," and then mentions, "We've got a fleet of ships heading toward the northeast and an Aegis cruiser [a high-tech warship] on the way." Scoggins is worried that Giant Killer is unable to specifically identify the target he is seeing on his radar screen. It appears to be flying straight toward the Boston Center. He thinks to himself, "If I wanted to use airliners to attack a country, I would take out their air traffic control facilities!" Scoggins continues watching the suspicious aircraft on his radar screen. Shortly afterward, the Boston Center will be evacuated after the FAA's New England regional office calls it and reports an unidentified aircraft heading toward the facility (see (Shortly After 10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Spencer, 2008, pp. 242-243] This is apparently a different aircraft to the one Scoggins is tracking. [Federal Aviation Administration, 9/20/2001; Federal Aviation Administration, 3/21/2002] Whether the plane Scoggins is tracking is ever identified is unclear.
Entity Tags: Fleet Area Control and Surveillance Facility, Colin Scoggins
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events
William Haynes. [Source: C-SPAN]Timothy Flanigan, the deputy White House counsel, and John Bellinger, senior associate counsel to the president and legal adviser to the National Security Council, discuss whether the president has the legal authority to order the shooting down of a civilian aircraft and Flanigan then consults a Pentagon lawyer to get his opinion on the issue. [C-SPAN, 2/28/2009; Eichenwald, 2012, pp. 35-36] President Bush authorized the US military to shoot down hostile aircraft in a phone call with Vice President Dick Cheney at 10:18 a.m., according to the 9/11 Commission Report (see 10:18 a.m.-10:20 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 41] Flanigan, who is in the White House Situation Room, has heard about this and understands the reasons for Bush's directive, but is concerned about its legality. He approaches Bellinger, mentions the shootdown order, and asks, "Do we have the legal authority nailed down for this?" Bellinger hands him an instant transcript of the conversation between Bush and Cheney. "Here's the authority," he says. White House Lawyer Wants to Know the Opinion of the Military - Flanigan will later recall that he is currently certain of two things regarding the shootdown authorization. Firstly, since it has already been given, "any legal analysis was going to be woefully behind the event." And secondly, he knows it "was completely justified as a matter of the president's exercise of commander-in-chief authority to repel an immediate attack." All the same, he feels uncomfortable. He realizes this is an issue for the military to consider. He therefore instructs an officer in the Situation Room to track down Defense Department General Counsel William Haynes. He is soon on the phone with the lawyer, who is at the Pentagon this morning, and tells him what he read in the transcript of Bush and Cheney's conversation. Haynes says he already knows about the shootdown authorization. "We need the best possible rational legal basis for this," Flanigan explains. "We've got commander-in-chief authority," he continues, but adds, "Is there any other authority we can rely on?" Haynes says he will look into this. Pentagon Lawyer Determines that Only the President Can Issue a Shootdown Order - Haynes thinks the most obvious issue with the shootdown authorization is constitutional, according to journalist and author Kurt Eichenwald. "Under the 14th Amendment, the passengers on those planes could not be deprived of their rights to life, liberty, and property without due process of law," and "shooting them out of the sky didn't meet that standard," Eichenwald will write. Furthermore, Haynes thinks, the Fourth Amendment prohibits "unreasonable search and seizure," and shooting down a commercial aircraft "would be quite a dramatic seizure" of the citizens on board. All the same, he knows that "the preamble of the Constitution spoke of providing for a common defense and promoting the general welfare," and, "Under Article 2, the president was the commander in chief of the military." He therefore determines that the issue of possibly shooting down a commercial aircraft is "a matter of self-defense, of protecting the citizenry, balanced against the rights of the passengers." With this in mind, he concludes that a shootdown order "could be lawfully issued… but only by the president." He soon returns to the phone and gives Flanigan his opinion. Lawyer Says a NORAD Statute Authorizes Shooting Down Hostile Aircraft - However, according to Flanigan's later recollection, Haynes gives a very different explanation why the president's shootdown authorization was legal than the reasoning Eichenwald will describe. Flanigan will recall that Haynes tells him someone has already looked into the matter. "There is authority under…" he says, and then cites a "NORAD statute that gives the national command structure authority to deal with imminent threats in US airspace." [C-SPAN, 2/28/2009; Eichenwald, 2012, pp. 35-36]
Entity Tags: William J. Haynes, Timothy E. Flanigan, John Bellinger
The FAA's Boston Center is evacuated after it receives a report that an unidentified aircraft is heading its way. [Federal Aviation Administration, 9/20/2001; USA Today, 8/11/2002; New Hampshire Union Leader, 9/11/2006; Spencer, 2008, pp. 243] The Boston Center, located in Nashua, New Hampshire, manages air traffic above New England, and monitored Flight 11 and Flight 175 earlier on. [USA Today, 8/11/2002; Associated Press, 8/12/2002] Employees there are already concerned because a large tractor-trailer has parked directly in front of their facility, on New Hampshire's Route 3. State police have been called to get it away from there. Possible Airborne Threat Leads to Evacuation - The FAA's New England regional office in Burlington, Massachusetts, now calls the Boston Center and reports that an unidentified aircraft is heading for the facility. In response to this potential threat, managers at the center immediately order the closure and evacuation of their building. They also declare "ATC zero," which shuts down the Boston Center's airspace (see (Shortly After 10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Employees run from the building while managers try to decide which, if any, personnel should remain in the facility. According to Colin Scoggins, the center's military liaison, "at this time we honestly felt that we were targeted and an impact was imminent." Bomb Threat to Childcare Facility - Making matters worse, a bomb scare phone call is received at the center's childcare facility, which is the employees' usual evacuation point. Center managers therefore decide that everyone must leave the building. Employees are advised to go to either 11 Murphy Drive—an FAA administrative facility—or a nearby Holiday Inn. According to Scoggins, three or four Flight Service Data Processing System personnel remain in the basement of the Boston Center when it is evacuated, apparently because there is no paging system in their office on which they can receive the evacuation order. Evacuation Time Unclear - The time the evacuation takes place at is unclear. According to the account of author Lynn Spencer, it occurs some time shortly after 10:20 a.m. [Federal Aviation Administration, 9/20/2001; USA Today, 8/11/2002; Spencer, 2008, pp. 242-243] At 10:34 a.m., John White, a manager at the FAA's Command Center, reports that the Boston Center "has received a threat," and is "going down to skeleton staffing." [9/11 Commission, 11/4/2003] A 10:52 a.m. entry in the log of the FAA headquarters' teleconference will state that the Boston Center is "evacuating the building." [Federal Aviation Administration, 3/21/2002] USA Today will report that the center is evacuated at "about 11 a.m." Few Employees Return to Building - About 30 minutes to an hour after the building is evacuated, some of the center's personnel will return to work. [Federal Aviation Administration, 9/20/2001; USA Today, 8/11/2002] By 12:16 p.m., the center is back in operation, but with only a skeleton staff. [Federal Aviation Administration, 3/21/2002] Suspicious Aircraft Only a Coast Guard Plane - As it turns out, the approaching aircraft that prompts the evacuation is just a Coast Guard plane. According to Scoggins, "We had already identified it." [Federal Aviation Administration, 9/20/2001] The aircraft was noted in a 10:18 a.m. entry in the log of the FAA headquarters' teleconference, which stated: "Aircraft 160 miles east of Nantucket is headed westbound toward Boston at a high rate of speed." But a log entry five minutes later, at 10:23 a.m., noted that the aircraft "is identified as a Coast Guard flight from Nantucket." [Federal Aviation Administration, 3/21/2002] Shortly before the Boston Center is alerted to this aircraft, Scoggins had been tracking what is apparently another unidentified target on his radar screen: a slow-moving large aircraft that is also flying toward the Boston Center from the east (see (10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Spencer, 2008, pp. 242-243] The identity of that aircraft is unclear.
Entity Tags: Colin Scoggins, Federal Aviation Administration, Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center
Managers at the FAA's Boston Center declare "air traffic control zero" ("ATC zero"), which completely shuts down the center's airspace, after a report is received of a possible airborne threat to their facility. [Federal Aviation Administration, 9/20/2001; Spencer, 2008, pp. 243] The Boston Center in Nashua, New Hampshire, has received a call from the FAA's New England regional office, informing it that an unidentified aircraft is heading its way. In response, the center's managers immediately order the evacuation of the facility (see (Shortly After 10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). At the same time, they make the declaration of ATC zero. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 243] The declaration of ATC zero means aircraft are not permitted to depart from, arrive at, or travel through the center's airspace until further notice. [9/11 Commission, 8/26/2004, pp. 24] According to author Lynn Spencer, ATC zero means all the aircraft a center is handling are pushed "onto neighboring sectors, and any new airplanes from adjacent sectors are turned back, at the sector boundaries if necessary." [Spencer, 2008, pp. 68] Although the exact time the managers declare ATC zero at is unclear, the Boston Center notifies the FAA's Herndon Command Center of the declaration at 10:35 a.m. At 11:41 a.m., the ATC zero alert at the Boston Center is canceled. [Federal Aviation Administration, 3/21/2002] The FAA's New York Center declared ATC zero at 9:05 a.m. (see 9:05 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 8/26/2004, pp. 24]
Entity Tags: Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center
Jane Garvey, the head of the FAA, orders the diversion of all international flights with US destinations. Most of the flights are diverted to Canada. [CNN, 9/12/2001; Time, 9/14/2001; MSNBC, 9/22/2001]
Entity Tags: Jane Garvey, Federal Aviation Administration
Patrick Madigan, the commander of the Somerset Barracks of the Pennsylvania State Police, arrives at the Flight 93 crash scene around 10:20 a.m. [Department of the Army and the Air Force National Guard Bureau, 2002 ] He says that at some point later in the day (he does not specify a time), a "strange incident" occurs: "We were there at the site and an airplane started circling. It was a jetliner circling the crash site very low. No one knew what to expect because we knew that all of the planes were supposedly grounded." (The FAA had, at about 9:45 a.m., ordered that all aircraft be instructed to land at the nearest airport (see (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001).) After a few minutes of uncertainty, it is announced that the plane is carrying United Airlines executives, who are circling the site to view it before they land in nearby Johnstown. [Kashurba, 2002, pp. 63] Another low-flying jet plane was witnessed over the site earlier on, around the time Flight 93 went down (see (Before and After 10:06 a.m.) September 11, 2001).
Entity Tags: Patrick Madigan, United Airlines
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Shanksville, Pennsylvania
The Moncton Area Control Center. [Source: Nav Canada]Colin Scoggins, the military liaison at the FAA's Boston Center, contacts NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) and a Canadian air traffic control facility, to let them know that the Boston Center is shutting down its airspace and being evacuated, due to a possible airborne threat. Scoggins Does Not Immediately Evacuate - The Boston Center in Nashua, New Hampshire, has just received a call from the FAA's New England regional office, alerting it to an unidentified aircraft heading its way. In response, the center's managers ordered the evacuation of the facility (see (Shortly After 10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001) and declared "ATC zero," which completely shuts down the center's airspace (see (Shortly After 10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). But while others leave the building, Scoggins stays behind to make two phone calls. Scoggins Calls Canadian Facility and NEADS - His first call is to the Moncton Center, which is the Canadian air traffic control facility that handles flights arriving from over the Atlantic. He tells a supervisor there, "We're going to ATC zero and evacuating." Scoggins then calls NEADS with the same information. He says: "I wanted to let you know, Boston Center has declared ATC zero and we are evacuating due to an airborne threat. It's approaching Martha's Vineyard and it's coming our way." Before hanging up, he gives NEADS the speed and coordinates of the approaching aircraft. Scoggins then heads out of the building. According to the account of author Lynn Spencer, Scoggins's call prompts NEADS to immediately call Otis Air National Guard Base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and order it: "Get everything you've got in the air! Now!" (see (10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). FBI and SWAT Teams Surround Center - By the time Scoggins is outside the Boston Center, FBI and SWAT teams are surrounding the facility. Scoggins will later recall that he sees the "Nashua SWAT team in the parking lot with automatic weapons, [and] the FBI running with the audio tapes with Bob Jones [a quality assurance specialist at the Boston Center] by their side." [Federal Aviation Administration, 9/20/2001; Spencer, 2008, pp. 243-245] (The FBI reportedly arrived at the Boston Center "minutes after Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center," and seized tape recordings of radio transmissions from the hijacked plane (see Soon after 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Christian Science Monitor, 9/13/2001] ) Scoggins Tracking Other Unidentified Plane - Before the Boston Center received the call from the FAA regional office about the approaching aircraft, Scoggins was tracking another unidentified target on his radar screen: a slow-moving aircraft also flying toward the center from the east (see (10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Whether he alerts NEADS to that aircraft when he calls it is unclear. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 242-243]
Entity Tags: Moncton Area Control Center, Colin Scoggins, Northeast Air Defense Sector
The exterior wall on the south side of the World Trade Center's North Tower apparently bows before the building collapses. The first inquiry into the collapse, by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Society of Civil Engineers, states that the perimeter walls bow outward (see (9:21 a.m.-9:59 a.m. September 11, 2001)). However, a subsequent report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology states that the south wall of the North Tower bows inward. In places the wall is said to bow inward by approximately 55 inches at floor 97, and NIST interprets this bowing to mean that the floors must be sagging. NIST will find that the sagging and bowing are two of the seven major factors that led to the collapse of each tower, as the bowing walls are no longer able to support their share of the buildings' weight, causing the buildings to tilt and the upper sections to fall. [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 9/2005, pp. 32-34, 87]
Entity Tags: World Trade Center, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Federal Emergency Management Agency
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, 9/11 Investigations, WTC Investigation, World Trade Center
Vice President Cheney pointing a finger inside the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. Footage of the World Trade Center plays on the televisions in the background (exact time is unknown). [Source: White House]Those inside the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House learn that an aircraft is down in Pennsylvania. (This turns out to be Flight 93.) Many of the people in the PEOC wonder whether military fighters shot it down. [Washington Post, 1/27/2002; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 41] National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice later claims that, like her, Vice President Dick Cheney initially thinks, "it must have been shot down by the fighters." [Hayes, 2007, pp. 339] However, Eric Edelman—Cheney's national security adviser, who is also in the PEOC—will later recall: "The vice president was a little bit ahead of us.… He said, sort of softly, and to nobody in particular, 'I think an act of heroism just took place on that plane.'" [CNN, 9/11/2002; CNN, 9/14/2002] Yet the Pentagon does not confirm that Flight 93 was not shot down until after midday (see (Shortly After 12:00 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [Newsweek, 12/31/2001] And the phone calls from Flight 93 that indicated a passenger revolt took place are only reported later on. [Washington Post, 1/27/2002]
Entity Tags: Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Eric Edelman
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney
Alexander Haig. [Source: C-SPAN]Alexander Haig, the former secretary of state, indicates during a television interview that al-Qaeda could be behind this morning's terrorist attacks. During a live interview on Fox News, Haig is asked how America can respond to the attacks "with the proper amount of caution and yet with whatever force needs to be applied." He replies that while the nation needs to stay "united and calm," it also has to be "ready to take resolute action, which sometimes we have failed to do in the recent past." He then states that while the identities of the perpetrators of the attacks are as yet unknown, "we have many, many indicators of precisely who they are." He adds, "This was too broadly based a terrorist act to be just a few crazies." He says the responsible party "is a terrorist movement and we know where they are located today, and obviously as a nation we are going to have to take action against them." He continues, "I think we know where to send our armed [forces]" and then indicates that al-Qaeda could be involved, saying, "Look, all we have to do is look at the world today, with the Palestinian and bin Laden groups." However, when the interviewer subsequently asks, "Who are the terrorists that you think are the most likely suspects?" he replies, "Well, I'm not going to speculate, because I don't have inside knowledge and it would be rather foolish to do that." [Fox News, 9/11/2001] Haig has held a number of influential positions in the US military and government. He was White House chief of staff under President Richard Nixon and secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan. He also served as vice chief of staff of the Army and as NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe. [Washington Post, 2/21/2010; Liverpool Daily Post, 2/23/2010] After leaving the government, he turned to business and has been a director of a number of major companies. [Guardian, 2/20/2010; Daily Telegraph, 2/21/2010] Shortly after 9:30 a.m., a White House official, like Haig, indicated that al-Qaeda is likely to blame for this morning's catastrophic events, telling a reporter it was being assumed that Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks on the World Trade Center (see Shortly After 9:30 a.m. September 11, 2001). [CNN, 9/11/2001; CNN, 9/11/2001]
Entity Tags: Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
Personnel at NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) in Rome, New York, learn that Air Force One is airborne, around half an hour after it took off from Florida, and are told the plane is heading toward Washington, DC. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 325] NEADS Learns President's Plane Is Airborne - Major Kevin Nasypany, the mission crew commander at NEADS, is briefed by a colleague that "Air Force One is airborne out of Florida, heading to Washington." This is apparently the first time NEADS knows that the president's plane is in the air. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] But Air Force One took off from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport in Florida about half an hour ago (see 9:54 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Washington Post, 1/27/2002; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 325] And while some later accounts will state that the plane is indeed heading north, toward Washington, at this time (see (10:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001), according to other accounts, including the 9/11 Commission Report, it has turned west (see (10:10 a.m.) September 11, 2001) and is now flying toward Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana (see (10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [USA Today, 9/11/2001; Sammon, 2002, pp. 108; Washington Post, 1/27/2002; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 325] Commander Told Fighters Will Escort Air Force One - Nasypany's colleague continues: "We've got those four F-15s coming out of Langley. They're done rolling." [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] He is presumably referring to F-15 fighter jets belonging to the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. [Langley Air Force Base, 11/2003; Airman, 9/2005] He says, "Two of [the F-15s] will be diverted to escort [Air Force One] at the appropriate time." Nasypany says, "We need a plane out of the Air Force One." He then asks his colleague, "Is he airborne now?" The colleague says yes. Commander Told SEADS Is Providing Fighter Escort - Nasypany then says, "We've identified [Air Force One] as a special one." His colleague replies: "We haven't got him. Southeast does," meaning NORAD's Southeast Air Defense Sector (SEADS) at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. Referring to SEADS, Nasypany asks, "So they'll have fighters on him?" His colleague says yes. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] However, fighters will only be noticed escorting Air Force One by those on the plane more than an hour later (see (11:29 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [USA Today, 9/11/2001] Commander Passes on News about Air Force One - Nasypany then passes on the information about Air Force One to another colleague. He tells them: "Air Force One is airborne out of Florida, going to Washington. There should be F-15s on them by the time they hit our AOR [area of responsibility]." Nasypany restates that the president's plane is "going to Washington. This is what I was just passed." He says, "SEADS should be putting fighters on it," but adds that "we'll have to take over [in providing a fighter escort for Air Force One] once they hit our AOR." [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001]
Entity Tags: Kevin Nasypany, Northeast Air Defense Sector
Almost all the occupants of the North Tower who are able to evacuate the building have done so. Only 107 occupants who were below the impact floors remain in the building, while around 7,400 have escaped. However, 1,355 building occupants in or above the impact zone have either already died or perish in the collapse, as do many emergency workers. Overall, 99 percent of building occupants below the impact floors escape to safety. [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 9/2005, pp. xxxviii, 32] Most workers in the South Tower also left the building before it collapsed (see 9:58 a.m. September 11, 2001).
Entity Tags: World Trade Center
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, WTC Investigation, 9/11 Investigations, World Trade Center
United Airlines contacts American Airlines and notifies it of the crash of Flight 93. [9/11 Commission, 8/26/2004, pp. 47] Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania shortly after 10:00 a.m. (see (10:06 a.m.) September 11, 2001). United Airlines received confirmation of this by 10:15 (see (10:07 a.m.-10:15 a.m.) September 11, 2001).
Entity Tags: United Airlines, American Airlines
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Flight UA 93
Some witnesses feel the ground shaking just before the north WTC tower starts collapsing: Fire Patrolman Paul Curran is in front of the US Customs House (WTC 6), next to the North Tower. He says, "all of a sudden the ground just started shaking. It felt like a train was running under my feet.… The next thing we know, we look up and the tower is collapsing." [City of New York, 12/18/2001] EMS Lieutenant Bradley Mann is heading toward the EMS staging area on Vesey Street. He'd felt the ground shaking prior to the first collapse (see Shortly Before 9:59 a.m. September 11, 2001). He says, "The ground shook again, and we heard another terrible noise and the next thing we knew the second tower was coming down." [City of New York, 11/7/2001] Jay Jonas is actually inside the North Tower, on its fourth floor. Seconds before the collapse he feels "a tremendous vibration and shaking; the floor began waving." [Providence Journal, 9/11/2002]
Entity Tags: Jay Jonas, Bradley Mann, Paul Curran
Some witnesses to the collapse of the North Tower think it resembles a demolition using explosives: Fire Captain Dennis Tardio: "I hear an explosion and I look up. It is as if the building is being imploded, from the top floor down, one after another, boom, boom, boom." [Smith, 2002, pp. 18] Assistant Fire Commissioner James Drury: "[P]eople in the street and myself included thought that the roar was so loud that the explosive—bombs were going off inside the building." [City of New York, 10/16/2001] Firefighter James Curran: "I heard like every floor went chu-chu-chu. Looked back and from the pressure everything was getting blown out of the floors before it actually collapsed." [City of New York, 12/30/2001] EMS Captain Karin Deshore: "Somewhere around the middle of the World Trade Center, there was this orange and red flash coming out. Initially it was just one flash. Then this flash just kept popping all the way around the building and that building had started to explode. The popping sound, and with each popping sound it was initially an orange and then a red flash came out of the building and then it would just go all around the building on both sides as far as I could see. These popping sounds and the explosions were getting bigger, going both up and down and then all around the building. I went inside… and I said I think we have another major explosion." [City of New York, 11/7/2001] The National Institute of Standards and Technology, in its report on the towers' collapse, will reject suggestions that the Twin Towers were brought down with explosives (see August 30, 2006). [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 8/30/2006]
Entity Tags: Karin Deshore, James Drury, World Trade Center, Dennis Tardio, James Curran
The North Tower collapses in a matter of seconds. [Source: Ray Stubblebine/ Reuters/ Landov] (click image to enlarge)The North Tower of the World Trade Center tilts to the south and then collapses. Its north side was hit by Flight 11 at 8:46, 102 minutes earlier. [CNN, 9/12/2001; New York Times, 9/12/2001; MSNBC, 9/22/2001; Kim and Baum, 2002 ; Associated Press, 8/21/2002; National Institute of Standards and Technology, 9/2005, pp. 33] After the antenna starts to move (see (10:28 a.m. September 11, 2001)), the next sign that the top section of the building is moving downward is on floor 98, at the top of the impact zone. [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 9/2005, pp. 22, 87] The angle of the tilt will be disputed after 9/11 (see September-November 2005), as will the time it takes the towers to fall to the ground (see September 12, 2001-September 2005). [Scientific American, 10/9/2001; Eagar and Musso, 12/2001; PBS Nova, 5/2002; National Institute of Standards and Technology, 8/30/2006] The death toll could have been much worse—an estimated 15,000 people made it out of the WTC to safety after 8:46 a.m. [St. Petersburg Times, 9/8/2002]
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, 9/11 Investigations, WTC Investigation, Key Day of 9/11 Events, World Trade Center
Fire Lieutenant Gregg Hansson [Source: BBC]Many witnesses hear explosions during the collapse of the north WTC tower. Some report hearing a single explosion: Reporter Mike Sheehan hears "another deafening explosion. I looked up and saw the top of the North Tower, the mast, begin to fall." [Gilbert et al., 2002, pp. 126] Fire Lieutenant William Wall: "[W]e heard an explosion. We looked up and the building was coming down right on top of us." [City of New York, 12/10/2001] Firefighter Roy Chelsen: "All of a sudden we heard this huge explosion, and that's when the tower started coming down." [City of New York, 1/18/2002] EMT Jason Charles: "I heard a ground level explosion and I'm like holy shit, and then you heard that twisting metal wreckage again." [City of New York, 1/23/2002] Firefighter Kevin Murray: "When the tower started—there was a big explosion that I heard and someone screamed that it was coming down." [City of New York, 10/9/2001] Firefighter James Ippolito: "I heard an explosion and turned around and the building was coming down." [City of New York, 12/13/2001] Fire Lieutenant Gregg Hansson: "[A] large explosion took place. In my estimation that was the tower coming down, but at that time I did not know what that was. I thought some type of bomb had gone off." [City of New York, 10/9/2001] Firefighter Kevin Gorman: "I heard the explosion, looked up, and saw like three floors explode, saw the antenna coming down." [City of New York, 1/9/2002] Others report hearing multiple explosions: EMT Gregg Brady: "I heard 3 loud explosions. I look up and the North Tower is coming down now." [City of New York, 11/1/2001] Firefighter Richard Carletti: "I remember seeing the antenna do a little rock back and forth and I could just hear the floors pancaking. I heard it for about 30 pancakes, just boom, boom, boom, boom." [City of New York, 1/2/2002] Fire Lieutenant Michael Cahill: "That's when the second collapse started to come down. All kinds of noise. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, very loud." [City of New York, 10/17/2001] Firefighter Sal D'Agostino is actually inside the North Tower, around its fourth floor, when the collapse occurs. He says, "It's pancaking from the top down, and there were these huge explosions—I mean huge, gigantic explosions." [Providence Journal, 9/11/2002; Dwyer and Flynn, 2005, pp. 241-242] Firefighter Bill Butler, who is with D'Agostino inside the tower, says, "It was like a train going two inches away from your head: bang-bang, bang-bang, bang-bang." [Providence Journal, 9/11/2002] EMT David Timothy: "[Y]ou started hearing more explosions. I guess this is when the second tower started coming down." [City of New York, 10/25/2001] CTV will later assert, "When eyewitnesses claim to have heard explosions prior to the collapse, those were just the sounds of a massive building contorting and crushing anything inside." [CTV, 9/12/2006]
Entity Tags: Jason Charles, Roy Chelsen, James Ippolito, Bill Butler, David Timothy, Kevin Gorman, Kevin Murray, Mike Sheehan, Gregg Brady, World Trade Center, Michael Cahill, William Wall, Richard Carletti, Gregg Hansson, Sal D'Agostino
Damage to the southwest corner of WTC 7. [Source: Arquelio Galarza]World Trade Center Building 7 (WTC 7) suffers some damage, caused by debris from the collapse of the north WTC tower, according to later official reports. [Federal Emergency Management Agency, 5/1/2002, pp. 5-16; National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 16] WTC 7 Undamaged by South Tower Collapse - WTC 7 is a 47-story office building located 370 feet north of the North Tower (WTC 1). In the final report of its investigation into WTC 7's collapse, published in November 2008 (see November 20, 2008), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will state that although a few windows on the lower floors of WTC 7's south face were broken when the South Tower (WTC 2) collapsed at 9:59 a.m. (see 9:59 a.m. September 11, 2001), "None of the large pieces of debris from WTC 2 hit WTC 7, because of the large distance between the two buildings," and there is "no evidence of structural damage to WTC 7" as a result of the South Tower's collapse. Debris Reportedly Damages Exterior Columns - However, when the North Tower collapses (see 10:28 a.m. September 11, 2001), some fragments of debris are "forcibly ejected" from it, and travel "distances up to hundreds of meters." According to NIST, pieces of this debris "hit WTC 7, severing six columns on floors 7 through 17 on the south face and one column on the west face near the southwest corner." NIST will add that the debris also causes "structural damage between floor 44 and the roof," and breaks a large number of windows on WTC 7's south face. Building Core Undamaged - However, NIST will state, based on "photographic evidence, witness accounts, and engineering judgment, it is likely that the structural damage (steel and floor slabs) did not penetrate beyond the perimeter of the building core. At the southwest corner, the structural damage extended only about one-third of the distance from the exterior wall to the building core." NIST will comment, "Compared to the airplane impact damage to the WTC towers, there was relatively little damage to the interior of WTC 7." There is also "no superficial or structural damage" to WTC 7's north and east faces. And the sprayed fire resistive material that has been applied to the building's steel columns, girders, and beams is only damaged in the "immediate vicinity of the WTC 1 debris impact." NIST will admit, however, that there are "uncertainties" in its accounting of the events leading up to the collapse of WTC 7, because "the remains of all the WTC buildings were disposed of before Congressional action and funding was available for [its] investigation [of the WTC collapses] to begin" (see Shortly After September 11, 2001 and September 12-October 2001). [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 8/21/2008; National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 15-16] FEMA Describes WTC 7 Damage - According to an earlier report on the collapse of WTC 7, published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in May 2002 (see May 1, 2002), at that time, the "extent and severity of the resulting damage to WTC 7" when the North Tower collapses "are currently unknown." But based on "photographic evidence and eyewitness accounts," it is "assumed that the south side of the building was damaged to some degree." FEMA's report will state: "It does not appear that the collapse of WTC 1 affected the roof, or the east, west, and north elevations of WTC 7 in any significant way. However, there was damage to the southwest corner of WTC 7 at approximately floors 8 to 20, 24, 25, and 39 to 46." The report will add: "According to firefighters' eyewitness accounts from outside of the building, approximately floors 8-18 were damaged to some degree. Other eyewitness accounts relate that there was additional damage to the south elevation." [Federal Emergency Management Agency, 5/1/2002, pp. 5-16, 5-20] Structural Damage Not Responsible for Collapse - WTC 7 will collapse at 5:20 p.m. this afternoon (see (5:20 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 8/21/2008] However, NIST will conclude that the structural damage the building suffers plays no role in causing it to come down. NIST will state, "Other than initiating the fires in WTC 7, the damage from the debris from WTC 1 had little effect on initiating the collapse of WTC 7." [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. xxxvii] WTC 7 suffers fires on some floors, which are reportedly initiated by debris from the collapse of the North Tower (see (10:28 a.m.-5:20 p.m.) September 11, 2001). According to NIST, it is these fires, "rather than the structural damage that resulted from the impacts" of debris, which "initiated the building's collapse." [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 8/21/2008]
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, World Trade Center
World Trade Center Building 7 (WTC 7) suffers fires on several floors, some of which last until 5:20 p.m., when the building collapses. [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 8/21/2008] WTC 7 is a 47-story office building located just north of the Twin Towers. It is damaged when the north WTC tower (WTC 1) collapses at 10:28 a.m. (see 10:28 a.m. September 11, 2001). [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 2, 16] Fires Started by Collapse Debris - Two official reports on the collapse of WTC 7 will tentatively conclude that fires in this building are initiated by debris that is ejected when the North Tower collapses (see 10:28 a.m. September 11, 2001). In a 2002 report (see May 1, 2002), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will state, "It is likely that fires" in WTC 7 "started as a result of debris from the collapse of WTC 1." [Federal Emergency Management Agency, 5/1/2002, pp. 5-20] In a 2008 report (see November 20, 2008), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will state, "Most likely, the WTC 7 fires began as a result of burning debris from the collapse of WTC 1." However, NIST will add, "visual evidence of fires in the building was not available until around noon." [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 18] Fires Spread in WTC 7 - According to NIST, fires are ignited "on at least 10 floors" of WTC 7, but "only the fires on floors 7 through 9 and 11 through 13 grew and lasted until the time of the building collapse." [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. xxxvi] NIST will state, "Early fires were seen on the southwest corner of floors 19, 22, 29, and 30 shortly after noon," but "These were short-lived." [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 51] The fires on floors 7 to 9 and 11 to 13, however, "grew and spread, since they were not extinguished either by the automatic sprinkler system or by [the New York City Fire Department], because water was not available in WTC 7." Fires are "generally concentrated on the east and north sides of the northeast region beginning at about 3 p.m. to 4 p.m." [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 21] The fires on floors 7 to 9 and 11 to 13 have "characteristics similar to those that have occurred previously in tall buildings," according to NIST, and "Their growth and spread [are] consistent with ordinary building contents fires." [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. xxxvi] These fires are "fed by combustibles (e.g., desks, chairs, papers, carpet) that were ordinary for commercial occupancies." However, NIST will point out, there is "no evidence that the fires spread from floor to floor, except, perhaps, just prior to the collapse of the building." [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 51-52] Limited Evidence Available - Both FEMA and NIST will admit that their accounts of the fires in WTC 7 are based upon imperfect evidence. In its report on the WTC collapses, published in May 2002, FEMA will note, "Currently, there is limited information about the ignition and development of fires at WTC 7." [Federal Emergency Management Agency, 5/1/2002, pp. 5-20] In the final report of its investigation of the collapse of WTC 7, NIST will point out that "available images showing fires in WTC 7 did not allow the detailed description of fire spread that was possible for the WTC towers." The report will add: "It must be kept in mind that [NIST's] fire observations were based on images of the exterior faces, which provided little indication about the behavior of fires well removed from the exterior walls. It is likely that much of the burning took place beyond the views of the windows." But, the report will state, "[T]here was sufficient information to derive general descriptions of fire ignition and spread on various floors of the building." [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 18] NIST Blames Fires for Collapse - WTC 7 collapses at 5:20 p.m. this afternoon (see (5:20 p.m.) September 11, 2001). In late 2008, at the end of its investigation into WTC 7's collapse, NIST will blame the fires WTC 7 suffers for causing its collapse (see August 21, 2008 and August 21, 2008). NIST will state: "The heat from the uncontrolled fires caused steel floor beams and girders to thermally expand, leading to a chain of events that caused a key structural column to fail. The failure of this structural column then initiated a fire-induced progressive collapse of the entire building." [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 8/21/2008; National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. xxxvi-xxxvii] However, critics will dispute this conclusion, instead blaming explosives for the collapse (see August 21, 2008). [New York Times, 8/21/2008] FEMA will offer no firm conclusions about the possible role fires play in causing WTC 7 to collapse. In its 2002 report it will state, "The specifics of the fires in WTC 7 and how they caused the building to collapse remain unknown at this time." [Federal Emergency Management Agency, 5/1/2002, pp. 5-31]
Carol Marin. [Source: Columbia Journalism Review]CBS News correspondent Carol Marin witnesses what she describes as a "gigantic fireball" coming from the base of the North Tower as it starts to collapse. [USA Today, 9/11/2001; Chicago Sun-Times, 9/12/2001; Daily Herald (Arlington Heights), 9/11/2002] Marin headed to the scene of the attacks and arrived on West Street after the South Tower collapsed. She then sees the second tower come down, later describing, "I was only a block or two away from the North Tower when the street trembled under my feet, a fireball of pooled jet fuel exploded out of the building's base, and it too, unbelievably, started to collapse right in front of me." [Chicago Sun-Times, 9/10/2006] (However, the explosion could not be due to "pooled jet fuel," as, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, "The jet fuel" from the planes "was mostly consumed within the first few minutes after impact." [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 6/18/2004; New York Times, 4/5/2005] ) In one telling, Marin describes, "a roar seemed to come out of the earth," causing the fireball. [Gilbert et al., 2002] In another, she says, "there was a roar, an explosion, and we could see coming toward us a ball of flame, stories high." She runs, and a firefighter throws her against a building to protect her. She recalls, "The flame somehow stopped short of us." [CBS News, 2002, pp. 54] Other witnesses also describe the ground shaking before the North Tower collapse (see Shortly Before 10:28 a.m. September 11, 2001). And some witnesses similarly report seeing a fireball at ground level coming from the South Tower when it collapsed (see Shortly Before 9:59 a.m. September 11, 2001).
Entity Tags: Carol Marin
The team studying the WTC collapses for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will later observe that the antenna on WTC 1 began to fall before the exterior of the building: "Review of videotape recordings of the collapse taken from various angles indicates that the transmission tower on top of the structure began to move downward and laterally slightly before movement was evident at the exterior wall. This suggests that collapse began with one or more failures in the central core area of the building." [Federal Emergency Management Agency, 5/1/2002, pp. 2-27] In a program featuring some members of the FEMA/ASCE team, the BBC will comment: "The mast was directly supported by the tower's inner core. The way it fell suggests it was failure of the inner core that began the collapse, whereas in the South Tower it had been the outer walls." [BBC, 3/7/2002]
Entity Tags: American Society of Civil Engineers, World Trade Center, Federal Emergency Management Agency
FBI agents in New York quickly set up a temporary field office in an FBI parking garage, where they will be based for the next few weeks, after the attacks on the World Trade Center rendered their original office unusable. The New York office is the FBI's largest field office, comprising some 1,100 special agents. It is located at 26 Federal Plaza, just a few blocks away from the WTC site. However, the collapses of the Twin Towers (see 9:59 a.m. September 11, 2001 and 10:28 a.m. September 11, 2001) disabled its telephone service, thereby rendering it useless. Officials are also concerned that 26 Federal Plaza might be the target of another terrorist attack. New Facility Is Set Up in 24 Hours - Therefore, "Almost immediately" after the Twin Towers came down, according to the New York Times, the FBI starts relocating to a garage in Manhattan. The block-long, multilevel garage at 26th Street and the West Side Highway is usually used by the FBI to store and repair its fleet of vehicles. But within 24 hours of the attacks on the WTC, a temporary field office is up and running there. The facility is equipped with about 100 laptop computers. Three hundred phone lines are installed, with phones hooked up to a satellite truck positioned outside the garage. Investigation Is Coordinated from the Temporary Facility - Officials from over two dozen federal, state, and local agencies are then based at the makeshift facility. Barry Mawn, director of the FBI's New York office, and key federal prosecutors, including Mary Jo White, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, coordinate the work of almost 2,000 investigators from there. The garage will serve as the command center for the first four weeks of the FBI's investigation of the terrorist attacks. [New York Times, 9/24/2001; Washington Post, 10/20/2001; Kessler, 2002, pp. 5, 424; Journal of Public Inquiry, 3/2002 ] It will be "New York's nerve center for information about the attacks," according to the Associated Press. [Associated Press, 9/27/2001] Agents will move back to their original field office at 26 Federal Plaza early in October. [Washington Post, 10/20/2001]
Entity Tags: FBI New York Field Office, Barry Mawn, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mary Jo White
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, 9/11 Investigations, FBI 9/11 Investigation
Damage to World Trade Center Building 7.
[Source: New York City Police Department]Firefighters notice significant damage to World Trade Center Building 7 at some point after the Twin Towers collapsed. Butch Brandies tells other firefighters that nobody is to go into WTC 7 because of creaking and noises coming out of there. [Firehouse Magazine, 9/9/2002] According to Deputy Chief Peter Hayden, there is a bulge in the southwest corner of the building between floors 10 and 13. [Firehouse Magazine, 9/2/2002] Battalion Chief John Norman will later recall, "At the edge of the south face you could see that it was very heavily damaged." [Firehouse Magazine, 9/2/2002] Deputy Chief Nick Visconti will recall, "A big chunk of the lower floors had been taken out on the Vesey Street side." [Firehouse Magazine, 9/9/2002] Captain Chris Boyle will say, "On the south side of [WTC] 7 there had to be a hole 20 stories tall in the building, with fire on several floors." [Firehouse Magazine, 9/9/2002] One witness will describe looking at the south face of the building and seeing "broken windows, damage to the building, I-beams sticking out." Another witness will describe seeing 10 to 15 floors where "the corner I-beam was missing," and add that "there were more floors that had damage throughout the front facade of the building and several floors were completely exposed." [Aegis Insurance Services, Inc. v. 7 World Trade Center Company, LP, 12/4/2013 ] Richard Rotanz, the deputy director of New York's Office of Emergency Management, assesses the condition of WTC 7 at around 12:30 p.m. "We're looking at the upper floors of Tower 7," he will recall. "The skin of the building or the outside skirt of the building was taken out," he will say. "You could see columns gone, floors collapsed, heavy smoke coming out, and fire." [BBC, 7/6/2008; BBC, 10/17/2008] WTC 7 will collapse at around 5:20 p.m. (see (5:20 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 9/2005, pp. 111]
Entity Tags: Butch Brandies, Nick Visconti, Peter Hayden, Richard Rotanz, World Trade Center, John Norman, Chris Boyle
According to Captain Michael Currid, the sergeant at arms for the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, some time after the collapse of the North Tower, he sees four or five fire companies trying to extinguish fires in Building 7 of the WTC. Someone from the city's Office of Emergency Management tells him that WTC 7 is in serious danger of collapse. Currid says, "The consensus was that it was basically a lost cause and we should not lose anyone else trying to save it." Along with some others, he goes inside WTC 7 and yells up the stairwells to the fire fighters, "Drop everything and get out!" [Murphy, 2002, pp. 175-176] However, other accounts contradict this, claiming that no attempt is made to fight the fires in WTC 7 (see (11:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). One report later claims, "Given the limited water supply and the first strategic priority, which was to search for survivors in the rubble, FDNY did not fight the fires [in WTC 7]." [Fire Engineering, 9/2002] And a 2002 government report says, "the firefighters made the decision fairly early on not to attempt to fight the fires, due in part to the damage to WTC 7 from the collapsing towers." [Federal Emergency Management Agency, 5/1/2002, pp. 5-21] Building 7 eventually collapses late in the afternoon of 9/11 (see (5:20 p.m.) September 11, 2001).
Entity Tags: World Trade Center, Office of Emergency Management, Michael Currid
Eric Edelman. [Source: US Department of Defense]An anonymous phone call is received at the White House in which the caller says Air Force One, the president's plane, will be the next terrorist target and uses code words indicating they have inside information about government procedures. [Cheney, 9/11/2001; New York Times, 9/13/2001; Woodward, 2002, pp. 18] Air Force One is currently flying toward Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, with President Bush on board (see (10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 325] The White House receives a call from an anonymous individual, warning that the next target of the terrorist attacks will be Air Force One. The caller refers to the plane as "Angel." [Sammon, 2002, pp. 106-107; Woodward, 2002, pp. 18; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 554; Darling, 2010, pp. 60-61] "Angel" is the Secret Service's code name for Air Force One. [Williams, 2004, pp. 81; CBS News, 11/25/2009] An unnamed "high White House official" will later say the use of "American code words" shows the caller has "knowledge of procedures that made the threat credible." [New York Times, 9/13/2001] Government Officials Told about Threat - News of the threatening call is promptly passed on to government officials in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC)—a bunker below the White House—and reported on the Pentagon's air threat conference call. [US Department of Defense, 9/11/2001 ; Newsweek, 12/30/2001; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 554; Darling, 2010, pp. 60-61] Vice President Dick Cheney, who is in the PEOC, will comment that the news "reinforced the notion here… that the government has been targeted and that we need to be extra careful about making certain we protected the continuity of government, secured the president, secured the presidency." [White House, 11/19/2001] According to Major Robert Darling of the White House Military Office, who is also in the PEOC, "The talk among the principals in the room quickly determined that the use of a code word implied that the threat to Air Force One and the president could well be from someone with access to [the president's] inner circle—possibly someone who was near the president at that very moment." [Darling, 2010, pp. 61] Accounts Conflict over Who Receives Call - It is unclear who at the White House answers the call in which the threat against Air Force One is made. The call is received by the White House switchboard, according to some accounts. [Sammon, 2002, pp. 106; Fleischer, 2005, pp. 141-142] Other accounts will indicate it is received by the White House Situation Room. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 554; Darling, 2010, pp. 60-61] Eric Edelman, a member of Cheney's staff who is in the PEOC, will say the call is received by the Secret Service. [White House, 10/25/2001] But two Secret Service agents who are on duty today will deny "that their agency played any role in receiving or passing on a threat to the presidential jet," according to the Wall Street Journal. [Wall Street Journal, 3/22/2004 ] However, a Secret Service pager message will be sent at 10:32 a.m., which states that the "JOC"—the Secret Service Joint Operations Center at the White House—has received an "anonymous call" reporting that "Angel is [a] target." [CBS News, 11/25/2009] Military Officer Passes on Details of Threat - Officials in the PEOC reportedly learn about the threat to Air Force One from a military officer working in the center. Although Cheney will say the threat "came through the Secret Service," he will say later this year that he is unsure who passed the details of it to those in the PEOC. [Meet the Press, 9/16/2001; White House, 11/19/2001] An official in Cheney's office will say in 2004 that Cheney was informed of the threat by "a uniformed military person" manning the PEOC, although Cheney and his staff are unaware who that individual was. [Wall Street Journal, 3/22/2004 ] National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice will say that those in the PEOC are told about the threat by a "communicator," meaning one of the military officers who works in the PEOC, and is responsible for "establishing phone lines and video lines, and staying in touch with the National Military Command Center" at the Pentagon. [White House, 11/1/2001] The military officer Rice is referring to may be Darling. Darling will recall that he answers a call from the White House Situation Room about the threat to Air Force One and then passes on the information he receives to Rice, telling her, "Ma'am, the [Situation Room] reports that they have a credible source in the Sarasota, Florida, area that claims Angel is the next target." Rice immediately passes on the news to Cheney, according to Darling. [Darling, 2010, pp. 60-61] Cheney will subsequently call Bush and tell him about the threat (see (10:32 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Sammon, 2002, pp. 106-107; CBS News, 9/11/2002] Reason for 'Bogus' Threat Unclear - The threat will be determined to be "almost surely bogus," according to Newsweek. [Newsweek, 12/30/2001] The Secret Service's intelligence division tracked down the origin of this threat," the 9/11 Commission Report will state, "and, during the day, determined that it had originated in a misunderstanding by a watch officer in the White House Situation Room." Although the 9/11 Commission will say it found the intelligence division's "witnesses on this point to be credible," Deborah Loewer, the director of the White House Situation Room, will dispute this account. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 554] By the end of 2001, White House officials will say they still do not know where the threat came from. [Newsweek, 12/30/2001] Darling will write in 2010, "To this day, it has never been determined why either the 'credible source' or Situation Room personnel used that code word [i.e. 'Angel'] in their report to the PEOC." [Darling, 2010, pp. 62] "The best we can tell," Rice will say, is that "there was a call that talked about events—something happening to the president on the ground in Florida. And that somehow got interpreted as Air Force One." She will say that the fact the caller knew the code name for Air Force One is "why we still continue to suspect it wasn't a crank call." [White House, 11/1/2001] However, former Secret Service officials will say the code name wasn't an official secret, but instead "a radio shorthand designation that had been made public well before 2001." [Wall Street Journal, 3/22/2004 ]
Entity Tags: Eric Edelman, Condoleezza Rice, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Deborah Loewer, US Secret Service, Robert J. Darling, White House
Category Tags: Key Day of 9/11 Events, All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney
Joe McGrady. [Source: John P. Meyer]Two F-15 fighter jets take off from Otis Air National Guard Base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the first to do so after NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) ordered the base to launch all of its available aircraft (see (10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). However, these two fighters are unarmed. [9/11 Commission, 10/14/2003 ; Spencer, 2008, pp. 245-246] The 102nd Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard operates from Otis Air Base, and is responsible for defending the northeastern US against various threats, including terrorist attacks. [Cape Cod Times, 9/12/2001; Cape Cod Times, 9/12/2001] The aircraft maintenance squadron officer started preparing the unit's F-15s for combat less than 15 minutes after the second attack in New York (see (9:15 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Spencer, 2008, pp. 155] But despite the reportedly "furious pace of the weapons handlers" who "hurried to fix all available jets with live weapons," only a few fighters have so far been loaded with any armament. [Cape Cod Times, 9/8/2002; Spencer, 2008, pp. 245] Fighters Launch with No Weapons - The first two fighters to take off are piloted by Dennis Doonan and Joe McGrady. As they are the first pilots to start their F-15s and taxi off the flight line (the parking and servicing area for aircraft), they are paired up. But Doonan suddenly realizes that, though he is being sent into a combat situation, his fighter is unarmed. He radios McGrady and tells him, "I'm Winchester!" ("Winchester" is the code word for having no weapons.) McGrady's aircraft is also unarmed, so McGrady immediately radios squadron commander Lieutenant Colonel Jon Treacy and in a panic tells him: "We're Winchester, SOF [supervisor of flying]! We're Winchester!" But Treacy instructs him: "Just go! You need to get airborne now!" McGrady and Doonan head out for takeoff, not knowing where they are going or what they will have to do, but realizing that if they have to take out a target, they must do so with their own aircraft. Once they are airborne, they will intercept a KC-10 tanker plane and four A-10 jets (see (11:04 a.m.) September 11, 2001), and then set up a combat air patrol over Boston. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 245-247] Other Fighters Take Off Armed - Another two F-15s will take off from Otis Air Base shortly after McGrady and Doonan's fighters (see (Shortly After 10:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). These aircraft will have had their guns loaded and armed for use, but one of them will take off with only one missile loaded instead of two. [Cape Cod Times, 9/11/2006; Richard, 2010, pp. 15-16, 18] The 102nd Fighter Wing's two F-15s that are kept on "alert"—armed and ready for immediate takeoff—launched at 8:46 a.m., in response to the hijacked Flight 11 (see 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 20] Fourteen of the base's fighters will be "mission capable" by the end of the day, and six fighters will be airborne at a time, according to Technical Sergeant Michael Kelly, the full-time technician in the command post at Otis Air Base. [9/11 Commission, 10/14/2003 ]
Entity Tags: Joe McGrady, Dennis Doonan, Michael Kelly (102nd FW), Jonathan T. Treacy, Otis Air National Guard Base, 102nd Fighter Wing
Brigadier General David Wherley, the commander of the District of Columbia Air National Guard (DCANG) at Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, wants his fighter jets to intercept a suspicious aircraft coming down the Potomac River toward the capital, which is apparently thought to be Flight 93, although that plane has already crashed (see (10:06 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Washington Post, 4/8/2002; Filson, 2003, pp. 79-81; 9/11 Commission, 8/28/2003] Numerous Suspicious Aircraft - According to the Washington Post, the DCANG has learned there are "about a half-dozen suspicious aircraft in the air across the country, among them hijacked United Airlines Flight 93, on a path toward Washington." Wherley will add: "Nobody knew it had crashed. We just knew there was an airplane out there that could be coming to Washington. We knew the threat was real." Fighters Launched due to False Report - The first three DCANG fighters to take off in response to the attacks are ordered to go after this alleged inbound aircraft. [Washington Post, 4/8/2002] Lieutenant Colonel Phil Thompson, the chief of safety for the DC Air National Guard, will later recall: "We had something coming down the Potomac at low altitude. Brigadier General Wherley is standing here, and we've got the tower with the Secret Service agent, and they want us to launch anything we've got. And the general said, 'Do it.'" [Filson, 2003, pp. 81] DCANG pilot Billy Hutchison, who takes off at 10:38 a.m. (see (10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001), will describe, "There was an aircraft coming down the Potomac that they needed me in the air for" that had to "be prevented from reaching the DC area." He is told this aircraft is "coming from Pennsylvania." [9/11 Commission, 2/27/2004] And pilot Marc Sasseville, who, along with Heather Penney Garcia, takes off at 10:42 a.m. (see 10:42 a.m. September 11, 2001), later says: "We all realized we were looking for an airliner—a big airplane. That was Flight 93; the track looked like it was headed toward DC at that time." [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002; Vogel, 2007, pp. 446] Incorrect Report Comes from Secret Service - According to Major David McNulty, the senior intelligence officer of the DCANG, his understanding is that "the information about the plane coming down the river" came from the Secret Service's White House Joint Operations Center. [9/11 Commission, 3/11/2004 ] FAA personnel are also receiving similar information from the Secret Service. At 10:32, an FAA employee tells John White, a manager at the FAA's Herndon Command Center, "Secret Service is reporting one unknown eight miles out, flying inbound." Two minutes later, this employee says they are "[t]rying to tell [the] Secret Service about [Flight] 93," because the Secret Service is "a little bit behind, still getting reports." They then tell White, "Secret Service is saying the aircraft they are talking is coming up the Potomac right now." [9/11 Commission, 11/4/2003] Fire and rescue workers are evacuated away from the Pentagon site around this time, in response to a report from the FBI of a hijacked aircraft flying toward Washington (see (10:15 a.m.-10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001). This may be the same alleged plane that the DCANG and FAA learn of. [US Department of Health and Human Services, 7/2002, pp. A30 ; Fire Engineering, 11/2002] Aircraft Supposedly a Helicopter - The incoming aircraft is apparently a false alarm. [9/11 Commission, 8/28/2003] After searching for it, Hutchison will be instructed to fly back toward Washington because, he will say, "the plane had been lost." [9/11 Commission, 2/27/2004] According to a 9/11 Commission memorandum, "FAA tapes and transcripts" reveal the aircraft to be "an Army National Guard helicopter based out of Davison Field, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, which had become isolated in Maryland as events unfolded and which wanted to return to its home field." [9/11 Commission, 3/11/2004 ] Secret Service Thinks Plane Crashed at Camp David - However, at 10:36, the FAA employee relays that the "Secret Service is saying they believe United 93 hit Camp David." Seconds later, they add that the Secret Service is "confirming that UA 93 did go into Camp David." [9/11 Commission, 11/4/2003] Even President Bush is given an incorrect report of a plane going down near Camp David around this time (see (10:37 a.m.-11:09 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Sammon, 2002, pp. 108] So this erroneous information may be what leads to Hutchison being informed that the aircraft he was sent after has been lost. [9/11 Commission, 2/27/2004]
Entity Tags: US Secret Service, David Wherley, Billy Hutchison, Phil Thompson, David McNulty, John White, Marc Sasseville, District of Columbia Air National Guard, Heather Penney Garcia, Federal Aviation Administration
Bernard Kerik. [Source: Publicity photo]After leaving 75 Barclay Street (see (9:50 a.m.-10:10 a.m.) September 11, 2001), New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the group accompanying him search for somewhere to establish a new temporary headquarters. Soon after the North Tower's collapse, they break into a vacant firehouse at the corner of Houston Street and Sixth Avenue. Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who is part of the group, wants the location kept secret. He gives out the order: "Okay, we're going to establish a command center [here]. We're not going to let anybody know. I don't want it over the radio. We don't know what's happening. We don't want them [presumably meaning the attackers] to know where we're all going to be." Giuliani is able to find a phone, and speaks with New York Governor George Pataki, the White House, and the Defense Department. At around 10:57 a.m., he speaks to the television channel New York 1 and offers a message of reassurance to the people of New York City. [Fink and Mathias, 2002, pp. 108; Giuliani, 2002, pp. 15-16; 9/11 Commission, 5/19/2004; Barrett and Collins, 2006, pp. 13] Deciding that they need to be somewhere larger and more secure, Kerik suggests they move to the Police Academy on East 20th Street. [Kerik, 2001, pp. 342] Thus, Giuliani's group—which now numbers more than 20 people plus a press contingent—gets into cars and drives to the academy, arriving there around midday (see (2:00 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [Giuliani, 2002, pp. 18-19; Barrett and Collins, 2006, pp. 13] This will remain as the city's command center for several days, until it is replaced later in the week by a larger space at Pier 92 on the Hudson River. [Center for Biosecurity, 2/3/2003; 9/11 Commission, 5/19/2004]
Entity Tags: Bernard Kerik, Rudolph ("Rudy") Giuliani
Brigadier General Montague Winfield finally returns to his post as the deputy director for operations (DDO) in the National Military Command Center (NMCC) at the Pentagon, after leaving a colleague, who only recently qualified to take over the position, to stand in for him throughout the terrorist attacks. [9/11 Commission, 4/29/2004 ; 9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004] At 8:30 a.m. Winfield left his post to attend a pre-scheduled meeting that was unrelated to the morning's attacks and had been convened by the Air Force. Since that time, Captain Charles Leidig has replaced him as the DDO (see 8:30 a.m. September 11, 2001). Leidig, the deputy for Command Center operations, only qualified to stand in as the DDO in the NMCC about a month ago. Even though officers in the NMCC realized the US was under terrorist attack when the second plane hit the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m., Winfield did not return to his post at that time (see (Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/21/2003 ; 9/11 Commission, 4/29/2004 ; 9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004 ] Winfield Returns to His Post, but Timing Unclear - Now Winfield finally relieves Leidig and resumes his duties as DDO. This happens after Flight 93 has crashed in Pennsylvania (see (10:03 a.m.-10:10 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (10:06 a.m.) September 11, 2001), although the exact time is unclear. In a private interview with the 9/11 Commission, Leidig will say he is "certain that Winfield returned [from the meeting] after the Pentagon was hit" at 9:37 a.m. (see 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001), but he "is not certain of Winfield's arrival in relationship with the vice chairman" of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers. [9/11 Commission, 4/29/2004 ] (According to the 9/11 Commission Report, Myers arrived at the NMCC shortly before 10:00 a.m. (see (Between 9:55 a.m. and 10:25 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 38] ) Winfield then takes over as DDO "at some point in relation to the report of the Pennsylvania crash," according to Leidig. As the 9/11 Commission will point out, since the crash of Flight 93 happened around 10:03 a.m., "any reporting would be after that time." [9/11 Commission, 4/29/2004 ] During a public hearing of the 9/11 Commission, Leidig will similarly say that Winfield takes over from him "[r]ight after we resolved what was going on with United 93." He will also say that a report over the NMCC's air threat conference at 10:37 a.m., about an anonymous threat against Air Force One (see (10:32 a.m.) September 11, 2001), occurs "right after I was relieved on the watch by General Winfield." [9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004] This would indicate that Winfield takes over from Leidig at around 10:30 a.m. Unclear If Winfield Returns to Post Immediately after Meeting - It is also unclear whether Winfield returns to his position as DDO immediately after leaving the Air Force-convened meeting, or he allowed Leidig to continue in his place even while he was available to resume his duties. A 9/11 Commission memorandum will state, "Winfield transitioned into the position [of DDO] upon his return to the NMCC," following the meeting. [9/11 Commission, 7/21/2003 ] Leidig will recall that he "looked up at one point and General Winfield was standing next to him." He will also recall that Myers "looked at him at one time and realized the coordinator [i.e. the DDO] was not a general as the position called for, and asked who the general or admiral was that had duty that day." The guidance that was subsequently given was "to get General Winfield briefed up and in the chair." Leidig Listens to Conference before Returning to Post - After Winfield returns to his position as DDO, Leidig initially "stands next to him and listens to the [NMCC's air threat] conference." Leidig will then transition into his regular job, which involves making sure the NMCC operates properly, and start dealing with the smoke coming into the center and other issues effecting operations there. [9/11 Commission, 4/29/2004 ]
Entity Tags: Montague Winfield, National Military Command Center, Charles Leidig
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Pentagon
A US Park Police helicopter that has been assisting in the response to the Pentagon attack has to respond to a sudden influx of reports of emergencies that are in fact false alarms. [US Naval Historical Center, 11/19/2001; Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 164] The helicopter, with the call sign "Eagle II," is one of two Park Police Aviation Unit helicopters that arrived at the Pentagon shortly after the attack there (see Shortly After 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). [NBC 4, 9/11/2003; Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 161-162] After transporting two patients from the Pentagon to the Washington Hospital Center, Eagle II returned to the aviation unit's hangar in Anacostia Park to pick up a Secret Service agent. [McDonnell, 2004, pp. 22 ] Sergeant Keith Bohn, the pilot of Eagle II, will later recall: "The Secret Service had some requests for us to check. Things like the White House perimeter, the downtown areas, the rooftops. There were a lot of things coming up." Suddenly, the helicopter has to respond to a mass of reports of additional emergencies. According to Bohn, "All of a sudden, everything was just unbelievable—to check bridges for abandoned cars, which were believed to be packed with explosives." Eagle II is then "running from one report of things to another report." These reported emergencies turn out to be false alarms. According to Bohn, "Actually, in the city [of Washington, DC], nothing else, in essence, happened that day, but… lots of fear was running rampant." Bohn will add, "We were chasing our tail and everyone else's all around town from Memorial Bridge, 14th Street Bridge, the White House; the Capitol was involved in wanting some perimeter checks, doing all that." [US Naval Historical Center, 11/19/2001; Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 164] Numerous emergencies in the Washington area are being incorrectly reported around this time (see (Between 9:50-10:40 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Broadcasting and Cable, 8/26/2002]
Entity Tags: United States Park Police, Keith E. Bohn, US Secret Service
During a phone call with Christopher Meyer, the British ambassador to the United States, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice suggests the possibility of Iraqi complicity in the attacks on New York and Washington. Following the strike on the Pentagon, Meyer held an emergency meeting of his staff at the British Embassy. He then calls Rice to offer condolences and support. He asks her who does she think was responsible for the attacks? In his 2005 memoirs, Meyer will recall: "The names al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden were already in circulation. She said that the early evidence suggested that it was them. But there could also be a connection with Iraq. That would need investigating." [BBC Radio 4, 2002 ; Meyer, 2005, pp. 188 and 190] However, in a 2007 interview, he will suggest Rice might have made this reference to possible Iraqi complicity in a later call, saying, "I think it was in the same conversation [I had with Rice on the morning of September 11], or it may have been the next one we had very soon after, she said, 'Well, one thing we need to look into is to see whether Iraq's had anything to do with this.'" [PBS Frontline, 12/20/2007]
Entity Tags: Condoleezza Rice, Christopher Meyer
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, Events Leading to Iraq Invasion
Vice President Cheney and others in the White House bunker are given a report of another airplane heading toward Washington. Cheney's Chief of Staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, later states, "We learn that a plane is five miles out and has dropped below 500 feet and can't be found; it's missing." Believing they only have a minute or two before the plane crashes into Washington, Cheney orders fighters to engage the plane, saying, "Take it out." However, reports that this is another hijacking are mistaken. It is learned later that day that a Medevac helicopter five miles away was mistaken for a hijacked plane. [Newsweek, 12/30/2001; 9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004]
Entity Tags: Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, missing for at least 30 minutes, finally enters the NMCC, where the military's response to the 9/11 attacks is being coordinated. [CNN, 9/4/2002; 9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004] Rumsfeld later claims that he only started to gain a situational awareness of what was happening after arriving at the NMCC. [9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004] Rumsfeld was in his office only 200 feet away from the NMCC until the Pentagon crash at 9:37 a.m. (see 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). His activities during this period are unclear. He went outside to the Flight 77 crash site and then stayed somewhere else in the Pentagon until his arrival at the NMCC. Brigadier General Montague Winfield later says, "For 30 minutes we couldn't find him. And just as we began to worry, he walked into the door of the [NMCC]." [ABC News, 9/11/2002] Winfield himself apparently only shows up at the NMCC around 10:30 a.m. as well.
Entity Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, National Military Command Center, Montague Winfield
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Donald Rumsfeld, Key Day of 9/11 Events, Pentagon
After he finally arrives at the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon (see (10:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001), Donald Rumsfeld's primary concern, according to the 9/11 Commission, is "ensuring that the [military fighter] pilots [have] a clear understanding of their rules of engagement." [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 44] Rumsfeld later recalls, "It was clear they needed rules of engagement telling them what they should and should not do. They needed clarity. And there were no rules of engagement on the books for this first-time situation where civilian aircraft were seized and were being used as missiles." By this time, the president has supposedly already given authorization for the military to shoot down hijacked aircraft (see (Between 10:00 a.m. and 10:15 a.m.) September 11, 2001), and Dick Cheney informs Rumsfeld of this over the air threat conference at 10:39 (see 10:39 a.m. September 11, 2001). Rumsfeld says that, "Throughout the course of the day," along with acting Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers, he "returned to further refine those rules." [9/11 Commission, 3/23/2004] As journalist Andrew Cockburn will later remark though, Rumsfeld's work on the rules of engagement "was an irrelevant exercise for he did not complete and issue them until 1:00 p.m., hours after the last hijacker had died." [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 465; Cockburn, 2007, pp. 7]
Entity Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, Richard B. Myers
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Donald Rumsfeld
Two F-15s take off from Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, becoming the second pair of fighter jets to take off from the base after NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) ordered it to launch all of its available aircraft. [9/11 Commission, 10/14/2003 ; Spencer, 2008, pp. 245-246; Richard, 2010, pp. 18] The fighters belong to the 102nd Fighter Wing, which is based at Otis Air Base, and are piloted by Major Martin Richard and Major Robert Martyn. [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Cape Cod Times, 9/11/2006] The 102nd Fighter Wing launched its two F-15s that are kept on "alert"—ready for immediate takeoff—at 8:46 a.m., in response to the hijacked Flight 11 (see 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 20] Another two of the unit's F-15s have just taken off (see (10:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Spencer, 2008, pp. 245-246] Richard is one of several 102nd Fighter Wing pilots who were out for a training mission over the Atlantic Ocean earlier this morning (see (9:00 a.m.-9:24 a.m.) September 11, 2001). The pilots were called back to their base following the attacks in New York (see (9:25 a.m.-9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). It is unclear whether Martyn also participated in the training. [Cape Cod Times, 9/11/2006] Pilot Doesn't Know What Is Going On - After landing back at Otis Air Base, Richard headed into the operations building and phoned his wife. He told her, "I don't know what's going on, but I am going flying." Richard will later recall: "My feelings were of trepidation. I didn't know what was going on and didn't know what the two scrambled aircraft [i.e. the two fighters launched from his base in response to Flight 11] were doing." Richard and Martyn had then been called to the operations desk, where Lieutenant Colonel Jon Treacy, their unit's supervisor of flying, told them they would be flying two of the first four fighters to be subsequently taking off from the base. [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Richard, 2010, pp. 14-15] Around that time, NEADS called the unit and instructed it to launch all of its available fighters, and the pilots had then been sent out to their aircraft (see (10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Spencer, 2008, pp. 245] Fighter Only Has One Missile Loaded - When he arrived at his fighter, Richard found Technical Sergeant Matthew Jackson loading the second of two AIM-9 heat-seeking missiles onto it. Dennis Mills, the crew chief, told Richard that his plane was fueled up and had a "hot gun with bullets," meaning the 20mm gun was loaded and armed for use. Richard, who was impatient to get airborne, instructed Jackson to not bother loading the second missile onto his aircraft. Intelligence Officer Warns of Eight Suspicious Aircraft - Then, Sergeant Joe Kelleher, the unit's intelligence specialist, arrived, out of breath. Kelleher said: "There are up to eight airliners airborne with bombs on board. We know of an American [Airlines] jet out of Dulles [International Airport] and a United [Airlines] jet. I think you are going after the United jet." The United Airlines aircraft he referred to, according to Richard, was Flight 93. [Richard, 2010, pp. 15-16] However, this plane crashed in Pennsylvania shortly after 10:00 a.m. (see (10:03 a.m.-10:10 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (10:06 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 30] Richard will comment, "We were finding out real-time what the actual air picture was, and the information was not accurate." Kelleher continued: "They are turning jets away from Europe and the rumor is some have crashed because they've run out of fuel. It's friggin' chaos!" Fighters Take Off from Base - In their fighters, Richard and Martyn now taxi to the runway and take off from Otis Air Base. While climbing to altitude, Richard keeps his fighter's engines in afterburner so as to gather the most speed he can. [Richard, 2010, pp. 16, 18] Richard and Martyn will be directed to intercept a C-130 military cargo plane (see (After 10:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001), and will subsequently be sent over New York to intercept and identify aircraft there (see (11:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Cape Cod Times, 9/11/2006; Airman, 9/3/2011]
Entity Tags: 102nd Fighter Wing, Dennis Mills, Joe Kelleher, Robert Martyn, Jonathan T. Treacy, Matthew Jackson, Martin Richard, Otis Air National Guard Base
Personnel at NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) are concerned about a group of US military aircraft that are approaching the United States across the Atlantic Ocean, which repeatedly fail to respond to their radio communications. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; Spencer, 2008, pp. 246-247] Staffer Says Aircraft Are 'Friendly' - At 10:31 a.m., a female member of staff at NEADS tells a caller—apparently someone in Canada—that the aircraft are "crossing your border right now." She calls the aircraft "Gold 99," referring to the call sign of one of the planes. She says, "We can't get an aircraft type, but supposedly there's four of them crossing your border, four aircraft," and adds that the aircraft "are friendly." She then tells the caller that the FAA's New York Center "knows about it and everything," and says the group of aircraft "has a mode 2," which would mean they are military aircraft. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] ("Mode 2" is a transponder mode of operation that is for military use only. [US Navy, 1993, pp. 3-3 ] ) The NEADS staff member then tells a colleague that the person at the New York Center that NEADS talked to about the suspect aircraft "said there is a mission," but that person had been "very, very brief, because he had to go." He had said of the aircraft, "All I can tell you right now, they're okay, they know that they're coming." Other Staff Member Says Aircraft Not Confirmed as 'Friendly' - Minutes later, at 10:34 a.m., another female member of the NEADS staff discusses Gold 99 with a male colleague and disputes whether the aircraft are indeed "friendly." She says: "Wait a minute. That's not confirmed, that they're friendly." She adds, "New York [Center] doesn't know who it is." Her colleague says, "Well, they're the ones that told them that it's Gold 99." But the female staffer replies, "They were not told." She adds, "I talked to New York [Center]." Another female member of staff then gives the instruction, "Don't confirm them friendly yet." About a minute later, that staff member continues: "All [the New York Center] had was [that] the Gold 99 is the mission flight, four ships.… No type aircraft." The other female says, "They don't know who it is right now." Someone else says the New York Center "said they were too busy. They hung up." [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] FAA's New York Center Says Aircraft Are Military Planes - Around this time, a female member of staff at NEADS contacts the New York Center to inquire further about the suspicious aircraft. She says to the person there that she is "trying to get some amplifying data" on the aircraft. The New York Center employee replies, "Gold 99 is one KC-10"—a military tanker aircraft—"accompanied by six A-10s," which are military jet aircraft. He says the aircraft originated in "LEMO," apparently referring to Morón Air Base in southern Spain by its International Civil Aviation Organization airport code. He also says the aircraft are on their way to Bangor International Airport in Maine. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; International Civil Aviation Organization, 1/12/2006 ] NEADS Begins 'Unknown Rider' Procedure - At 10:36 a.m., one of the female NEADS staff members decides, "Let's try unknown rider" on the group of aircraft. NEADS personnel then begin what appears to be a specific procedure. Another female staff member tries making radio contact with the aircraft over the "guard" frequency, which can be heard by all aircraft, no matter what other frequency they are on. She calls out: "Unknown rider, unknown rider at position 4123 north, 06532 west, this is Huntress ['Huntress' is the call sign for NEADS] on guard. Authenticate 283, south, kilo." Modified Communication Also Unsuccessful - She repeats this attempted communication with the aircraft, but receives no reply. She then tries a slightly different communication. At 10:39 a.m., she calls out: "Unknown rider, unknown rider at position 4120 north, 06551 west, this is Huntress on guard. Authenticate 8880506, alpha, alpha, alpha." Several minutes later, at 10:44 a.m., this female staff member again calls out to the aircraft, asking the "unknown rider" to "authenticate." Again, no response is received. Aircraft Should Be in Radio Range - A male member of staff points out that the suspicious aircraft are only 174 miles away and therefore, he says, "They should be hearing us" over the radio. A female staff member agrees. One of the NEADS ID technicians therefore phones someone, possibly a colleague at NEADS. She asks him: "As far as authentication goes, how far out, this four-ship that's coming in from this Canada East, how far out should they be able to hear us? Because nobody is coming back with an authentication and we're trying to find out the range. Maybe they can't hear us." The person who answers the call replies: "They should be able to hear you out about as far as the radar coverage itself goes. If there was radar coverage, they should be able to hear you." The ID technician says the aircraft are "within that, so, okay, copy." But still the aircraft fail to reply when NEADS tries calling them. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] Fighters Intercept Suspect Aircraft - Two F-15 fighter jets scrambled from Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts will be directed to intercept the suspicious aircraft, reportedly shortly after 11:00 a.m. (see (11:04 a.m.) September 11, 2001). "Gold 99" will turn out to be a KC-10 tanker, as the New York Center stated. The aircraft with it are four A-10 jets, with the call signs "Mazda 41," "Mazda 42," "Mazda 43," and "Mazda 44." According to some accounts, the five aircraft are returning to the US from the Azores, off Portugal. [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Federal Aviation Administration, 9/11/2001; 9/11 Commission, 2004; Spencer, 2008, pp. 246-247; Richard, 2010, pp. 21]
Entity Tags: New York Air Route Traffic Control Center, Northeast Air Defense Sector
Venton Hollifield. [Source: ABC News / Associated Press]A man who was found behaving suspiciously in the World Trade Center and arrested is passed on to the FBI, but the detective who arrested him is subsequently told to stay quiet about what has happened. [Appel, 2009, pp. 174-175] Several officers belonging to New York Police Department's Emergency Service Unit (ESU) encountered the suspicious man as they were making their way down the stairs of the North Tower of the WTC. The man, who looked Middle Eastern, behaved aggressively toward the ESU officers and so one of them, Detective Timothy Morley, arrested and handcuffed him (see (Between 10:00 a.m. and 10:25 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Appel, 2009, pp. 125-128] Detective Headed out to Find the FBI - When the ESU officers reached the bottom of the North Tower, Morley told his colleagues, "I'm gonna take this guy and hand him over to the first FBI agent I see." He then headed out with the suspicious man, accompanied by his colleague, Lieutenant Venton Hollifield, and a Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) sergeant who carried the man's belongings. The men soon encountered Police Chief Allen Hale from Manhattan North. Hollifield told Hale about the man they were escorting and his strange behavior in the WTC. Some intelligence officers with Hale talked to Morley about the suspicious man and took notes. Suspicious Man Tried to Pull Away When the North Tower Collapsed - When the North Tower started to collapse, at 10:28 a.m. (see 10:28 a.m. September 11, 2001), Morley and the PAPD sergeant grabbed their prisoner and tried to run with him for cover. But the man dug his heels into the ground and tried to pull away from them. Morley was eventually able to drag the man along and find protection behind a fire truck. [Appel, 2009, pp. 131-133] Sometime after the collapse, Morley encountered Hale again. Surprised to see that Morley was still escorting the suspicious man, Hale fetched a van, and drove Morley and his prisoner to Stuyvesant High School, where the ESU has set up a command post. FBI Agents Interview the Prisoner - Now, at the school, some FBI agents show up to debrief Morley's prisoner and they take him to an office to do so. They also ask Morley to write down for them everything that has happened. After a time, the FBI agents decide they want to take the man to the Police Academy. Morley, Hale, the FBI agents, and the prisoner therefore go to the Police Academy, where Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik are now based (see (After 10:28 a.m.-12:00 pm.) September 11, 2001). Unidentified Official Tells the Detective to Keep Quiet - After they arrive at the academy, the prisoner is taken away to be debriefed by some intelligence officers. Meanwhile, Hale walks over to Giuliani and talks to him. He apparently tells the mayor about how Morley came to arrest the suspicious man in the WTC, as Giuliani subsequently walks over to Morley, shakes his hand, and says to him, "Good job." A police inspector nearby then approaches Morley and asks him why the mayor had been shaking his hand. Morley starts telling the inspector about his encounter with the suspicious man in the North Tower. However, before he finishes his account of what happened, a man who has been standing across from him and eavesdropping on the conversation steps forward and interrupts. The man is dressed in a dark suit and is presumably some kind of government agent. He says to Morley, "If you know what's good for you, I wouldn't repeat that story." Morley is astonished. He asks the man who he is, but the man only replies, "Never mind who I am." In his anger, Morley decides he will go and tell his story to Kerik. He enters the room where Kerik is seated, but is unable to get the police commissioner's attention and eventually gives up his attempt to talk to him. [Appel, 2009, pp. 173-176] The following day, the suspicious man that the ESU officers encountered in the WTC will have his arrest voided and be released from custody. [Appel, 2009, pp. 339] Further details of who he is and what he was doing in the North Tower are unknown.
Entity Tags: Allen Hale, Bernard Kerik, Venton Hollifield, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Rudolph ("Rudy") Giuliani, Timothy Morley, New York City Police Department
Personnel in the White House Situation Room learn of a plane supposedly flying toward the United States from Europe that appears to be hijacked, but it is subsequently determined that the alleged flight does not exist. Those in the Situation Room receive word confirming that a suspicious Northwest Airlines flight from Portugal to Philadelphia is heading toward Washington, DC. The plane is not responding to radio calls and its transponder is squawking the code for a hijacking. White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke gives orders for someone to find out more about the flight and what assets the US military has available to intercept it at the coast. Meanwhile, the FAA searches its data for information about the flight and officials try to contact Northwest Airlines to find out more. Those participating in Clarke's video teleconference (see (9:10 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and 9:25 a.m. September 11, 2001) grow increasingly anxious, since no action can be taken until more details about the flight are found. Then Timothy Flanigan, the deputy White House counsel, who is in the Situation Room, has an idea. He leaves the room and finds an unsecure computer. On this, he searches travel websites for details of the suspicious flight, but finds nothing. He then checks on the Northwest Airlines website and again finds no reference to the flight. He quickly jots down everything he can find about Northwest Airlines flights from Europe and then goes to pass on his findings. After taking a seat at the conference table, he addresses Clarke, who is still searching for information about the plane. "I've checked and there's no such flight," he says. Astonished at this news, Clarke asks, "How did you check?" "I looked on their website," Flanigan replies. Clarke then passes on the news to the other participants in the video teleconference. "I have information that there is no such flight," he says and adds, "Check that again." [Eichenwald, 2012, pp. 36-37] The 9/11 Commission Report will later note that there are "multiple erroneous reports of hijacked aircraft" this morning (see (9:09 a.m. and After) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 28]
Entity Tags: Richard A. Clarke, Northwest Airlines, Timothy E. Flanigan, Federal Aviation Administration
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Richard Clarke
Karen Hughes. [Source: Iowa State University]White House counselor Karen Hughes tries calling President Bush on Air Force One but an operator says he is unable to connect her to the plane. [Washington Post, 1/27/2002; White House, 8/22/2002; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 9/10/2006] Hughes was, unusually, at her home in Northwest Washington, DC, when the terrorist attacks began this morning. She stayed in the capital instead of going to Florida with Bush on September 10 since that day was her wedding anniversary. And she stayed home this morning instead of going to the regular senior staff meeting at the White House because she was due to attend an event in her neighborhood and planned to go straight to it from her home. Hughes Wants to Give a Statement to the Media - Sometime after 10:00 a.m., she was called by Josh Bolten, the deputy White House chief of staff, who told her that Vice President Dick Cheney wanted her to work on a statement that the president can deliver when he lands at Barksdale Air Force Base (see 11:45 a.m. September 11, 2001). Hughes has since then decided she should give a statement to the media, to reassure the public that the government is functioning, but she wants to call Bush to get his permission before doing this. [Washington Post, 1/27/2002; MSNBC, 9/11/2002; Hughes, 2004, pp. 232-233, 236-237, 239; Politico Magazine, 9/9/2016] Operator Says He Cannot Reach Air Force One - Hughes therefore now tries to contact Bush while she is being driven to the White House. [Fox News, 9/9/2011] She calls the military switchboard and tells the operator, "I need to talk with the president." The operator puts her on hold while he tries connecting her to Bush. However, he is unable to contact the president's plane. He comes back on the line and, with a shaky voice, says: "Ma'am, I'm sorry. We cannot reach Air Force One." This is "one of the most chilling moments of the day for me," Hughes will later comment. [White House, 8/22/2002; MSNBC, 9/11/2002; Hughes, 2004, pp. 239; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 9/10/2006] "I'd never had that happen before, where they literally couldn't reach [the president]," she will say. [CNN, 4/25/2013] Hughes Is Worried due to the Threat against Air Force One - She is apparently surprised because she knows the president's plane has advanced communications capabilities. "I had seen the elaborate communications equipment on Air Force One, and had watched the president make and receive calls from all over the world" while on the plane, she will say. Furthermore, she has been told that a threat has been made against the president's plane. [Hughes, 2004, pp. 239; NBC, 4/4/2004; Politico Magazine, 9/9/2016] (Officials at the White House learned of this threat at around 10:30 a.m. (see (10:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Woodward, 2002, pp. 18; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 554] ) She is concerned, therefore, that something bad may have happened to the plane and those on board. She thinks, "Surely something hasn't happened to them?" [CNN, 4/25/2013] "I remember saying a prayer that nothing had happened to the president," she will say. [NBC, 4/4/2004] Problems Are Supposedly due to the Plane's Altitude - Hughes will claim that her inability to reach Air Force One at this time is a result of the plane flying at "very high altitudes." She will say she learned that the plane's high altitude "affected the communications system for a moment." [MSNBC, 9/11/2002] However, Bush and his staff have problems making and receiving calls for much of the time that they are on Air Force One today (see (9:54 a.m.-2:50 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [Northwest Indiana Times, 9/22/2002; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 9/10/2006] Hughes will subsequently arrive at the White House and be escorted to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, below the East Wing. [CBS News, 9/11/2002; Hughes, 2004, pp. 240] She will eventually speak to Bush early in the afternoon, while he is at Barksdale Air Force Base (see (12:11 p.m.-1:20 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [Associated Press, 10/2/2001; MSNBC, 9/11/2002; Hughes, 2004, pp. 241-242; American History, 10/2006 ]
Entity Tags: Karen Hughes, George W. Bush
The Continental United States NORAD Region (CONR) issues a message to its three air defense sectors—including the Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS)—stating that Vice President Dick Cheney has authorized it to shoot down suspicious aircraft. Order Sent over Computer Chat System - About 15 minutes earlier, a military officer at the White House relayed to the Pentagon's National Military Command Center (NMCC) that Cheney had confirmed that fighter jets were cleared to engage an inbound aircraft if they could verify that the aircraft was hijacked (see 10:14 a.m.-10:19 a.m. September 11, 2001). According to the 9/11 Commission, "It is not clear how [this] shootdown order was communicated within NORAD." However, Major General Larry Arnold, the CONR commander, now instructs his staff to broadcast a message over a NORAD computer chat system, passing on Cheney's authorization. The message states, "10:31 Vice president has cleared to us to intercept tracks of interest and shoot them down if they do not respond, per CONR CC [General Arnold]." The message is received at CONR's three air defense sectors: the Western, Southeast, and Northeast. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 42; Spencer, 2008, pp. 240] Arnold Could Issue Shootdown Order Himself - Arnold, who is at the CONR air operations center at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, will later comment, "I have the authority in case of an emergency to declare a target hostile and shoot it down under an emergency condition… but it was comforting to know we legally had the authority from the president of the United States." [Filson, 2002; Code One Magazine, 1/2002; Filson, 2003, pp. 75-76] The 10:31 chat message is the first notification personnel on the NEADS operations floor receive of the shootdown order. These personnel are reportedly confused over the order and do not pass it on to fighter pilots under their command (see 10:32 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 42-43; 9/11 Commission, 8/26/2004, pp. 47]
Entity Tags: Continental US NORAD Region, Southeast Air Defense Sector, Western Air Defense Sector, Larry Arnold, Northeast Air Defense Sector
Walter Scheib. [Source: Walter Scheib]A number of staffers are still in the White House long after the building was evacuated, unaware of the terrorist attacks that have occurred and the potential danger they are in. [Brower, 2015, pp. 263] The White House was evacuated at about 9:45 a.m., after the Secret Service learned of a possible threat against it (see (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Associated Press, 2001 ; CNN, 9/12/2001] And yet some butlers on its second and third floors who have been setting up the bars for this evening's Congressional picnic (see 8:30 a.m. September 11, 2001) only learn something unusual is going on nearly an hour after the evacuation took place. [Brower, 2015, pp. 263] They emerge from the building "well after the White House had been officially evacuated," White House chef Walter Scheib will later recall. "The residence was such a world of its own [that] they had no idea what had transpired," he will say. [Kantor, 2012, pp. 38] Additionally, a few engineers remain in the basement of the White House for hours after the evacuation occurs. They are "oblivious to the panic upstairs and the danger they [are] in," according to journalist and author Kate Andersen Brower. [Brower, 2015, pp. 263]
Entity Tags: Walter Scheib
Alarm is raised when a panel truck is noticed that has a drawing of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center on its side. The truck is parked on a street six blocks away from the WTC. It has "the skyline of Lower Manhattan decaled on the side, and somebody [has] taken a black Magic Marker and drawn a plane exploding into the Twin Towers" on it, according to author Anthea Appel. Local residents are frightened by the vehicle, which they fear is a truck bomb. The New York Police Department evacuates the entire block around the truck and calls out the bomb squad. The truck's occupants are detained by the police until a thorough search has been conducted. The vehicle turns out to be an innocent delivery truck, and its occupants are found to be Middle Easterners who speak no English and have rented the truck. [Jenkins and Edwards-Winslow, 9/2003, pp. 20 ; Appel, 2009, pp. 210]
Entity Tags: New York City Police Department
The FAA allows "military and law enforcement flights to resume (and some flights that the FAA can't reveal that were already airborne)." All civilian, military, and law enforcement flights were ordered at 9:26 a.m. to land as soon as reasonably possible. [Time, 9/14/2001] Civilian flights remain banned until September 13. Note that the C-130 cargo plane that witnessed the Flight 77 crash (see 9.36 a.m. September 11, 2001) and which came upon the Flight 93 crash site (see 10:08 a.m. September 11, 2001) right after it had crashed was apparently not subject to the grounding order issued about an hour earlier.
Entity Tags: Federal Aviation Administration
Terri Rizzuto. [Source: ReclaimingTheSky.com]A United Airlines manager finds that a gate agent has already singled out boarding passes belonging to four suspicious passengers who were on Flight 93. Terri Rizzuto is the United Airlines station manager at Newark Airport, from where Flight 93 departed. Some time after hearing that this plane has crashed, she speaks on the phone with the FBI, which is requesting the plane's manifest and its Passenger Name Record (PNR). After arranging permission to release these, she goes to Gate 17, from where she knows Flight 93 departed, wanting to talk to her staff there. When she arrives, a supervisor hands her four boarding passes. The supervisor tells her they are "The men, who did this maybe," and points her toward one of the gate agents who had boarded the passengers onto the flight. When Rizzuto asks the gate agent, "How do you know?" he replies: "They were too well-dressed. Too well-dressed for that early in the morning. And their muscles rippled below their suits.… [A]nd their eyes." [Murphy, 2006, pp. 71-73] However, this report of men with rippling muscles contradicts the 9/11 Commission's description of the so-called "muscle" hijackers (i.e. the non-pilot hijackers) on the four targeted planes: They "were not physically imposing," with the majority of them being "slender in build." [9/11 Commission, 6/16/2004]
Entity Tags: Terri Rizzuto
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, 9/11 Investigations
Will Chandler. [Source: National Geographic]Vice President Dick Cheney phones President Bush and tells him the White House has received a credible threat against Air Force One. [Sammon, 2002, pp. 106-107; Woodward, 2002, pp. 18; CBS News, 9/11/2002] The White House has just received an anonymous phone call in which the caller said the president's plane would be the next terrorist target (see (10:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Woodward, 2002, pp. 18; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 554] The caller referred to the plane as "Angel," which is the Secret Service's code name for Air Force One. [Fleischer, 2005, pp. 141-142] Details of the call were passed on to government officials, including Cheney, in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House. [White House, 11/19/2001; Newsweek, 12/30/2001; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 554] Cheney Tells Bush about a 'Credible' Threat - Cheney now tells Bush: "We're getting reports of a threat against you. It appears credible," Major Robert Darling of the White House Military Office, who is with Cheney in the PEOC, will later recall. Cheney says, "We're scrambling fighter escorts and the Secret Service is taking internal precautions on board Air Force One." [Darling, 2010, pp. 61] Bush turns to Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gould, his military aide, and passes on the news, saying, "A call came into the White House switchboard saying, 'Angel is next.'" Bush then continues talking with Cheney and says, "We're at war, Dick, and we're going to find out who did this and we're going to kick their ass." [Sammon, 2002, pp. 107; Fleischer, 2005, pp. 141-142] Pilot Is Told of the Threat and Asks for a Guard at the Cockpit Door - Colonel Mark Tillman, the pilot of Air Force One, is told about the threat. [CBS News, 9/11/2002] Noting that "Angel" is "a classified call sign of Air Force One," Tillman will comment that "the only people that knew that call sign was us, [the] Secret Service, and the staff." Therefore, he will say, "for somebody [to] call into the White House and say that Angel was next, that was just incredible." [US Air Force, 2/29/2012 ] "It was serious before that, but now… no longer is it a time to get the president home," Tillman will comment. "We actually have to consider everything we say. Everything we do could be intercepted and we have to make sure that no one knows what our position is." Tillman asks to have an armed guard at his cockpit door. Will Chandler, the chief of security, is therefore summoned to the front of the plane and stands watch at the base of the stairs leading to the cockpit. No one is then allowed up these stairs. Secret Service agents double-check the identity of everyone on the plane, while the crew reviews the emergency evacuation plan. [CBS News, 9/11/2002; Politico Magazine, 9/9/2016] Threat Influences the Decision to Fly to Nebraska - White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who is on Air Force One with Bush, will say the threat against the president's plane is what leads to the decision to take Bush to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska (see 2:50 p.m. September 11, 2001) and is also one of the reasons why Bush does not head back to Washington, DC, right away. [White House, 9/12/2001] However, during the afternoon, the Secret Service will determine that the reported threat was unfounded. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 554] Shortly after Bush learns about the threat, Tillman will be informed that an aircraft that may have been hijacked is heading toward Air Force One (see (10:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [CBS News, 9/11/2002; CBS News, 1/17/2009] White House chief of staff Andrew Card will say he in fact learned a threat had been made against Air Force One almost an hour earlier, while he was being driven with Bush to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (see (Between 9:35 a.m. and 9:43 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [White House, 8/12/2002; White House, 8/16/2002; White House, 8/16/2002]
Entity Tags: Mark Tillman, Ari Fleischer, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, George W. Bush, Robert J. Darling, US Secret Service, Will Chandler, Thomas Gould
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney, George Bush, All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney, George Bush
Personnel on the operations floor at NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) are confused over the nature and effect of an order they have received, which states that the military can shoot down aircraft that do not respond to its directions, and they do not pass this order on to fighter pilots under their command. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 42-43; 9/11 Commission, 8/26/2004, pp. 47; Spencer, 2008, pp. 240-241; Farmer, 2009, pp. 228-229] NEADS has just received a message over the NORAD computer chat system from Larry Arnold, the commander of the Continental United States NORAD Region (CONR), stating that Vice President Dick Cheney has authorized NORAD to shoot down suspicious aircraft (see 10:31 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 42] Weapons Director Alerted to Order - Major Steve Ovens sees the chat message and alerts Major James Fox, the leader of the NEADS weapons team, to it. Ovens says: "We need to read this. Region commander has declared that we can shoot down tracks that do not respond to our direction. Okay?" Fox replies, "Okay," but Ovens is unconvinced that he has understood Arnold's message, so he says again, "The region commander has declared that we can shoot down aircraft that do not respond to our directions, okay?" Fox replies, "Copy that." NEADS Director Opposes Order - Ovens continues, "So if you're trying to divert somebody and he won't divert…" but Fox says, "DO [the director of operations] is saying no." According to author Lynn Spencer, Fox means that Colonel Lanny McNeely, the NEADS director of operations, is indicating "no." McNeely has "understood that the battle staff wanted to keep shootdown authority in the [NEADS] battle cab. The commanders were not prepared to pass such authorizations to airborne fighters." [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; Spencer, 2008, pp. 240-241] However, a 9/11 Commission memorandum will state that McNeely is away from NEADS on this day, in Texas, and no one is currently sitting in the director of operations position. [9/11 Commission, 10/30/2003 ] According to John Farmer, the senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission, Fox is instead referring to Colonel Robert Marr, the NEADS battle commander, saying "no," not McNeely. [Farmer, 2009, pp. 229] Fox Agrees to Pass on Order to Commander - Ovens responds: "No? It came over the chat.… You got a conflict on that direction?" Fox replies, "Right now, no, but…" Showing Fox the chat message, Ovens says: "Okay. You read that from the vice president, right? Vice president has cleared…" Fox reads the message out loud, saying, "Vice president has cleared us to intercept traffic and shoot them down if they do not respond, per CONR CC." Finally, he says, "Okay, I will pass it to MCC," meaning Major Kevin Nasypany, the NEADS mission crew commander. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; Spencer, 2008, pp. 241] NEADS Does Not Pass on Order to Pilots - NEADS personnel will later express to the 9/11 Commission their "considerable confusion over the nature and effect" of this shootdown order, and explain why they fail to pass it on to the fighter jets from Otis Air National Guard Base (see 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001) and Langley Air Force Base (see 9:24 a.m. September 11, 2001) that are under their command. Nasypany and Fox indicate to the Commission that "they did not pass the order to the fighters circling Washington and New York because they were unsure how the pilots would, or should, proceed with this guidance." Consequently, "while leaders in Washington believed that the fighters above them had been instructed to 'take out' hostile aircraft, the only orders actually conveyed to the pilots were to 'ID type and tail.'" [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 43; Farmer, 2009, pp. 229]
Entity Tags: Lanny McNeely, James Fox, Northeast Air Defense Sector, Kevin Nasypany, Robert Marr, Steve Ovens
Russian President Vladimir Putin phones the White House, wanting to speak with the US president. With Bush not there, Condoleezza Rice takes the call. Putin tells her that the Russians are voluntarily standing down a military exercise they are conducting, as a gesture of solidarity with the United States. [Washington Post, 1/27/2002] The Russian exercise began on September 10 in the Russian arctic and North Pacific oceans, and was scheduled to last until September 14. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/9/2001; Washington Times, 9/11/2001] It involved Russian bombers staging a mock attack against NATO planes that are supposedly planning an assault on Russia. [BBC, 2001, pp. 161] Subsequently, Putin manages to talk to Bush while he is aboard Air Force One (see (After 11:15 a.m.) September 11, 2001).
Entity Tags: Condoleezza Rice, George W. Bush, Vladimir Putin
President Bush asks Mike Morell, his CIA briefer, about a claim that has supposedly been made by a radical Palestinian group, of responsibility for the attacks on the US and is told the group lacks the capability to have carried out the attacks. [Tenet, 2007, pp. 166; Morell and Harlow, 2015, pp. 52] Abu Dhabi television reported, at around 9:43 a.m., that it had received a call from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), claiming responsibility for crashing the planes into the World Trade Center (see (9:43 a.m.) September 11, 2001), but at around 10:00 a.m., the group denied that it was behind the attacks (see (10:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [BBC, 9/12/2001; Poynter Institute, 9/2/2002] Now, on Air Force One, Bush calls Morell to his office. He asks Morell what he thinks about the DFLP's supposed claim of responsibility for the attacks. Morell tells Bush he doubts the validity of the assertion. "Mr. President," he says, "DFLP is a Palestinian rejectionist group with a long history of terrorism against Israel, but they do not possess the capability to do this." Before Morell leaves the office, Bush asks him to call CIA Director George Tenet and tell him to make sure that he, the president, is informed right away as soon as the CIA has any definitive information about the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks. "Michael, I want to be the first to know. Got that?" he says. Morell replies, "Yes, sir" and says he will call Tenet right away (see (Shortly After 10:32 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Bush apparently talks to Morell around the time the White House informs personnel on Air Force One that it has received a threat against the president's plane (see (10:32 a.m.) September 11, 2001), since Andrew Card, Bush's chief of staff, tells Morell about the threat as he is leaving the president's office. [Studies in Intelligence, 9/2006 ; Morell and Harlow, 2015, pp. 52-53]
Entity Tags: Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Michael J. Morell, George W. Bush
The FAA's Cleveland Center has to authorize two Ohio Air National Guard fighter jets to shoot down threatening aircraft, because NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) is unable to communicate directly with those jets and give them the authorization itself. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 241-242] The two F-16s, which belong to the 180th Fighter Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard, took off from Toledo Express Airport at 10:17 a.m. (see 10:17 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Toledo Blade, 12/9/2001; WTOL, 9/11/2006] NEADS Unable to Contact Fighters - NEADS has just received a message, informing it that Vice President Dick Cheney has authorized NORAD to shoot down suspicious aircraft (see 10:31 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 42] A weapons officer wants to pass this important information to the two 180th FW fighter pilots. However, since the jets took off, NEADS has been unable to bring them up on their UHF frequency, and so the weapons officer has had to communicate with them indirectly, via the FAA's Cleveland Center. He now phones the Cleveland Center and asks it to pass on the new rules of engagement to the 180th FW pilots. Controller Passes on Shootdown Authorization - A Cleveland Center air traffic controller then radios one of those pilots, Scott Reed, and asks him, "Sting 1-1 [Reed's call sign], Cleveland Center, do you know what your ROE is?" Reed is surprised to hear a civilian controller use the military acronym for "rules of engagement." He responds, "Sting 1-1, no." The controller asks, "Would you like to know?" and then tells Reed, "Sting 1-1, if you have a non-military aircraft moving toward a population center, you are clear to engage." Reed says, "Cleveland Center, Sting 1-1, please confirm ROE." The controller responds, "Sting 1-1, if the airplane you are vectored against does not comply with your instructions, you are cleared to engage." According to author Lynn Spencer, Reed "is shocked; he's just been given clearance—from a civilian controller—to shoot down a commercial airliner." [Spencer, 2008, pp. 241-242] The two 180th FW jets never receive any subsequent orders to engage specific aircraft. According to NEADS battle commander, Colonel Robert Marr, the pilots "never had a track close enough that they were directed to engage. [But] if a valid direction had come from the appropriate level to engage a target, or shoot down a target at some time, they could have done that." [Toledo Blade, 12/9/2001] Though it notifies the 180th FW jets, NEADS fails to pass on the shootdown authorization to the fighters from Otis Air National Guard Base and Langley Air Force Base that are under its command (see 10:32 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 43; Farmer, 2009, pp. 229]
Entity Tags: Robert Marr, Northeast Air Defense Sector, 180th Fighter Wing, Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center, Scott Reed
Mike Morell, President Bush's CIA briefer, speaks to Cofer Black, the director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center, who can provide him with little more information about the attacks on the US than is generally known. Morell, who is with the president on Air Force One, has just spoken to Bush, who asked him to call CIA Director George Tenet and tell him to inform the president immediately when the CIA has any definitive information about the perpetrators of today's attacks (see (10:32 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Morell now sits down in the staff section of the plane, picks up the phone by his seat, and calls Tenet's office at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. However, the headquarters is currently being evacuated (see (9:50 a.m.-10:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001), and so Tenet and his staff are in the process of relocating to a secure site. The secretary who answers Morell's call says Tenet is unavailable and Morell instead has to talk to Black, the nearest senior official, after the secretary passes the phone to him. During their conversation, Black tells Morell what the CIA currently knows about the attacks on the US, which, Morell will later comment, "was little beyond what the rest of the world knew." Morell then passes on the president's request to be informed right away as soon as the CIA has information about who is responsible for the attacks and asks Black to share the request with Tenet. As he hangs up the phone, however, Morell is doubtful that his message will be passed on. "I was not confident [Tenet] would get the word, given the evacuation and given everything that would be asked of Black over the next few hours," he will recall. [Studies in Intelligence, 9/2006 ; Morell and Harlow, 2015, pp. 52-53] Tenet will inform Bush, for the first time, that the CIA has linked al-Qaeda to the attacks during a video teleconference at around 3:15 p.m. this afternoon (see (3:15 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [Woodward, 2002, pp. 26-27; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 326]
Entity Tags: Michael J. Morell, Cofer Black, George J. Tenet, Central Intelligence Agency
A Secret Service agent at the White House calls the District of Columbia Air National Guard (DCANG) at Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, and asks it to launch fighter jets immediately. According to author Lynn Spencer, a report has been received at the White House from the FAA "that there are three planes unaccounted for," and the Secret Service has therefore determined "it needs fighters up now." It calls the DCANG to request these jets. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 236] Apparently around the same time, the DCANG receives a call from someone else at the White House—presumably another Secret Service agent—declaring the Washington area "a free-fire zone." Lieutenant Colonel Marc Sasseville, one of the DCANG pilots, will later comment, "That meant we were given authority to use force, if the situation required it, in defense of the nation's capital, its property, and people." [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002] Between 10:38 a.m. and 11:11 a.m., five DCANG fighter jets will take off from Andrews to defend Washington (see (10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001, 10:42 a.m. September 11, 2001, and 11:11 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 2004; 9/11 Commission, 2/17/2004; Vogel, 2007, pp. 446] The Secret Service contacted the DCANG several times earlier on, requesting that it launch fighters (see (Shortly After 9:04 a.m.) September 11, 2001, (Shortly After 9:33 a.m.) September 11, 2001, and (Shortly After 9:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Filson, 2003, pp. 78; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 465] Brigadier General David Wherley, the commander of the DC Air National Guard, has been on the phone with Secret Service agents at the White House, who have told him his jets should "turn away any airplane that attempts to fly within 20 miles of the Washington area," and the pilots can use "whatever force is necessary" to prevent another aircraft hitting a building (see (10:15 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (Between 10:16 a.m. and 10:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 8/28/2003; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 44; Spencer, 2008, pp. 218]
Entity Tags: Marc Sasseville, District of Columbia Air National Guard, US Secret Service
Mark Rosenker. [Source: National Transportation Safety Board]The FAA's Jacksonville Center informs the pilot of Air Force One that an unidentified aircraft is heading toward his plane, and this aircraft is out of radio contact, has its transponder off, and might be another hijacking. Air Force One is currently flying toward Gainesville in northern Florida. [CBS News, 9/11/2002; CBS News, 1/17/2009; Peter Schnall, 1/25/2009] Colonel Mark Tillman, the pilot of Air Force One, has just been informed that President Bush, who is on the plane, has been called by Vice President Dick Cheney, and Cheney told the president that an anonymous threat has been phoned into the White House, stating that Air Force One is the next target (see (10:32 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Sammon, 2002, pp. 106-107; CBS News, 9/11/2002; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 554] Suspicious Plane Descending toward Air Force One - Tillman is now notified of the suspicious aircraft by the Jacksonville Center. He will later recall that the Jacksonville Center air traffic controller says there is "an aircraft coming at us, descending… and… its transponder was not on, and they had no idea who it was. It could have been another hijacked airliner. They weren't sure." The controller tells Tillman the aircraft is "behind you 10 miles, descending at least, flight level 3-5-0, looks to be holding there." He adds: "Apparently we've lost radio contact with them. Are you aware of them?" Tillman replies, "Affirmative." [Peter Schnall, 1/25/2009] The FAA reports this suspicious aircraft over the Pentagon's air threat conference call at 10:39 a.m., saying the Jacksonville Center "is not working the aircraft. He's not under [air traffic control] control." [US Department of Defense, 9/11/2001 ] Major Robert Darling of the White House Military Office, who is in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House, will later recall that around this time, those in the PEOC receive word "of an unaccounted-for airliner last seen in the Atlanta, Georgia, area headed southeast toward Florida." It is unclear if this is the aircraft that Tillman is warned about. [Darling, 2010, pp. 61] Pilot Tells Others on Air Force One of Suspect Plane - Tillman informs others onboard Air Force One of the suspicious plane. Mark Rosenker, the director of the White House Military Office, will recall that Tillman "indicated to us that something was coming at us, it was not squawking [i.e. its transponder was off], it was not turning, and we had a feeling that we were going to be able to get away from it. But for a moment you ask the question, 'What could it be?'" A CBS interviewer will point out to Rosenker that since this "unidentified aircraft… had its transponder off and wasn't communicating," it is apparently following "the MO [modus operandi] of all the other aircraft that attacked that day," and suggest, "That must have made everybody a little nervous." Rosenker will reply, "Well, it did." However, he will add, "[W]e are clearly on probably the finest airplane in the world, so we were comforted by knowing that we had the ability to out-run and out-climb anything that was going to get near us." [White House, 8/29/2002] Air Force One Heads toward Gulf of Mexico for Safety - Tillman turns Air Force One and heads out to the Gulf of Mexico. He will recall: "We weren't sure who was hijacked and who wasn't, so I went out into the Gulf of Mexico. There's basically fighters all over the Gulf that have the capability to make sure that no one comes into the Gulf, penetrates the United States. So I knew I'd be safe out into the Gulf of Mexico." He will say he heads to the Gulf "to regroup and figure out where we could bring the president to keep him safe." Suspicious Plane a False Alarm - The concern about the suspicious aircraft turns out to be a false alarm. According to Tillman, "In reality, just his transponder was off [and] he hadn't checked in with the controller right afterwards." [CBS News, 1/17/2009; Peter Schnall, 1/25/2009]
Entity Tags: Mark Rosenker, Mark Tillman, Robert J. Darling, Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center
Westover Air Reserve Base. [Source: Andrew Biscoe / US Air Force]Two fighter jets launched from Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts intercept a C-130 military cargo plane returning to the US from England, which has failed to check in with air traffic controllers and whose pilot is apparently unaware of the crisis taking place in the United States. [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Westover Patriot, 10/2001 ; Richard, 2010, pp. 19-20] The two F-15s, which belong to the 102nd Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, are piloted by Major Martin Richard and Major Robert Martyn. They recently took off from Otis Air Base (see (Shortly After 10:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001) after NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) ordered the base to launch all of its available fighters (see (10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Spencer, 2008, pp. 245; Richard, 2010, pp. 18] Suspect Aircraft Has Not Checked in with FAA - NEADS now gives Richard the details of his first target, an aircraft that failed to check in with the FAA's Boston Center as expected and is therefore under suspicion. Richard locks his radar to the target and passes on the details to Martyn, telling him the suspect aircraft is 38 miles northeast of them and at an altitude of 17,000 feet. The two fighters fly toward the aircraft at supersonic speed. They intercept it just east of Boston's Logan International Airport, Richard will later recall. [Richard, 2010, pp. 19-20] But according to a report written by the 102nd Fighter Wing's historian, they intercept it 150 miles out over the Atlantic Ocean. [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001] And according to the Westover Patriot, a military newspaper, they intercept it about 75 miles north of Springfield, Massachusetts. [Westover Patriot, 10/2001 ] Pilot Unaware of Attacks in the US - As Richard and Martyn close in on the aircraft, they see that it is a C-130 military transport plane. They take up positions just off its wings. The plane's pilot is apparently unaware of the terrorist attacks in the US. Richard will describe, "The pilot sitting in the left seat of the C-130," who is "enjoying his boxed lunch," is "unaware that the world below was on fire." Fighters Signal to C-130 that It Has Been Intercepted - The pilot looks to the left and suddenly notices Richard's fighter off his wing. Richard and Martyn then rock their wings, signifying to the pilot that his plane has been intercepted, and he acknowledges the signal by rocking his wings back. The pilot then contacts Richard and Martyn on the universal emergency radio frequency known as "guard," which can be heard by all aircraft, regardless of what other frequency they are on. In a panicked voice he says, "F-15s intercepting the C-130 over Boston, state intentions." Martyn tells him, "Contact [the FAA's] Boston Center immediately." Then, Richard will recall, "[W]e were off." [Richard, 2010, pp. 20] C-130 Returning from England - The C-130 is from Texas and is returning to the US from England. It will subsequently land at Westover Air Reserve Base, Massachusetts. Its commander will comment, "I'd never had an escort like that before in my career." [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Westover Patriot, 10/2001 ] Richard will reflect, "It was amazing to me that in the beginning moments of the most important mission of my life, our formation was scrambled to intercept a United States military C-130." [Richard, 2010, pp. 20-21] Richard and Martyn will subsequently be sent over New York to intercept and identify aircraft there (see (11:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Cape Cod Times, 9/11/2006; Airman, 9/3/2011]
Entity Tags: Robert Martyn, Northeast Air Defense Sector, Martin Richard
The press incorrectly reports that an airliner has crashed on or near Camp David. [Daily Record (Baltimore), 9/12/2001; US Department of Transportation, 3/2002] Camp David is the presidential retreat, located about 70 miles north of Washington, DC, in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland. [Federation of American Scientists, 10/2/2000; Associated Press, 7/30/2007] On Air Force One, at 10:37, White House chief of staff Andrew Card relays to the president the incorrect report of the crash. [Sammon, 2002, pp. 108] At around 11:09, CBS News reports that "a plane apparently has crashed at or near Camp David." [Broadcasting and Cable, 8/26/2002] An early article by Forbes states, "There are reports of a fourth airliner [having] been brought down near Camp David… by US military fighters." [Forbes, 9/11/2001] And an early report by the Northwestern Chronicle similarly states, "Air Force officials say an airliner has been forced down by F-16 fighter jets near Camp David." [Northwestern Chronicle, 9/11/2001] Theresa Hahn, the catering manager for a restaurant in the Camp David area, hears the erroneous report. She subsequently describes, "Lots of fire trucks were on the road and no one can get up there." But J. Mel Poole, the Catoctin Mountain Park superintendent, states there has been "no crash at Camp David." [Daily Record (Baltimore), 9/12/2001] At some point, the FAA calls the military to confirm the crash, and is reassured that no crash occurred at Camp David. [Freni, 2003, pp. 42] The actual Flight 93 crash site is about 85 miles northwest of Camp David. [PBS, 9/11/2001] The Secret Service reportedly tells the White House that Flight 93 may have been on a course for Camp David. [Pittsburgh Channel, 9/11/2001] And, following a military briefing, Representative James Moran (D-VA) tells reporters that Flight 93 was apparently heading for Camp David. [Associated Press, 9/11/2001; Wall Street Journal, 9/12/2001] (However, the 9/11 Commission will later state that its intended target was either the White House or the Capitol building. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 14] ) The source of the incorrect report of the Camp David crash is unclear. However, when the FAA's Washington Center first informed NEADS that Flight 93 had crashed, at 10:15, it simply reported that it had gone down "somewhere up northeast of Camp David" (see 10:15 a.m. September 11, 2001), so this may have created some of the confusion. [Vanity Fair, 8/1/2006] There are also numerous false reports of terrorist attacks having taken place in Washington, DC around this time (see (Between 9:50-10:40 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Some commentators make the connection that the 9/11 attacks come 23 years after the signing of the Camp David accords—a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt—on September 17, 1978. [Forbes, 9/11/2001; Village Voice, 9/11/2001; Daily Record (Baltimore), 9/12/2001] WCBS reports, "[T]here is speculation that perhaps, perhaps, this may be in retaliation for those accords." [Broadcasting and Cable, 8/26/2002]
Entity Tags: Federal Aviation Administration, J. Mel Poole, Andrew Card, James Moran, Theresa Hahn, US Secret Service
President Bush, who is on Air Force One, is informed that his wife, Laura Bush, and his daughters, Jenna and Barbara, have been moved to safe locations. When he got on Air Force One in Sarasota, Florida, Bush was concerned about the safety of his wife and daughters, and requested additional protection for them (see (9:44 a.m.) September 11, 2001). At that time, the first lady was on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC (see 9:16 a.m.-9:40 a.m. September 11, 2001 and 9:41 a.m. September 11, 2001). Barbara and Jenna Bush are students at Yale and the University of Texas, respectively. [New Yorker, 9/25/2001; Sammon, 2002, pp. 100, 108] President Told Wife and Daughters Are Safe - Edward Marinzel, the head of Bush's Secret Service detail, who is with the president on Air Force One, has been contacted by Secret Service Director Brian Stafford, and told that the first lady and the president's daughters have all been safely relocated. [United States Secret Service, 2001] This news is now passed on to the president by Andrew Card, Bush's chief of staff. Card tells Bush that the first lady is "in a secure location with the Secret Service and that his daughters had been removed to safer locations," Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward will later write. [Woodward, 2002, pp. 18] The first lady is taken to the Secret Service headquarters, in Washington (see (10:10 a.m.-10:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (10:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Bush, 2010, pp. 200-201] Barbara and Jenna Bush are taken to the Secret Service office in New Haven, Connecticut, and the Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas, respectively (see 10:51 a.m.-10:57 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Woodward, 2002, pp. 17] President Given Phone Number for First Lady - Bush then asks Card, jokingly, about Barney, his Scottish terrier. Card replies, "He's nipping at the heels of Osama bin Laden now." [New Yorker, 9/25/2001; Sammon, 2002, pp. 108] Bush also requests, and is provided with, a direct contact telephone number for the first lady. [United States Secret Service, 2001] But according to the president's senior adviser, Karl Rove, who is on Air Force One at this time, the news that his wife and daughters have been secured "reassured the president and allowed him to put off calling Laura until later in the morning, when events provided a brief window to do so." [Rove, 2010, pp. 258] It will be nearly 11:45 a.m. before Bush is able to talk to the first lady (see (Shortly Before 11:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Bush, 2010, pp. 132]
Entity Tags: Edward Marinzel, Laura Bush, Brian L. Stafford, Barbara Pierce Bush, George W. Bush, Jenna Bush, Andrew Card, Karl C. Rove
Billy Hutchison. [Source: Family photo]The first fighter jet to launch from Andrews Air Force Base, 10 miles southeast of Washington, takes off in response to the attacks. [9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004; GlobalSecurity (.org), 1/21/2006] The F-16 belongs to the 121st Fighter Squadron, which is part of the 113th Wing of the District of Columbia Air National Guard, and is piloted by Major Billy Hutchison. It is one of three F-16s that were flying on a training mission in North Carolina, over 200 miles from Andrews (see 8:36 a.m. September 11, 2001), and which have finally been recalled to the base (see (9:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (9:50 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002; American Forces Press Service, 5/12/2005] Although the three jets met with a refueling plane, they did not fill their tanks up completely. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 216-217] Hutchison's aircraft is the only one of them with enough fuel remaining to take off again immediately, though he only has 2,800 pounds, which is equivalent to one-eighth of a tank in a car. His jet has no missiles, and only training ammunition. Pilot Takes Off, Instructed to Protect Washington - Immediately after landing at Andrews at 10:36 a.m., Hutchison takes off again at the instruction of Brigadier General David Wherley, the commander of the DC Air National Guard. He is instructed "to intercept an aircraft coming toward DC and prevent it from reaching DC," he will later recall. [Washington Post, 4/8/2002; Filson, 2003, pp. 79-81; 9/11 Commission, 2/17/2004] According to author Lynn Spencer, Lieutenant Colonel Phil Thompson, the supervisor of flying (SOF) at Andrews, tells Hutchison to "use whatever force is necessary to prevent [the aircraft] from getting to DC." Thompson adds: "You are weapons free. Do you understand?" "Weapons free" means the decision to shoot at a target now rests solely with Hutchison. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 219] However, according to the 9/11 Commission, the "weapons free" instruction goes out to other pilots that launch from Andrews at 10:42 and after, but apparently not to Hutchison. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 44] Thompson will tell Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine simply that he instructs Hutchison "to 'do exactly what [air traffic control] asks you to do.' Primarily, he was to go ID [identify] that unknown [aircraft] that everybody was so excited about" (see (10:30 a.m.-10:40 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002] Hutchison takes off "without afterburner to conserve fuel, go across the White House over the Georgetown area and continue northwest up the Potomac," he will recall (see 10:39 a.m.-10:45 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Filson, 2003, pp. 81] Conflicting Timelines - Conflicting times will later be given for when Hutchison takes off from Andrews. The pilots with the 121st Fighter Squadron will admit that their own recollection of the morning's timeline "is fuzzy." [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002] According to 113th Wing operations desk records, Hutchison takes off at 10:33 a.m. [Filson, 2003, pp. 81, 89] Based on an interview with David Wherley, the 9/11 Commission states he is airborne at 10:38 a.m. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 44, 465] Recordings of air traffic controller transmissions confirm this time. [9/11 Commission, 2004; 9/11 Commission, 2/17/2004] But in her 2008 book Touching History, Lynn Spencer will claim Hutchison took off significantly earlier, some time after 9:50 but before Flight 93 crashed (which was just after 10:00 a.m.). [Spencer, 2008, pp. 216-220] (However, she will later amend her claim, saying instead, "Radio data indicates that Hutchison's flight did not depart from Andrews… until just after 10:35." [Lynn Spencer, 2008] ) Two more fighters will take off from Andrews at 10:42 a.m. (see 10:42 a.m. September 11, 2001) and another two take off at 11:11 a.m. (see 11:11 a.m. September 11, 2001). Due to his plane's limited fuel, Hutchison will only be airborne for about 10 minutes, and he lands back at Andrews at 10:47 a.m. (see 10:47 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 8/28/2003; 9/11 Commission, 2004; 9/11 Commission, 2/17/2004; Vogel, 2007, pp. 446] One Jet Landed Already - The first of the three F-16s to return from the training mission over North Carolina landed at Andrews at 10:14 a.m., but did not take off again to defend Washington (see 10:14 a.m. September 11, 2001). The other F-16, piloted by Lou Campbell, landed with Hutchison's jet at 10:36 a.m. [9/11 Commission, 2004; 9/11 Commission, 2/17/2004; 9/11 Commission, 2/27/2004] The 113th Wing is not part of NORAD's air sovereignty force and, according to the 1st Air Force's book about 9/11, does not have an alert mission. [Filson, 2003, pp. 76] According to Phil Thompson, "We've never been an air defense unit," but "We practice scrambles, we know how to do intercepts and other things." [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002]
Entity Tags: Andrews Air Force Base, Billy Hutchison, Lou Campbell, 121st Fighter Squadron, David Wherley, District of Columbia Air National Guard, Phil Thompson
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Flight UA 93, All Day of 9/11 Events, Flight UA 93, All Day of 9/11 Events, Flight UA 93, All Day of 9/11 Events, Flight UA 93
The FAA's Command Center in Herndon, Virginia, issues a formal Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), closing all operations at all US airports. [US Congress. House. Committee On Transportation And Infrastructure, 9/21/2001; Federal Aviation Administration, 3/21/2002; Harrald et al., 7/15/2002 ]
Vice President Dick Cheney tries to bring Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld up to date over the National Military Command Center's (NMCC) conference call (see 9:29 a.m.-9:34 a.m. September 11, 2001), as Rumsfeld arrived at the NMCC just minutes earlier (see (10:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Cheney explains that he has given authorization for hijacked planes to be shot down and that this has been passed on to the fighter pilots. Rumsfeld asks, "So we've got a couple of aircraft up there that have those instructions at the present time?" Cheney replies: "That is correct. And it's my understanding they've already taken a couple of aircraft out." Then Rumsfeld says: "We can't confirm that. We're told that one aircraft is down but we do not have a pilot report that they did it." Cheney is incorrect about his authorization having reached the pilots (see 10:31 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004]
Entity Tags: Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld
Having taken off after returning from a training mission, a pilot with the District of Columbia Air National Guard (DCANG) flies two loops up the Potomac River, reversing course near Georgetown and the Pentagon, but is unable to locate a suspicious approaching aircraft, and heads back to base less than 10 minutes after launching. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002; 9/11 Commission, 2/17/2004; 9/11 Commission, 2/27/2004; 9/11 Commission, 3/11/2004 ; Spencer, 2008, pp. 219-221] No Rules of Engagement - Major Billy Hutchison, a pilot with the 121st Fighter Squadron of the DCANG, had landed back at Andrews Air Force Base, 10 miles from Washington, but was ordered to take off again immediately (see (10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002] His plane has no missiles, and only training ammunition, and he has been given no specific rules of engagement other than being told to identify an aircraft that is coming down the river. [Washington Post, 4/8/2002; 9/11 Commission, 3/11/2004 ; Vogel, 2007, pp. 446] Because the DCANG is not in the communication and command loops of NORAD or its Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS), Hutchison is unaware that three fighter jets NEADS ordered into the air from Langley Air Force Base (see 9:24 a.m. September 11, 2001) are also flying over Washington, albeit at a much higher altitude than he is. [Washington Post, 4/8/2002; Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002; 9/11 Commission, 2/27/2004] Controller Directs Hutchison - Hutchison calls the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) at Washington's Reagan National Airport. He says, "Bully 1 [his call sign] is looking for a contact." Victor Padgett, the operations supervisor at the TRACON, replies, "We have an intercept for you northwest of here and coming down the Potomac." [Spencer, 2008, pp. 219] Hutchison knows he is meant to be searching for a civilian aircraft, and will later recall that he is told it is coming from Pennsylvania. [9/11 Commission, 2/27/2004] In order to conserve fuel and gain airspeed, he flies low over the White House and Georgetown, reportedly staying between 500 and 1,000 feet above ground level. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002; Spencer, 2008, pp. 219] After Padgett gives him details of the approaching aircraft's location, Hutchison spots it on his jet's radar screen, but it quickly disappears. The aircraft reappears a minute later, but then both Hutchison and Padgett lose sight of it. Aircraft Claimed to Be Flight 93 - Some accounts will suggest the approaching aircraft is thought to be Flight 93 (see (10:30 a.m.-10:40 a.m.) September 11, 2001), even though that plane has already crashed (see (10:06 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Washington Post, 4/8/2002; Spencer, 2008, pp. 219-221] Hutchison will later recall that the TRACON at Reagan Airport is "frantic with what they seem to think are aircraft coming their way.… There is another aircraft, and it's United Flight 93. They… apparently have been given information that it's coming their way." [Filson, 2003, pp. 81] Major David McNulty, the senior intelligence officer of the DCANG, will recall, "[I]t wasn't until later that they realized the plane [coming down the river] might be UAL 93." [9/11 Commission, 3/11/2004 ] However, John Farmer, John Azzarello, and Miles Kara, who are all staff members of the 9/11 Commission, subsequently rebut this claim. They will write: "[R]adar records of the day [of 9/11] indicate that Major Hutchison did not take off until more than a half-hour after United 93 had crashed near Shanksville, PA, and a good 20 minutes after the wreckage had been located. He could not have seen United 93 on his scope, and could not have intercepted it." [New York Times, 9/13/2008] Told to Investigate Other Aircraft - After the aircraft disappears off Hutchison's radar screen, Dan Creedon, an air traffic controller at the TRACON at Reagan Airport, is concerned about planes and helicopters that are taking off and landing across Washington, and tells Hutchison, "We have more contacts!" Hutchison confirms that he will investigate the targets Creedon alerts him to, but he keeps losing them among the ground clutter on his radar screen. According to author Lynn Spencer, "The flights are too close to the surface and, from what he can see, appear to be mostly helicopters flying medevac from the Pentagon." Flies over the Pentagon - Hutchison, who'd noticed the burning Pentagon before he landed at Andrews Air Force Base (see (9:50 a.m.) September 11, 2001), then decides he should investigate it. He descends and flies a steep turn over the Pentagon. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 234-235] He will later recall: "I circled at a couple of hundred feet at the most just to, one, investigate, and two, give the people on the ground some semblance of security of an American fighter coming by. And apparently it changed the mood for a lot of people when they saw that" (see (10:40 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Running out of Fuel - By now, Hutchison is almost out of fuel. He will recall, "After that point, I'm emergency fuel, the lowest I've ever been in an F-16, and tell [the FAA's] Washington Center I must leave, and they say I'm cleared to return to base and that two more aircraft are coming out of Andrews." [Filson, 2003, pp. 81-82] Hutchison will land at Andrews at 10:47 a.m. (see 10:47 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 2004; 9/11 Commission, 2/17/2004]
Entity Tags: Victor Padgett, Dan Creedon, Billy Hutchison, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Pentagon, 121st Fighter Squadron, John Farmer, Miles Kara, David McNulty, John Azzarello, District of Columbia Air National Guard
The plane carrying Attorney General John Ashcroft is ordered to land by the FAA's Cleveland Center, but Ashcroft is intent on reaching Washington, DC, and instructs his pilot to ignore the order. [Federal Aviation Administration, 3/21/2002; Ashcroft, 2006, pp. 117; Spencer, 2008, pp. 258] Ashcroft learned of the attacks in New York while flying to Milwaukee in a small government jet, and immediately wanted to return to Washington, but his plane needed to land first in Milwaukee to refuel (see Shortly After 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001). Even though the FAA had issued a nationwide ground stop to prevent aircraft from taking off, Ashcroft then insisted that his plane leave Milwaukee to fly back to Washington (see After 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). FAA Manager Furious, Wants Plane to Land - When Ben Sliney, the national operations manager at the FAA's Command Center in Herndon, Virginia, hears about Ashcroft's plane defying the ground stop order, he is livid. He immediately calls the FAA's Cleveland Center and tells it to order the plane to land. An air traffic controller at the Cleveland Center then issues this order to Ashcroft's plane. [Newsweek, 3/10/2003; Spencer, 2008, pp. 257-258] David Clemmer, the plane's pilot, tells Ashcroft, "They're instructing me to land outside of Detroit," but Ashcroft tells him, "No, keep going." [Washington Post, 9/28/2001; Ashcroft, 2006, pp. 117] Controller Reports that Plane Is Not Complying - According to a 2002 FAA report, Ashcroft then requests that his plane be allowed to immediately return to Washington, and he receives permission to do so. [Federal Aviation Administration, 3/21/2002] But author Lynn Spencer will give a different account, saying that Clemmer "chooses to ignore the controller and continues toward Washington." The Cleveland Center controller then informs the FAA Command Center that the pilot of Ashcroft's plane is not responding and not complying. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 258] Ashcroft's plane will subsequently be redirected toward Richmond, Virginia, and is threatened with being shot down if it does not land (see 11:11 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Daily Record (Glasgow), 9/29/2001; Federal Aviation Administration, 3/21/2002; Ashcroft, 2006, pp. 118]
Entity Tags: John Ashcroft, David Clemmer, Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center, Ben Sliney
Mike Walter. [Source: CNN]According to a number of witnesses on the ground, a US Air Force F-16 flies low over the Pentagon at this time; apparently becoming the first fighter to arrive over the scene of the third attack. [American Forces Press Service, 10/11/2001; Creed and Newman, 2008, pp. 130-131] Firefighters and other emergency responders at the Pentagon recently evacuated away from the crash site, due to reports of another supposedly hijacked aircraft flying toward Washington (see (10:15 a.m.-10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [US Department of Health and Human Services, 7/2002, pp. A30 ] Steve Carter, the assistant building manager, is in the Pentagon's center courtyard, expecting this plane to hit the building. He then sees an F-16 zoom "low and fast over the courtyard." [Creed and Newman, 2008, pp. 130] On Washington Boulevard, where many fire and rescue personnel relocated during the evacuation, cheers go up when the F-16 flies over. Firefighter Mike Smith shouts out: "Thank God that guy's there! Where has he been?" [Creed and Newman, 2008, pp. 130-131] Lieutenant Commander Dale Rielage will recall that an "arriving combat air patrol F-16 thundered overhead" after the alleged second hijacked plane was said to be approaching the Pentagon. [Fire Engineering, 11/1/2002] John Jester, the chief of the Defense Protective Service, which guards the Pentagon, says that, following the evacuation, "It wasn't until an F-15 fighter jet crossed in the sky that we realized the danger had passed." [Murphy, 2002, pp. 246-247] USA Today reporter Mike Walter, who has been at the Pentagon since the attack there, recalls that, after the evacuation, an "F-16 came screaming by the Pentagon, and people cheered." [People, 9/24/2001] Staff Sergeant Edwin Rotger Jr. will also describe seeing fighters arriving over the Pentagon at this time. However, he says there are two of them, not one. [Office of Medical History, 9/2004, pp. 49] According to the New York Times, "witnesses, including a reporter for the New York Times who was headed toward the building, did not see any [fighter jets over the Pentagon] until closer to 11 [o'clock]." [New York Times, 9/16/2001] According to some accounts, the fighter that flies over the Pentagon at this time is Major Billy Hutchison's F-16 from Andrews Air Force Base (see (10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Spencer, 2008, pp. 235] Hutchison will recall, "I circled at a couple of hundred feet at the most just to, one, investigate, and two, give the people on the ground some semblance of security of an American fighter coming by" (see 10:39 a.m.-10:45 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Filson, 2003, pp. 81-82] However, some accounts contradict this. Major Dean Eckmann, from Langley Air Force Base, suggests his F-16 is the first to fly over the Pentagon, and this was at some time shortly after 9:45 a.m. (see (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). He will say: "I heard stories that people went back in [the Pentagon] after seeing me fly over to help others out.… Now they knew they were safe." [Filson, 2003, pp. 66] Other accounts similarly suggest that the first fighter jet (or jets) arrived over the Pentagon significantly earlier than is described by the witnesses on the ground, between 9:49 and 10:00 a.m. (see (Between 9:49 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [CNN, 9/17/2001; 9/11 Commission, 8/26/2004, pp. 34]
Entity Tags: Edwin Rotger Jr., Dale Rielage, Dean Eckmann, John Jester, Mike Walter, Steve Carter, Billy Hutchison, Mike Smith
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refuses to leave the Pentagon, despite the smoke leaking into the National Military Command Center (NMCC) where he is currently working, the danger of a second attack on the Pentagon, and a White House request to begin implementing Continuity of Government (COG) measures. [Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 132] After being out of touch with his colleagues at the Pentagon since the time of the attack there (see (9:38 a.m.-10:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and 9:39 a.m. September 11, 2001), Rumsfeld finally entered the NMCC at around 10:30 a.m. (see (10:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 43-44; Cockburn, 2007, pp. 2-6] It is now noticed that smoke is seeping into the center. With people beginning to cough, aides suggest Rumsfeld should leave the building, but he is uninterested in their advice. Even when they warn that the smoke might be toxic, he still ignores them. Rumsfeld's deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, tells him he should leave the Pentagon. But Rumsfeld instead orders Wolfowitz to leave the NMCC and fly to Site R, the alternate command center outside Washington (see (11:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). According to journalist and author Steve Vogel, this is "contrary to the established Continuity of Government plan, which called for the secretary of defense to relocate to the alternate command center.… The secretary figured the 45 minutes to an hour it would take to evacuate to Site R would leave him out of touch for too long." Rumsfeld will later explain: "That's life. That's what deputies are for." [Vogel, 2007, pp. 441]
Entity Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz
Vice President Dick Cheney calls President Bush, who is on Air Force One, and urges him not to return to Washington, DC. [New York Times, 9/16/2001; Sammon, 2002, pp. 108-109; Washington Post, 1/27/2002] Cheney, who is in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House, wants Bush to instead go to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, according to the New York Times. This is because Cheney "knew from his days as secretary of defense" that Offutt has "an extraordinarily sophisticated Strategic Command communications center." [New York Times, 9/16/2001] According to journalist and author Bill Sammon, Cheney tells Bush that he and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice both think Washington is "no longer safe enough for his return." [Sammon, 2002, pp. 108-109] Cheney says, "There's still a threat to Washington." Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward will describe: "Signals intelligence and all kinds of reports were flooding in. Given what had happened—four hijackings—it wasn't prudent to come back." Cheney says he is worried that "the terrorists might be trying to decapitate the government, to kill its leaders," and Bush agrees with him. Cheney says they have "a responsibility to preserve the government, its continuity of leadership." [Woodward, 2002, pp. 18; Washington Post, 1/27/2002] White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who is with the president on Air Force One, will recall that around this time—presumably just after the call from Cheney—Bush tells others on the plane "that the vice president didn't think it was safe for us to return to Washington until we could get a handle on how many hijacked planes there were. All planes flying in the continental United States had been ordered to land, but it wasn't clear that all had done so." [Fleischer, 2005, pp. 142] According to some reports, Air Force One is traveling north toward Washington at the time of Cheney's call, and shortly afterwards it changes course and heads west toward Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana (see (10:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Sammon, 2002, pp. 108-109; Washington Post, 1/27/2002] However, other accounts, including the 9/11 Commission Report, will state that Air Force One turned west at around 10:10 a.m. (see (10:10 a.m.) September 11, 2001) and began heading toward Barksdale about 10 minutes later (see (10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [USA Today, 9/11/2001; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 325]
Entity Tags: Richard ("Dick") Cheney, George W. Bush, Ari Fleischer
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, George Bush, Dick Cheney
Two F-16 fighters take off from Hancock Field Air National Guard Base, near Syracuse, NY. The fighters belong to the 174th Fighter Wing, a unit of the New York Air National Guard. A commander from Syracuse had called NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) offering to help earlier in the morning (see (After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Although at that time they'd promised: "Give me 30 minutes and I'll have heat-seeker [missiles]. Give me an hour and I can give you slammers," the fighters now launching have bullets but no missiles. [Post-Standard (Syracuse), 9/12/2001; Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/2002; Post-Standard (Syracuse), 10/18/2002] The Hancock pilots are ordered to "Identify all aircraft… Intercept them. Tell them to land. 'Engage' them if they [don't]." [Post-Standard (Syracuse), 9/25/2001] Also at some time this morning, following the attacks, 174th FW officials form a command center to monitor the situation across the US. [Post-Standard (Syracuse), 9/11/2001; Post-Standard (Syracuse), 9/12/2001] A hundred of the 174th FW's staff have spent the last month deployed to Saudi Arabia and are due back this afternoon. However, they are diverted to Canada and arrive back at the base later in the week (see Mid-August-September 11, 2001).
Entity Tags: 174th Fighter Wing
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, All Day of 9/11 Events
Heather Penney Garcia. [Source: Johnathon Orrell]Two F-16 fighter jets belonging to the District of Columbia Air National Guard (DCANG) take off from Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, but they have no missiles and only training bullets for their guns. The pilots are Lieutenant Colonel Marc Sasseville and Lieutenant Heather Penney Garcia. [Filson, 2003, pp. 82; 9/11 Commission, 2004; Vogel, 2007, pp. 446] Possibly Given Shootdown Authorization - Before they headed to their jets, Sasseville and Penney Garcia were given a short briefing by Brigadier General David Wherley, the commander of the DC Air National Guard. Wherley will later recall telling Sasseville that he has "weapons free flight-lead control," meaning he is responsible for deciding whether to fire on hostile aircraft (see (Between 9:40 a.m. and 10:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Filson, 2003, pp. 82; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 44; Vogel, 2007, pp. 446] But Sasseville will say he does not recall receiving any such rules of engagement until after he has taken off. [9/11 Commission, 3/8/2004 ] Jets Only Have Training Ammunition - The two pilots run out to their jets and climb into the cockpits. But their F-16s are armed only with "hot" guns and 511 rounds of non-explosive training practice (TP) ammunition. According to Sasseville: "They had two airplanes ready to go, and were putting missiles on numbers three and four. Maintenance wanted us to take the ones with missiles, but we didn't have time to wait on those." Rookie Pilot 'Never Scrambled Before' - Penney Garcia, who is a rookie pilot, will later say: "I'd never scrambled before, I'd never done this. I was screaming to the maintainers to pull the chocks, and the guys were pulling the pins to arm the guns. We were going without INS [inertial navigation system]." Sasseville and Penney Garcia are airborne about six minutes after reaching their jets. They are unaware that fighters launched from Langley Air Force Base are also flying over Washington, at around 20,000 feet (see (Between 9:49 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002; Filson, 2003, pp. 82] Told to Look for Hijacked Plane - Over their radios, Sasseville and Penney Garcia receive instructions from their squadron to look for a hijacked aircraft approaching from the northwest and heading toward Georgetown (see (10:30 a.m.-10:40 a.m.) September 11, 2001). But, Sasseville will later recall, "We didn't know what we were looking for—how high he was coming, or low, or where he was going." [Vogel, 2007, pp. 446] He will say, "I don't have the whole picture, but have word from Washington National Approach that something is coming." Pilot 'Making Things Up on the Fly' - The two jets will fly over Washington at low altitudes, around 5,000 or 6,000 feet. Sasseville will later say, "I didn't want to get too low for a good radar angle, and not too high, so we could get somewhere fast." He will admit that he is "making things up on the fly," as he has no precedent to draw upon. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002; Filson, 2003, pp. 82] Another DCANG pilot, Billy Hutchison, launched from Andrews four minutes before Sasseville and Penney Garcia take off, but he is airborne for less than 10 minutes (see (10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and 10:47 a.m. September 11, 2001). The next DCANG jets to take off, which will be armed with missiles, launch at 11:11 a.m. (see 11:11 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 2004; 9/11 Commission, 2/17/2004; Vogel, 2007, pp. 446]
Entity Tags: Heather Penney Garcia, David Wherley, District of Columbia Air National Guard, Andrews Air Force Base, 121st Fighter Squadron, Marc Sasseville
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Flight UA 93, Key Day of 9/11 Events
Around this time (roughly), the FAA tells the White House that it still cannot account for three planes in addition to the four that have crashed. It takes the FAA another hour and a half to account for these three aircraft. [Time, 9/14/2001] Vice President Cheney later says, "That's what we started working off of, that list of six, and we could account for two of them in New York. The third one we didn't know what had happened to. It turned out it had hit the Pentagon, but the first reports on the Pentagon attack suggested a helicopter and then later a private jet."
[Los Angeles Times, 9/17/2001] Amongst false rumors during the day are reports of a bomb aboard a United Airlines jet that just landed in Rockford, Illinois. "Another plane disappears from radar and might have crashed in Kentucky. The reports are so serious that [FAA head Jane] Garvey notifies the White House that there has been another crash. Only later does she learn the reports are erroneous."
[USA Today, 8/13/2002]
Entity Tags: Federal Aviation Administration, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Jane Garvey
The US military's defense readiness condition is raised from Defcon 5, the lowest possible level, to Defcon 3, an intermediate level that requires a heightened alert status for US armed forces worldwide, and which is the highest the defense readiness condition has been for 28 years. [Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense, 7/18/2002 ; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 326, 554; Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 131; Rumsfeld, 2011, pp. 338] Rumsfeld Recommends Raising Defcon - The decision to go to Defcon 3 is reportedly made by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. [US Department of Defense, 8/12/2002] Rumsfeld will later recall that after he arrives at the Pentagon's National Military Command Center (NMCC) (see (10:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001), he talks with General Richard Myers, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and "[w]e discussed and I recommended raising the defense condition level from five to three." [9/11 Commission, 3/23/2004] Teleconference Participants Told to 'Hold Off' on Defcon 3 - Rumsfeld directs that the US military go to Defcon 3. At 10:43 a.m., it is announced on the air threat conference call that the secretary of defense "has directed that we go to Defcon 3 and be prepared to go to [Defcon] 2." However, a minute later, Rumsfeld talks to Vice President Dick Cheney on the conference call, and Cheney says he will have to run the decision to go to Defcon 3 by the president, "and let him make the call." Therefore, at 10:45 a.m., those on the conference call are told to "hold off on Defcon 3." Order to Raise Defcon Reinstated - But Rumsfeld believes raising the defense readiness condition is urgent. [US Department of Defense, 9/11/2001 ; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 326, 554] There is therefore a "historical discussion about how the move to Defcon 3 went during previous crises, Cuba specifically [i.e. the Cuban missile crisis in 1962]," Captain Charles Leidig, who is also in the NMCC, will later recall. With their reference being "a book on the shelf," according to Leidig, Myers is shown that he has "approval authority to go to Defcon 3." [9/11 Commission, 4/29/2004 ] After consulting Defense Department directives, Rumsfeld concludes that he has the authority to issue the order to raise the defense readiness condition. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 554] Therefore, at 10:46 a.m., those on the air threat conference call are told: "Override last instructions. The vice chairman [i.e. Myers] is directing we go to Defcon 3." A few minutes later, an announcement is made on the conference call, "Emergency action message released at 14:52 [Zulu time, i.e. 10:52 a.m. Eastern time], re: Defcon 3." [US Department of Defense, 9/11/2001 ; 9/11 Commission, 2004] Raising Defcon Is a 'Huge Move' - Rumsfeld will later agree with an interviewer that raising the defense readiness condition is "a very serious step for the nation." [US Department of Defense, 8/12/2002] It was last raised to Defcon 3 during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, when Rumsfeld had been the United States ambassador to NATO. Regarding the decision to raise it, Myers tells Rumsfeld, "It's a huge move, but it's appropriate." [US Department of Defense, 1/9/2002; Wall Street Journal, 3/22/2004 ; Rumsfeld, 2011, pp. 338] President Later Told of Decision - The decision to go to Defcon 3 will soon be communicated within NORAD (see 11:03 a.m.-11:12 a.m. September11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 6/17/2003; 9/11 Commission, 2004; 9/11 Commission, 2/3/2004 ] Rumsfeld will brief President Bush on the decision (see (11:15 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 554; Bush, 2010, pp. 133] Apparently around the time the defense readiness condition is raised, Rumsfeld and/or Myers also decide to raise the force protection condition of US military installations (see (Between 10:10 a.m. and 10:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [US Department of Defense, 9/11/2001 ; 9/11 Commission, 3/23/2004; Myers, 2009, pp. 153] Defcon 3 Intended for Cold War - Some individuals will later be critical of the decision to raise the defense readiness condition at this time. John Farmer, the senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission, will write that Defcon 3 is in fact "a Cold War-era designation, devised to respond to a nuclear threat." [Farmer, 2009, pp. 235] According to Farmer and other 9/11 Commission staffers, it is "suited more to a Cold War conflict than to al-Qaeda's attack." [Rutgers Law Review, 9/7/2011 ] General Ralph Eberhart, the commander of NORAD, will similarly say that Defcon 3 is "not intended for [events like] the attacks of 9/11 and thus could have complicated the response to the attacks." He will say he does not think that raising the condition would have "done anything for us" within the continental United States. [9/11 Commission, 3/1/2004 ] Defcons Are Phased Increases in Combat Readiness - The defense readiness condition is a "uniform system of progressive alert postures for use between the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commanders of unified and specified commands, and for use by the [armed] services," according to the Department of Defense. [US Department of Defense, 11/8/2011 ] Defcons are phased increases in combat readiness and are graduated to match situations of varying military severity. They are numbered, from Defcon 5, which means "normal peacetime readiness," down to Defcon 1, which means "maximum force readiness." The current level, Defcon 3, represents an "increase in force readiness above normal readiness." [Federation of American Scientists, 4/29/1998] The defense readiness condition will remain at Defcon 3 until three days later, when it will be reduced one notch, to Defcon 4 (see September 14, 2001). [Washington Post, 1/30/2002]
Entity Tags: US Department of Defense, John Farmer, Charles Leidig, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Ralph Eberhart, Richard B. Myers, Donald Rumsfeld
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney
The US Strategic Command (Stratcom) formally terminates its Global Guardian exercise at this time, according to a 2006 article in The Bombardier, the newspaper for Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. Global Guardian was put on pause just over 90 minutes earlier, according to the same article (see 9:11 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Bombardier, 9/8/2006 ] However, other reports will suggest that Global Guardian was canceled significantly earlier than 10:44 a.m. One article in the Omaha World-Herald will state, "When the second World Trade Center tower was hit," at 9:03 a.m., "the exercise was canceled, and the battle staff [at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska] moved to the real-world crisis." [Omaha World-Herald, 9/8/2002] But an earlier article in the World-Herald will say that military authorities canceled Global Guardian "after the attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon," suggesting some time after 9:37 a.m., when the Pentagon was hit. [Omaha World-Herald, 2/27/2002] An E-4B National Airborne Operations Center aircraft that was involved in Global Guardian was reportedly only told to pull out of the exercise just after the Pentagon was hit (see (9:27 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Verton, 2003, pp. 143-144] Even after Global Guardian is canceled, this plane and two other E-4Bs that are involved in the exercise will remain airborne. [Omaha World-Herald, 2/27/2002] The annual Global Guardian exercise tests Stratcom's ability to fight a nuclear war (see 8:30 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Omaha World-Herald, 2/27/2002; GlobalSecurity (.org), 4/27/2005]
Entity Tags: Global Guardian, US Strategic Command
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Training Exercises
Wallace Miller. [Source: Steve Mellon / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]Wallace Miller, the coroner of Somerset County, who is one of the first people to arrive at the Flight 93 crash scene, is surprised by the absence of human remains at the site. He will later say: "If you didn't know, you would have thought no one was on the plane. You would have thought they dropped them off somewhere." [Longman, 2002, pp. 217] The only recognizable body part Miller sees is a piece of spinal cord with five vertebrae attached. He will tell Australian newspaper The Age: "I've seen a lot of highway fatalities where there's fragmentation. The interesting thing about this particular case is that I haven't, to this day, 11 months later, seen any single drop of blood. Not a drop." [Age (Melbourne), 9/9/2002] Dave Fox, a former firefighter, also arrives early at the crash scene, but sees just three chunks of human tissue. He will comment, "You knew there were people there, but you couldn't see them." [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 9/11/2002] Yet, in the following weeks, hundreds of searchers will find about 1,500 scorched human tissue samples, weighing less than 600 pounds—approximately eight percent of the total body mass on Flight 93. Months after 9/11, more remains will be found in a secluded cabin, several hundred yards from the crash site. [Washington Post, 5/12/2002]
Entity Tags: Dave Fox, Wallace Miller
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, 9/11 Investigations, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, All Day of 9/11 Events, 9/11 Investigations, Shanksville, Pennsylvania
Air Force One, with President Bush on board, changes course and heads west toward Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana around this time, according to some reports, significantly later than is claimed in other accounts, such as the 9/11 Commission Report. [Sammon, 2002, pp. 108-109; Washington Post, 1/27/2002; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 325] The president's plane is currently flying off the coast of South Carolina and is about half way through its 900-mile journey from Sarasota, Florida (see 9:54 a.m. September 11, 2001), to Washington, DC, according to journalist and author Bill Sammon. [Sammon, 2002, pp. 109] At 10:41 a.m., Vice President Dick Cheney called Bush from the White House and urged him not to come back to Washington, because, Cheney told Bush, the capital was still too unsafe for him to return there (see 10:41 a.m. September 11, 2001). [New York Times, 9/16/2001; Washington Post, 1/27/2002] Air Force One Turns West - According to the 9/11 Commission Report, Air Force One changed course and headed west at around 10:10 a.m. (see (10:10 a.m.) September 11, 2001), and it began flying toward Barksdale Air Force Base at about 10:20 a.m. (see (10:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 325] However, Sammon will write that Bush gives the order to divert his plane after receiving the 10:41 a.m. call from Cheney. [Sammon, 2002, pp. 108-109] "Within minutes" of Cheney calling Bush, according to the Washington Post, "those on board the president's plane could feel it bank suddenly and sharply to the left, its course now westerly toward Barksdale Air Force Base." [Washington Post, 1/27/2002] Barksdale is about 800 miles away, according to Sammon. [Sammon, 2002, pp. 109] Representative Dan Miller (R-FL), who is on Air Force One, will support the claim that the plane changes course at this time, around 10:45 a.m. According to the St. Petersburg Times, Miller thought Air Force One "flew due north for about 45 minutes. Then it turned west." [St. Petersburg Times, 7/4/2004] Miller will tell the National Journal, "I would say 10:45, maybe 10:30 or so, the plane changed course." [National Journal, 8/31/2002] Other Evidence Indicates Plane Is Already Flying West - However, in addition to the 9/11 Commission Report, several other accounts will indicate that Air Force One turned west and headed toward Barksdale Air Force Base significantly earlier than this. A reporter who is on Air Force One will write that the plane "suddenly veered west" within "perhaps 20 minutes of takeoff," meaning before 10:15 a.m. [USA Today, 9/11/2001] And Ann Compton, another reporter on Air Force One, writes in her notebook that at 10:29 a.m., "We were not en route to Washington." [Gilbert et al., 2002, pp. 131-132] Furthermore, at 10:42 a.m., an ID technician at NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) received a call about Air Force One, in which they were told, "It looks like he's going westbound now." The caller, someone at NORAD's Southeast Air Defense Sector (SEADS), added that the plane was "west of Tallahassee," which is in north Florida, and said, "We called [the FAA's Jacksonville Center] to see if he was deviating and they said he, it's unknown where he's going at this time." [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001]
Entity Tags: George W. Bush, Dan Miller, Ann Compton
The first fighter jet that launched from Andrews Air Force Base, just outside Washington, in response to the morning's attacks lands at its base less than 10 minutes after taking off. [9/11 Commission, 2004; 9/11 Commission, 2/17/2004] The F-16, which is piloted by Major Billy Hutchison, was ordered to take off immediately after arriving back at Andrews from a training mission in North Carolina (see (10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Hutchison has made two loops up the Potomac River, and flown over the burning Pentagon (see 10:39 a.m.-10:45 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002; Spencer, 2008, pp. 235] His aircraft had only 2,800 pounds of fuel—equivalent to one-eighth of a tank in a car—remaining when he took off, and he'd subsequently noticed his fuel gauge pegged at the lowest level it can indicate, 400 pounds. He announced to the air traffic controller he was communicating with, "I've got to go." [Filson, 2003, pp. 79; Spencer, 2008, pp. 248] Hutchison will later recall that his plane is "on vapors" when he lands. [9/11 Commission, 2/27/2004] By now, two more F-16s have taken off from Andrews (see 10:42 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Filson, 2003, pp. 82; Vogel, 2007, pp. 446] Hutchison's jet is refueled and loaded with weapons, and he will then take off again to defend Washington. [9/11 Commission, 2/27/2004; Spencer, 2008, pp. 249]
Entity Tags: Billy Hutchison, Andrews Air Force Base
The Secret Service reports that a United Airlines aircraft, Flight 182, is missing. Doug Davis, the special assistant for technical operations in air traffic services at FAA headquarters is talking over the phone with John White, a manager at the FAA's Command Center in Herndon, Virginia. At 10:47 a.m., Davis informs White, "[United Airlines] 182, Secret Service is saying is missing." Davis asks White to "find out for me" whether this is indeed the case. He adds that the flight is going from "Boston to Seattle." [9/11 Commission, 11/4/2003] According to some accounts, Flight 182 is reported as missing at a later time. A Secret Service timeline of the morning's events records the flight as being "unaccounted for" at 10:55 a.m. [Secret Service, 9/11/2001] And according to an FAA chronology, the plane is reported as being "unaccounted for" over an FAA teleconference at 11:40 a.m. [Federal Aviation Administration, 9/11/2001] Presumably Flight 182 is located at some later time, although further details of this missing aircraft are unstated.
Entity Tags: John White, Federal Aviation Administration, Doug Davis, US Secret Service, United Airlines
James K. Will. [Source: WTAE-TV]After hearing a plane has crashed in his area, a farmer flies over the Flight 93 crash site to take photos of the wreckage. James K. Will, who is an aerial photographer as well as a farmer, had just landed his Cessna on a private airstrip at his farm in Berlin, Pennsylvania, after visiting nearby Altoona. His mother rushed out and told him there were reports of a plane having crashed near Shanksville. He'd grabbed his camera and set off in his plane for the site, to take photos of the wreckage. He later recalls that he circles the Flight 93 crash scene around 45 minutes after the crash occurred. He says, "I thought it was just an accident." He is then intercepted by a state police helicopter, which escorts him to the Johnstown airport. He will be questioned and briefly detained there before being released. His plane will be searched and then released. [Pittsburgh Channel, 9/15/2001; Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 9/15/2001] At around 9:45 a.m., all FAA facilities had been ordered to instruct every aircraft to land at the nearest airport (see (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). About 20 minutes earlier, the FAA had initiated a nationwide ground stop, which prohibited takeoffs and required planes in the air to land as soon as reasonable (see (9:26 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Time, 9/14/2001; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 25 and 29]
Entity Tags: James K. Will
The Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas. [Source: The Driskill]Jenna Bush and Barbara Bush, President Bush's 19-year-old twin daughters, arrive at "secure locations," where they have been brought by their Secret Service agents. Barbara Bush, a student at Yale University, is taken to the Secret Service's New Haven, Connecticut, office; Jenna Bush, a student at the University of Texas, is taken to a room at the Driskill Hotel in Austin. [Us Weekly, 10/15/2001; Woodward, 2002, pp. 17; Dish Magazine, 4/1/2002; Draper, 2007, pp. 141] President's Daughters Asleep When Attacks Began - Jenna Bush was asleep in her dormitory room at the University of Texas when the terrorist attacks began, and learned of the catastrophic events when a Secret Service agent knocked on her door a few minutes after 9:00 a.m. Barbara Bush was also asleep when the attacks began, in her dormitory room at Yale. She heard what was happening on her clock radio, when the alarm woke her up at 9:00 a.m. "I found out the same way everybody else did," she will later recall. "At first, we thought it was just an accident," she will say. "Then, next door, there was another student sobbing, and that's how we found out." [Andersen, 2002, pp. 6; Bush, 2010, pp. 202; Winnipeg Free Press, 6/5/2010] Concern that Bush Daughter's Presence Makes University a Target - There was concern that Barbara Bush's presence at Yale could make the university a possible target for terrorists. Richard Levin, the university president, will say, "Our first concern was actually that Yale could potentially be a target because of President Bush's daughter." Therefore, he will say, "The first thing we did [in response to the attacks] was call the Secret Service." He will add, "By the time we got in touch with the Secret Service, she was already evacuated from Yale." [Yale Daily News, 9/9/2011] However, Barbara Bush is only "relocated" to the Secret Service's New Haven office at 10:51 a.m., according to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward. And Jenna Bush is only relocated to the Driskill Hotel minutes later, at 10:57 a.m. [Woodward, 2002, pp. 17] Secret Service Must Keep President's Daughters 'out of Harm's Way' - As the president's daughters are considered to be among the nation's "most visible targets," the Secret Service is responsible for protecting them. [US Department of the Treasury, 5/8/2001; Office of Management and Budget, 7/2001, pp. 82 ; United States Secret Service, 2002] The agency's mission includes keeping the president's children "in sight and out of harm's way," according to a book about the Secret Service by author Philip Melanson. [Melanson, 2002, pp. 273]
Entity Tags: Jenna Bush, Richard Levin, Barbara Pierce Bush, US Secret Service
New York's primary elections, already in progress, are postponed. [CNN, 9/12/2001]
Nine United Airlines aircraft are reported missing. Andrew Studdert, United Airlines' chief operating officer, will tell the 9/11 Commission that between 10:55 a.m. and 11:15 a.m., United Airlines Flights 57, 103, 634, 1211, 1695, 2101, 2102, 2256, and 2725 are reported as missing. All nine aircraft are eventually located at various airports. [9/11 Commission, 1/27/2004] One of them, Flight 57, is later reported as having landed at Garden City Regional Airport in Kansas. [9/11 Commission, 2004]
Entity Tags: Andrew P. Studdert, United Airlines
Laura Bush, the president's wife, and her entourage arrive at the Secret Service headquarters in Washington, DC, where they will remain for much of the rest of the day, and where they make phone calls to their relatives and watch television coverage of the terrorist attacks. [Woodward, 2002, pp. 17; National Journal, 8/31/2002; Bush, 2010, pp. 201-203] Bush and her staff have been brought to the headquarters for their own security by members of the Secret Service. The building, located a few blocks from the White House, is strengthened to survive a large-scale blast. Bush and those accompanying her were driven there from the Russell Senate Office Building, on Capitol Hill (see (10:10 a.m.-10:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Associated Press, 9/11/2001; Kessler, 2006, pp. 136; Bush, 2010, pp. 200-201] They are initially taken to the office of Brian Stafford, the Secret Service director, which is on an upper floor of the building. [Draper, 2007, pp. 143; Bush, 2010, pp. 201] First Lady and Staff Call Their Families - Bush tells her staffers to call their families. Noelia Rodriguez, the first lady's press secretary, will later recall, "Mrs. Bush told us, 'Find phones, get hold of your families, and let them know you are okay.'" Bush calls her daughters, Jenna and Barbara, and her mother (see (Between 11:00 a.m. and 11:40 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [National Journal, 8/31/2002; Bush, 2010, pp. 202] She will also talk with President Bush while at the headquarters (see (Shortly Before 11:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Bush, 2010, pp. 132; Bush, 2010, pp. 202-203] First Lady Moved to Basement - After a time, the first lady and her staff are moved from the director's office to the basement of the headquarters, apparently after they have made their phone calls. Ashleigh Adams, the first lady's deputy press secretary, will recall, "[W]e took turns using the telephone and then we went to another floor where there was a large-screen TV." Journalist and author Robert Draper will note that Bush's Secret Service agents move the first lady after realizing that, in light of the day's attacks, having her on an upper floor is "perhaps not such a hot idea." [National Journal, 8/31/2002; Draper, 2007, pp. 143; Bush, 2010, pp. 201] In the basement, Bush and her staff go to the William Wood Conference Room. [Woodward, 2002, pp. 17] The windowless room has a large display screen across one wall, showing a constant TV feed. "For a while," she will recall, Bush sits "in a small area off the conference room, silently watching the images on television." According to Adams, "Mrs. Bush didn't want the volume up, so we just sat there watching the TV like a silent movie." First Lady and Staff Lack a 'True Sense' of What Is Happening - Bush will describe the "chaos" regarding the attacks that she and those with her experience, writing: "It got so that we were living in five-minute increments, wondering if a new plane would emerge from the sky and hit a target. All of us in that basement conference room and many more in the Secret Service building were relying on rumors and on whatever news came from the announcers on television. When there were reports of more errant planes or other targets, it was almost impossible not to believe them." According to Adams, "Because the TV was on, but we didn't have volume, it was hard to have a true sense of what was going on." Bush and her staff will remain in the conference room for several hours. [National Journal, 8/31/2002; Bush, 2010, pp. 201-203]
Entity Tags: Noelia Rodriguez, US Secret Service, Ashleigh Adams, Laura Bush
Pilot Mark Tillman in the cockpit of Air Force One. [Source: CBS News]Reporters accompanying President Bush on Air Force One notice their plane significantly increasing its altitude. [USA Today, 9/11/2001; Salon, 9/12/2001; Gilbert et al., 2002, pp. 148] According to Ann Compton of ABC Radio, who is on Air Force One, there is "a noticeable increase in the plane's altitude" at this time. [Sylvester and Huffman, 2002, pp. 136] At 11:14 a.m., the reporters on the plane will be informed that they are flying at around 40,000 feet. [USA Today, 9/11/2001] Compton will later recall that around the time it increases its altitude, Air Force One is heading west, instead of flying toward Washington, DC. A Secret Service agent shakes his head and whispers to her, "We aren't going home." [Gilbert et al., 2002, pp. 148; Sylvester and Huffman, 2002, pp. 136] It is unclear if there is a specific reason for Air Force One's increase in altitude. Around 20 minutes earlier, Colonel Mark Tillman, the plane's pilot, was notified of a threat received by the White House indicating that Air Force One is a target (see (10:32 a.m.) September 11, 2001), and shortly afterwards, air traffic control alerted him to a suspicious aircraft that was flying toward his plane (see (10:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Sammon, 2002, pp. 106-107; CBS News, 9/11/2002; CBS News, 1/17/2009]
Entity Tags: US Secret Service, Ann Compton
A member of staff at NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) tells someone he is talking to on the phone to keep quiet about the location of Air Force One and the fact that the plane is airborne. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] Air Force One took off from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport in Florida with President Bush on board at around 9:54 a.m. (see 9:54 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Washington Post, 1/27/2002; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 39] Personnel at NEADS, however, only learned it was airborne about half an hour later (see 10:26 a.m. September 11, 2001). [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] A member of staff at NEADS, whose identity is unstated, is on the phone with someone whose identity is also unstated. He tells them, "If anybody calls, you get a phone call, anything, you pass [on] no information as to where Air Force One is and [the fact] that it's airborne." The person on the phone acknowledges the instruction, saying, "Copy." A second member of staff at NEADS jokes, "I don't know where he [i.e. Air Force One] is anyway" and laughs. The person on the phone then says he "didn't know he [i.e. Air Force One] was airborne until you told me." [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] It is unclear why the NEADS staffer wants details about Air Force One kept quiet. Some NEADS personnel have already discussed the plane and the need to provide fighter jets to escort it among themselves. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] And an ID technician at NEADS talked about the location of the plane and its possible destination over the phone with someone at NORAD's Southeast Air Defense Sector (SEADS) (see (10:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] A few minutes later, the member of staff at NEADS will again assert the need to keep quiet about what is happening this morning. At around 11:01 a.m., they will tell someone they are talking to on the phone, apparently the same person as before, "If you get phone calls from anybody on anything that's going on, don't forget: you direct them to public affairs or the MCC." (The MCC is Major Kevin Nasypany, the NEADS mission crew commander.) The person on the phone will acknowledge the instruction, saying, "Copy." [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001]
Entity Tags: Northeast Air Defense Sector
A mysterious fire crew is witnessed inside the Pentagon, behaving completely at odds with how firefighters are trained to act. [Creed and Newman, 2008, pp. 137] Chad Stamps is a firefighter with Rescue 104 of the Arlington County Fire Department. [National Fire and Rescue, 5/2002] Along with his crew, he has been fighting fires on the second floor of the Pentagon's outer E Ring. With fires burning around him, he is astonished to see another crew walk past, carrying two packs of hose line, apparently on its way to fight fires elsewhere in the Pentagon. Describing this incident, authors Patrick Creed and Rick Newman will point out: "Firefighters are trained never to go through a fire without putting it out, since it might seal off your exit. You might as well walk into a burning room and lock the door behind you. Yet there they went." Seeing the crew passing by, Stamps thinks, "This is totally disjointed." [Creed and Newman, 2008, pp. 137] The odd behavior of this crew is perhaps notable because there is at least one reported incident of fake firefighters being caught at the Pentagon following the attack there: On September 12, three people will be arrested who are not firefighters, yet who are dressed in firefighting gear (see September 12, 2001). [Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 170]
Entity Tags: Chad Stamps
Laura Bush with her mother, Jenna Welch. [Source: Tara Engberg / White House]Laura Bush, the president's wife, talks over the phone to her daughters, Jenna and Barbara, and then to her mother, after arriving at the Secret Service headquarters in Washington, DC. [ABC, 9/18/2001 ; Bush, 2010, pp. 202] Bush and her entourage were brought to the Secret Service headquarters for their own security (see (10:10 a.m.-10:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Upon arriving, they were taken to the director's office (see (10:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Kessler, 2006, pp. 136; Bush, 2010, pp. 200-201] There, Bush told her staffers to call their families and let them know they were alright. [National Journal, 8/31/2002] First Lady Calls Daughters at 'Secure Locations' - Bush now makes her own calls. First, she calls her twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, who are both at university. [Us Weekly, 10/15/2001; Bush, 2010, pp. 202] She tried to call them earlier this morning, but was told they had been taken to "secure locations" (see (9:50 a.m.-10:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Newsweek, 12/3/2001; Andersen, 2002, pp. 6] Barbara and Jenna Bush have now reached these "secure locations" (see 10:51 a.m.-10:57 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Sammon, 2002, pp. 108; Woodward, 2002, pp. 17] The first lady will later recall that she calls her daughters now "to make sure they were fine and to tell them I was fine." [Us Weekly, 10/15/2001] She tells them they are "going to be safe and that… I loved them and… that things were going to be alright," she will say. [ABC, 9/18/2001 ] First Lady Calls Mother for Reassurance - Bush then calls her mother, Jenna Welch, at her home in Midland, Texas. [Andersen, 2002, pp. 7; Bush, 2010, pp. 202] Bush will describe: "I called my mother to tell her I was fine. But the fact is I was calling her to hear her voice, to be reassured myself." [Us Weekly, 10/15/2001] However, when she tries phoning President Bush at this time, her calls cannot get through. She will eventually talk to him at around 11:45 a.m. (see (Shortly Before 11:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Bush, 2010, pp. 132; Bush, 2010, pp. 202-203]
Entity Tags: Barbara Pierce Bush, Jenna Welch, Jenna Bush, Laura Bush
Two F-15 fighter jets from Otis Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts, patrol the airspace over New York, first assisting and then later replacing another pair of F-15s that arrived over the city earlier on. [9/11 Commission, 10/14/2003 ; Cape Cod Times, 9/11/2006; Richard, 2010, pp. 25-26, 88] The two fighters belong to the 102nd Fighter Wing, and are piloted by Major Martin Richard and Major Robert Martyn. They took off from Otis Air Base at around 10:30 a.m. (see (Shortly After 10:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001) and have already intercepted a military cargo plane that was returning to the US from England (see (After 10:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Westover Patriot, 10/2001 ; 9/11 Commission, 10/14/2003 ; Richard, 2010, pp. 18-20] Fighters Directed toward New York - The fighters were flying southwest toward New York when their pilots received orders from NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS), instructing them to "continue southwest and set up a combat air patrol over bull's-eye." "Bull's-eye"—the reference point from which all positional reporting originates—had been set as the location of the now-collapsed World Trade Center towers. The fighters therefore continued toward the city. FAA's New York Center Does Not Respond to Communication - Richard and Martyn tried checking in with the FAA's New York Center, but received no reply. NEADS therefore instructed them to instead check in with the FAA's New York Terminal Radar Approach Control. As they were flying to New York, NEADS also told the two pilots that their mission was "to intercept, divert, or, if unsuccessful in those, to call them for authorization to shoot down" aircraft. Richard will later comment, "That certainly got our attention." [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Richard, 2010, pp. 24] Fighters Join Two Aircraft Already over New York - Two fighters that took off from Otis Air Base at 8:46 a.m. in response to the hijacked Flight 11 (see 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001), piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Duffy and Major Daniel Nash, arrived over New York earlier in the morning (see 9:25 a.m. September 11, 2001 and (9:45 a.m.-10:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001) and established a combat air patrol over the city. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 20, 24; Boston Globe, 9/11/2005] Richard and Martyn arrive, joining these two fighters over New York, at approximately 11:00 a.m., Nash will say. [9/11 Commission, 10/14/2003 ] Fighters Set Up a 'Point Defense' around New York - Martyn then calls Duffy over the radio. Referring to his own fighter by its call sign, Martyn says, "Panta one is on station at 15,000 feet." Duffy instructs him, "Panta one, orbit over bull's-eye and stand by." Richard will describe the tactic the four fighters then employ, writing: "Duff decided to set up a point defense around the city.… Ground Zero was our reference point and the targets in the area were called out in reference to it.… Since we were flying in a void of actionable information, we decided that the most effective way to win this battle was to let the enemy come to us." [Richard, 2010, pp. 25-26] While Duffy and Nash fly about 10,000 feet above New York, Richard and Martyn fly at around 18,000 feet. [Filson, 10/2/2002] Fighters Intercept and Identify Aircraft - Richard will recall that he and Martyn "darted around the city, chasing down airliners, helicopters, and anything else in the air," making sure that "everything in the air was visually identified, intercepted, and guided to land at the closest airfield." [Richard, 2010, pp. 36] They spend several hours identifying helicopters that have no flight plans and are heading for Ground Zero. Many of these helicopters belong to organizations that want to help, and are there to provide relief and aid. [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Richard, 2010, pp. 74] When necessary, the two fighters are able to refuel from a KC-135 tanker plane that is orbiting above them at 20,000 feet. Fighters Replaced by Other Aircraft from Otis Air Base - After Duffy and Nash head back to Otis Air Base (see (2:15 p.m.) September 11, 2001), Richard and Martyn continue clearing the skies over New York and eastern New Jersey. Richard will describe the following few hours as "mostly boredom interspersed with moments of sheer terror." [Richard, 2010, pp. 72, 74, 88] Richard and Martyn finally return to Otis Air Base at around 6:00 p.m. [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001] Another two F-15s belonging to the 102nd Fighter Wing take their place patrolling the airspace above New York. These fighters are flown by pilots that Richard will only refer to by their nicknames, "Psycho Davis" and "Doo Dah Ray." These pilots participated, along with Richard, in a training mission over the Atlantic Ocean early this morning (see (9:00 a.m.-9:24 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Richard, 2010, pp. 88]
Entity Tags: Daniel Nash, 102nd Fighter Wing, New York Air Route Traffic Control Center, Timothy Duffy, Robert Martyn, New York Terminal Radar Approach Control, Northeast Air Defense Sector, Martin Richard
At the NORAD operations center in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, NORAD commander in chief, General Ralph Eberhart, orders a limited version of a little known plan to clear the skies and give the military control over US airspace. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/2002; 9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004] The plan, Security Control of Air Traffic and Navigation Aids (SCATANA), was developed in the 1960s as a way to clear airspace above the US and off the US coast in the event of a confirmed warning of a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. Once it is activated a wartime air traffic priority list is established, allowing essential aircraft and personnel to use the airspace. Among others, this list includes the US president, essential national security staff, aircraft involved in continental defense missions, and airborne command posts. [Schwartz, 1998] Eberhart Suggests Limited Version of Plan - Eberhart and his staff suggest implementing the limited version of SCATANA over the air threat conference call. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta immediately concurs. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/2002; Filson, 2003, pp. 73] Unlike a full SCATANA, this modified version allows ground navigation aids to stay on, for the benefit of aircraft that are still airborne. Under the plan, for about the next three days all flights other than military, law enforcement, fire fighters, and medevac, will require approval from the national Defense Department/FAA Air Traffic Services Cell, located within the FAA's Herndon Command Center. [Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 11/2001; Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/10/2002; 9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004] Notice is sent out to all civil and military air traffic control facilities, informing them that the skies now officially belong to NORAD. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 269] Order Supposedly Made Late Due to Safety Concerns - The SCATANA order is issued over an hour after the FAA ordered all planes down (see (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001), and after at least three-quarters of them have already landed. [USA Today, 8/13/2002] Eberhart will later say the delay is due to safety concerns, because NORAD would have been unable to control US airspace—with over 4,000 planes airborne at the time of the attacks—with its radar capabilities. [9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004] Defense Week magazine will suggest SCATANA is not implemented until even later, at around 2:00 p.m. It says NORAD issues a "notice to airmen" implementing the modified version of SCATANA about five hours after Flight 11 hit the World Trade Center. [Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 11/2001]
Entity Tags: North American Aerospace Defense Command, Ralph Eberhart, Norman Mineta
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz leaves the Pentagon and relocates to the alternate military command center outside Washington, DC. Wolfowitz evacuated from his office to an area in front of the Pentagon after the building was hit, but then went back inside and joined Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others in the National Military Command Center (NMCC). [Vanity Fair, 5/9/2003] With smoke seeping into the center, Wolfowitz advises Rumsfeld to leave the NMCC (see (10:40 a.m.-11:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). But instead Rumsfeld orders Wolfowitz to leave and fly to Site R, the alternate command center, which is located inside Raven Rock Mountain, about six miles north of Camp David, on the Pennsylvania-Maryland border. [Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 11/2001; Vogel, 2007, pp. 441] Wolfowitz will later recall that he "was not happy about" receiving this order. [Vanity Fair, 5/9/2003] Minutes later, a helicopter lands outside the Pentagon, and carries Wolfowitz and several others off to the alternate command center. [Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 132] Site R was designed as a duplicate of the NMCC, and if the NMCC were ever destroyed in an attack or needs to be evacuated, it would serve as the Pentagon's primary command center. [Creed and Newman, 2008, pp. 174] It has "more than 700,000 square feet of floor space, sophisticated computer and communications equipment, and room for more than 3,000 people." [Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 11/2001] Others who will relocate to Site R on this day include Army Secretary Thomas White and personnel from the office of the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, though White will return to the Pentagon later on (see (11:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Washington Post, 1/9/2002; MSNBC, 9/11/2002; Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 135] According to journalist and author James Mann, Rumsfeld's decision to order Wolfowitz to leave Washington has its roots in a top secret program Rumsfeld was involved in during the 1980s, which serves to ensure the "Continuity of Government" (COG) in the event of an attack on the US (see 1981-1992). [Mann, 2004, pp. 138-139] Counterterrorism "tsar" Richard Clarke activated the COG plan shortly before 10:00 a.m. this morning (see (Between 9:45 a.m. and 9:56 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Clarke, 2004, pp. 8]
Entity Tags: Paul Wolfowitz, Site R, Donald Rumsfeld
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, Civil Liberties
Robert Bonner, the head of Customs and Border Protection, later testifies, "We ran passenger manifests through the system used by Customs—two were hits on our watch list of August 2001." (This is presumably a reference to hijackers Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, watch-listed on August 23, 2001.) "And by looking at the Arab names and their seat locations, ticket purchases and other passenger information, it didn't take a lot to do a rudimentary link analysis. Customs officers were able to ID 19 probable hijackers within 45 minutes. I saw the sheet by 11 a.m. And that analysis did indeed correctly identify the terrorists."
[New York Observer, 2/15/2004] However, Bonner appears to be at least somewhat incorrect: for two days after the attacks (see September 13, 2001-September 14, 2001), the FBI believes there are only 18 hijackers, and the original list contains some erroneous Arab-sounding names on the flight manifests, such as Adnan Bukhari and Ameer Bukhari. [CNN, 9/13/2001] Some hijacker names, including Mohamed Atta's, were identified on a reservations computer around 8:30 a.m. (see (Shortly After 8:32 a.m.) September 11, 2001), and Richard Clarke was told some of the names were al-Qaeda around 10:00 a.m. (see (9:59 a.m.) September 11, 2001)
Entity Tags: Robert Bonner, Nawaf Alhazmi, Khalid Almihdhar, Adnan Bukhari, Ameer Bukhari
More skyscrapers and tourist attractions are evacuated, including Walt Disney World, Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, Seattle's Space Needle, and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. [Times Union (Albany), 9/11/2001]
The FAA Command Center is told that all the flights over the United States are accounted for and pilots are complying with controllers. There are 923 planes still in the air over the US. Every commercial flight in US airspace—about a quarter of the planes still in the air—is within 40 miles of its destination. Others are still over the oceans, and many are heading toward Canada. [USA Today, 8/13/2002]
Steve Wragg. [Source: Steve Wragg]Investigators at Washington's Dulles International Airport sternly refuse to let Steve Wragg, a manager, get involved with interviews of his employees, even just to help as a translator for workers with limited English-speaking skills. [Trento and Trento, 2006, pp. 128-129] Flight 77 took off from Dulles Airport at 8:20 a.m. (see (8:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001) and crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. (see 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 8, 10] Wragg works as the district manager in charge of the airport for Argenbright Security, which handles the passenger security checkpoints, baggage, and other services there for American Airlines and United Airlines. [Atlanta Business Chronicle, 10/12/2001; Trento and Trento, 2006, pp. 125] Having just returned from a trip to Boston, he was away from work when the crashes at the World Trade Center took place. [Brighton Argus, 9/26/2001] But after learning of the attacks, he headed to Dulles Airport to check on Ed Nelson, a security manager who works for him, and the airport's screeners. He arrived at around 11:00 a.m. and found the place in chaos, filled with people dressed in suits who were wearing earpieces and carrying guns. He found Nelson and the two men headed to the airport's security checkpoints where they saw personnel standing around, being interviewed by men in suits with clipboards. Manager Is Told that the Investigation Is None of His Business - Wragg now heads to his office, where screeners are being questioned by investigators, and sees people who belong to numerous agencies, including the FBI, the CIA, airport police, the Department of Transportation, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. However, he is unable to find anyone who can tell him who is in charge, what is going on, or who he is meant to talk to. Instead, an agent orders him to get out. "Anybody I spoke to said, 'We need you to stay out of this, we're taking over, this is none of your business right now,'" he will later recall. Manager's Offer of Help with Translation Is Rejected - Wragg calls Argenbright Security's headquarters, and is told to "secure the records" and "make sure no one touches anything." He explains to his bosses what the situation is like at the airport and asks what they want him to do. He is instructed to try and get involved if investigators are speaking to Argenbright employees. He then attempts to do this but the investigators refuse to let him participate. "You're not going to be a part of this," they tell him. Wragg thinks the investigators will need him to help translate, since many of his company's employees are immigrants with limited English-speaking skills. Some of them are saying yes to investigators when they don't know the answer to a question, just to pacify their interrogators, and some of the investigators are getting frustrated at the situation. Wragg wants to assist. "I'm not here for any other reason but to help," he tells the investigators, but they still order him to "get out." [Trento and Trento, 2006, pp. 128-129]
Entity Tags: Argenbright Security, Central Intelligence Agency, US Immigration and Naturalization Service, Ed Nelson, Steve Wragg, Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Department of Transportation
Joseph Allbaugh. [Source: Greg Schaler / FEMA]Joseph Allbaugh, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is flown back to Washington, DC, after leaving a major conference he has been attending in Montana. [State Government News, 10/2001 ; CNN, 10/4/2001; 119th Fighter Wing, 10/25/2001] Allbaugh was one of hundreds of emergency management officials from around the US attending the annual conference of the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) in Big Sky, Montana, which began on September 8 and was originally scheduled to continue until September 12 (see September 8-11, 2001). He was the keynote speaker at the conference, and in his speech the previous day, September 10, talked about his focus on improving capabilities and preparing for disaster. [National Emergency Management Association, 8/15/2001; New York Times, 9/12/2001; State Government News, 10/2001 ] Allbaugh Sees Second Attack on TV - Allbaugh will later recall that on this morning, he "turned on CNN" and "actually saw the second plane hit the tower." He will comment, "I thought it was a movie clip," but then "reality started sinking in." When he learned that the plane was the second to have hit the World Trade Center, he knew "immediately it was terrorism." [CNN, 10/4/2001] Allbaugh went into the meeting he was due to attend and announced: "You all will have to excuse me. I have more pressing matters." [Associated Press, 9/8/2002] He was then one of the first to leave the NEMA conference. [New York Times, 9/12/2001] Conflicting Accounts of Flight - Allbaugh is subsequently flown back to Washington, although there are conflicting accounts of his journey. Allbaugh will later recall that after leaving the conference, he moved on to the city of Bozeman, Montana, and then "waited a couple of hours for a plane." Finally, he will say, a KC-135 military tanker plane flies him back to the capital. [CNN, 10/4/2001] According to another account, Major Rick Gibney, a pilot with the 119th Fighter Wing of the North Dakota Air National Guard, was originally tasked with flying Allbaugh home in his F-16 fighter jet, but, instead, an Air Force C-17 cargo plane is diverted to transport the FEMA director back to Washington. [119th Fighter Wing, 10/25/2001] But the Gainesville Sun will report that Allbaugh initially headed out from the conference with Craig Fugate, the director of Florida's Division of Emergency Management. Fugate rented a car to drive back to Florida and Allbaugh joined him as a passenger. Allbaugh was then dropped off in Missouri, from where he is flown back to Washington. [Gainesville Sun, 10/22/2005] Other emergency management officials that were at the NEMA conference are also flown home on military aircraft throughout the day (see (After 11:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (After 4:30 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [Stateline (.org), 9/13/2001; State Government News, 10/2001 ; Stateline (.org), 10/11/2001] Allbaugh Joins President and Others at the White House - Allbaugh will recall that his flight to Washington takes four and a half hours. After arriving back in the capital, he heads directly to the White House, where he spends the evening with the president, vice president, and many others. [CNN, 10/4/2001] It is unclear when exactly Allbaugh arrives in Washington, though he will be at the White House by 7:15 p.m., when he gives a press briefing. [White House, 9/11/2001] Allbaugh in Charge of Responding to Domestic Terrorist Attacks - In May this year, President Bush put Allbaugh, as FEMA director, in charge of "consequence management" in response to any terrorist attacks in the United States. Allbaugh was charged with creating an Office of National Preparedness to coordinate the government's response to any such attack (see May 8, 2001). [White House, 5/8/2001; Los Angeles Times, 5/9/2001] FEMA plays an important part in the government's response to the attacks in New York and Washington on this day. It puts its "federal response plan" into effect, which involves coordinating with 28 other federal agencies and the American Red Cross; it dispatches eight urban search and rescue teams to New York to search for victims in the rubble of the WTC; and it has four urban search and rescue teams sifting through the remains of the crash at the Pentagon. [Government Executive, 9/11/2001; White House, 9/11/2001]
Entity Tags: Craig Fugate, Joseph M. Allbaugh, National Emergency Management Association, Rick Gibney, Federal Emergency Management Agency
Cathal Flynn. [Source: PBS]An Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) employee tells journalist Seymour Hersh that the 9/11 hijackings were accomplished with guns put on the planes by airport employees. Hersh then calls Rear Admiral Cathal Flynn, associate administrator of security at the Federal Aviation Administration, and tells him, "The guns were put onto the plane by the ramp workers." When Flynn argues that there are no reports of this, Hersh replies, "Those ramp workers aren't even checked," and insists, "There were pistols and they were put onto the plane by the ramp workers." [Trento and Trento, 2006, pp. 47-8] Although there are some reports of guns being used on the hijacked flights (see (8:14 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and 9:27 a.m. September 11, 2001), the 9/11 Commission, for example, will not say that guns were used by the hijackers. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004]
Entity Tags: Seymour Hersh, Cathal Flynn
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, 9/11 Investigations, All Day of 9/11 Events, 9/11 Investigations
Additional measures are taken to increase the level of security at the FAA Command Center in Herndon, Virginia. [Freni, 2003, pp. 65] After the second attack on the World Trade Center, the Command Center's doors were locked, and all non-FAA personnel were ordered to leave the premises immediately (see Shortly After 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Freni, 2003, pp. 64; Spencer, 2008, pp. 81] Linda Schuessler, the deputy director of system operations, is still concerned about the security of the center, and calls the building owner to request additional protection. Soon, armed guards are stationed at all entrances and roaming the floor there. The exact time when this happens is unstated. [Freni, 2003, pp. 65] It is unclear whether the increase in security is a general precaution, or is in response to specific threats against the Command Center.
Entity Tags: Linda Schuessler, Federal Aviation Administration
Rick Gibney. [Source: Air National Guard]Ed Jacoby, the director of the New York State Emergency Management Office, is flown from Montana to Albany, New York, in a flight arranged by the Montana National Guard, so he can coordinate the thousands of rescue workers involved in his state's response to the terrorist attacks. [State Government News, 10/2001 ; Stateline (.org), 9/10/2002; Popular Mechanics, 2/3/2005] Jacoby was one of hundreds of state emergency management officials from around the US attending the annual conference of the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) in Big Sky, Montana, which began on September 8 and was originally scheduled to continue until September 12 (see September 8-11, 2001). [National Emergency Management Association, 8/15/2001; New York Times, 9/12/2001; State Government News, 10/2001 ] Jacoby One of the First to Depart Conference - He was notified that a plane had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center while getting ready for breakfast. In response to the attacks in New York, Jacoby promptly phoned his office and New York Governor George Pataki. He also talked over the phone with Richard Sheirer, the director of New York's Office of Emergency Management. [Stateline (.org), 9/10/2002] Jacoby was among the first to leave the NEMA conference. [New York Times, 9/12/2001] Reportedly, "[w]ithin hours" of the terrorist attacks, he was in the nearby city of Bozeman, Montana. [Stateline (.org), 9/10/2002] Flown Home in Fighter Jet - Jacoby is then flown back to Albany in an F-16 fighter jet, piloted by Major Rick Gibney of the 119th Fighter Wing, North Dakota Air National Guard. Gibney was originally tasked with flying Joseph Allbaugh, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, back to Washington. But as Allbaugh has made other plans to return to the capital (see (After 11:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001), Gibney is able to fly Jacoby home instead. Gibney flies his fighter from its home station in Fargo, North Dakota, to Bozeman, to pick up Jacoby, and then flies the emergency manager to Albany. [119th Fighter Wing, 10/25/2001; Popular Mechanics, 2/3/2005] Over the next few days, Jacoby will be responsible for marshaling the efforts of 22 state agencies and nearly 17,000 personnel, including 5,200 National Guardsmen and 500 state police officers. [Stateline (.org), 9/10/2002]
Entity Tags: Rick Gibney, National Emergency Management Association, Edward F. Jacoby Jr.
New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani urges New Yorkers to stay at home and orders the evacuation of the area south of Canal Street. [Washington Post, 9/12/2001; CNN, 9/12/2001]
Entity Tags: Rudolph ("Rudy") Giuliani
Timeline Tags: Environmental Impact of 9/11, Complete 911 Timeline
The North Portal entrance to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado. [Source: NORAD]The message goes out within NORAD that the military's defense readiness condition has been raised to Defcon 3. [9/11 Commission, 6/17/2003; 9/11 Commission, 2004] Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld directed that the defense readiness condition be raised from Defcon 5—the lowest level—to Defcon 3 at around 10:45 a.m. (see (10:43 a.m.-10:52 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 326, 554; Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 131] At 10:52 a.m., an emergency action message about the increased defense readiness condition was issued. [US Department of Defense, 9/11/2001 ; 9/11 Commission, 2004] NORAD Personnel Learn of Defcon Change - Word of the change is then communicated within NORAD. At 11:03 a.m., NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) is ordered to Defcon 3. Four minutes later, at 11:07 a.m., Lieutenant Colonel Steve Usher, the director of combat operations at the headquarters of the Continental United States NORAD Region (CONR) in Florida, announces that Defcon 3 has been ordered. [9/11 Commission, 6/17/2003] And a military log will state that "NORAD has directed Defcon change" at 11:12 a.m. [9/11 Commission, 2004] Staff Sergeant Brent Lanier, an emergency action controller in NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center (CMOC) in Colorado, is tasked with sending out a message about the change to the defense readiness condition. He will later recall: "I'd sent out false Defcon messages during exercises, but I never thought I'd have to send out an actual Defcon change message—but I did. It was frightening." [Airman, 3/2002] NORAD Officers Discuss Defcon Change - Major General Larry Arnold, the CONR commander, will tell the 9/11 Commission that he hears of the change to the defense readiness condition either from Major General Rick Findley, the director of operations at the CMOC, or from one of NORAD's computer chat logs. [9/11 Commission, 2/3/2004 ] Usher will tell the 9/11 Commission that the instruction to raise the defense readiness condition comes either from the CONR Regional Air Operations Center or from Arnold. He will add that there is an emergency action message confirming the transition. [9/11 Commission, 2/4/2004 ] Arnold will recall that, at some unspecified time, he calls General Ralph Eberhart, the commander of NORAD, about the change to the defense readiness condition, with the intention of informing Eberhart "of what was ongoing." [9/11 Commission, 2/3/2004 ] Change in Defcon Affects Who Can Declare a Target Hostile - Steve Hedrick, an air weapons officer at NEADS, will tell the 9/11 Commission that "any change in Defcon is authenticated immediately" with the fighter jets under NORAD control. He will also say that "the main change when a Defcon level changes is in who has the authority to declare a target hostile." Hedrick will note that the order from Vice President Dick Cheney, that NORAD fighters were "cleared… to intercept tracks of interest and shoot them down if they do not respond" (see 10:31 a.m. September 11, 2001), is "distinct and different from the transition in Defcon levels." [9/11 Commission, 10/27/2003 ; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 42]
Entity Tags: Continental US NORAD Region, Steve Usher, Steve Hedrick, Eric A. "Rick" Findley, Northeast Air Defense Sector, Larry Arnold, Ralph Eberhart, Brent Lanier, North American Aerospace Defense Command
A KC-10 air tanker. [Source: Jerry Morrison / US Air Force]Two unarmed fighter jets intercept a suspicious target flying toward the United States from the east, which turns out to be some US military aircraft returning from Europe that are unaware of the terrorist attacks in America. [9/11 Commission, 2004; Spencer, 2008, pp. 246-247] The two F-15 fighters belong to the 102nd Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, and are piloted by Dennis Doonan and Joe McGrady. They were the first fighters to take off from Otis Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts, after NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) ordered the base to launch all of its available aircraft (see (10:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). However, the two fighters had not yet been armed. Fighters Directed toward Target - The weapons controller the two pilots are communicating with instructs them, "Fly 090 for 100 to intercept," meaning they are to fly east for 100 miles. Knowing his plane is unarmed, McGrady is concerned that he might have to take out their target by crashing into it. To his relief, when he gets near it, he discovers the target is a convoy of five US military aircraft: a KC-10 tanker plane and four A-10 jets. Those onboard the planes, which are returning to the US from Europe, are unaware of the catastrophic events taking place in America. Fighters Sent toward Boston - Doonan and McGrady radio the A-10 flight lead with diversion instructions. [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Spencer, 2008, pp. 245-247] The A-10s are directed to land at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts. [Richard, 2010, pp. 22] Doonan and McGrady are then instructed to fly to Boston to establish a combat air patrol over the city. Doonan decides that the KC-10 in the convoy can assist them with refueling once they are over Boston, and radios its pilot with instructions to accompany him. The pilot asks, "What's going on?" Doonan gives no details, only replying, "It's serious sh_t and you're coming with us." [Spencer, 2008, pp. 247] Aircraft Returning from Europe - The KC-10 has the call sign "Gold 99," while the four A-10s have the call signs "Mazda 41," "Mazda 42," "Mazda 43," and "Mazda 44." [Federal Aviation Administration, 9/11/2001; 9/11 Commission, 2004; Richard, 2010, pp. 21] The five aircraft had been on their way to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, according to author Lynn Spencer. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 247] But the FAA's New York Center told NEADS that their planned destination was Bangor International Airport in Maine. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] According to Spencer, and also to a report written by the 102nd Fighter Wing's historian, the aircraft have been flying to the US from the Azores, off Portugal. [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Spencer, 2008, pp. 247] But the New York Center indicated to NEADS that they came from Morón Air Base in southern Spain. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; International Civil Aviation Organization, 1/12/2006 ] Such journeys from Europe to the US are "common flights between the continents," according to 102nd Fighter Wing pilot Martin Richard. [Richard, 2010, pp. 21] Aircraft Not Answering Radio Communications - NEADS personnel were concerned because it had not been confirmed that the five aircraft were "friendly" and because the aircraft repeatedly failed to respond to NEADS's radio communications (see (10:31 a.m.-10:47 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] According to Spencer, the aircraft were "out of radio range." [Spencer, 2008, pp. 247] However, NEADS personnel established that, as the aircraft had only been 174 miles away, they should have been hearing the radio communications. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001]
Entity Tags: Dennis Doonan, Joe McGrady
The FAA's Command Center in Herndon, Virginia, sends out an advisory that suspends operations in the national airspace system, requiring all aircraft to land and prohibiting aircraft from taking off from all airports. [Federal Aviation Administration, 3/21/2002; Federal Aviation Administration, 4/15/2002] At 9:26 a.m., the FAA ordered a national ground stop that prevented any aircraft from taking off (see (9:26 a.m.) September 11, 2001), and at 9:45 a.m. it instructed all airborne aircraft to land at the nearest airport (see (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [US Congress. House. Committee On Transportation And Infrastructure, 9/21/2001] According to a 2002 FAA report, "With this advisory, the shutdown of the air traffic system en masse had officially begun." The advisory states: "Due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety. Attention all aircraft operators. By order of the Federal Aviation Command Center all airports/airdromes are not authorized for landing and takeoff. All traffic including airborne aircraft are encouraged to land shortly, including all helicopter traffic. Aircraft involved in firefighting in the Northwest US are excluded. Please read this notice over the emergency frequencies, and VOR [VHF omnidirectional range] voice." [Federal Aviation Administration, 3/21/2002]
Allan Dodds Frank. [Source: CNN]A CNN correspondent incorrectly suggests that a third skyscraper may have recently collapsed in New York. Reporting from Lower Manhattan, Allan Dodds Frank describes: "[J]ust two or three minutes ago there was yet another collapse or explosion. I'm now out of sight, a Good Samaritan has taken me in on Duane Street. But at a quarter to 11, there was another collapse or explosion following the 10:30 collapse of the second tower. And a firefighter who rushed by us estimated that 50 stories went down. The street filled with smoke. It was like a forest fire roaring down a canyon." [CNN, 9/11/2001] A third tower—the 47-story World Trade Center Building 7—does collapse on this day. It will not come down, however, until 5:20 in the afternoon (see (5:20 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [Washington Post, 9/12/2001; New York Times, 11/29/2001]
Entity Tags: Allan Dodds Frank
The plane carrying Attorney General John Ashcroft, which is heading toward Washington, DC, is threatened with being shot down by the military if it does not land, and is diverted to Richmond, Virginia. [Washington Post, 9/28/2001; Federal Aviation Administration, 3/21/2002; Spencer, 2008, pp. 258] Even though the FAA had issued a national ground stop preventing aircraft from taking off (see (9:26 a.m.) September 11, 2001), Ashcroft insisted that his plane take off and fly back to Washington after it landed in Milwaukee to refuel (see After 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). And though the FAA has been instructing all aircraft to land at the nearest airport (see (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001), Ashcroft told his pilot to ignore an order to land near Detroit, and instead continue toward Washington (see 10:40 a.m. September 11, 2001). [US Congress. House. Committee On Transportation And Infrastructure, 9/21/2001; Ashcroft, 2006, pp. 117; Spencer, 2008, pp. 257-258] Fighters Intercept Ashcroft's Plane - When Ben Sliney, the national operations manager at the FAA's Herndon Command Center, hears that Ashcroft's pilot is refusing to land, he notifies NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS). As a result, two F-16 fighter jets from a nearby Air National Guard base intercept Ashcroft's plane, but they remain out of sight and undetected by its pilot. The F-16s' pilots report to NEADS that the errant plane is a private corporate jet without any markings, which is heading for Washington and does not seem to have any intention of landing. Sliney Wants Plane 'out of My Sky' - Ashcroft's pilot, David Clemmer, has started broadcasting a message "in the blind," meaning it is not intended for any specific air traffic controller, stating that the attorney general is on the plane and they are returning to Washington. The F-16 pilots notify NEADS of this, but when a NEADS officer then tells Sliney about the message, Sliney asks, "Can you guarantee me that it is indeed John Ashcroft on that plane?" The officer replies, "No sir, we cannot," and so Sliney demands, "Then get him out of my sky!" NEADS issues the order to the two F-16 pilots that if the plane will not land voluntarily, then they must take it down. The F-16 flight lead calls the FAA's Washington Center and arranges for one of its controllers to call the plane's pilot and tell him that if he does not divert and land, his plane will be shot down. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 258] Pilot Warned Plane Could Be Shot Down - The Washington Center controller tells Clemmer, "Land your plane immediately, or risk getting shot down by the US Air Force." [Newsweek, 9/24/2001] Clemmer relays this warning to Ashcroft, telling him: "Sir, there's a shootdown order. If we get any closer to Washington, they might blow us out of the sky." [Ashcroft, 2006, pp. 118] Clemmer also turns to an FBI agent who has been assigned to guard Ashcroft, and says, "Well, Larry, we're in deep kimchi here, and basically, all the rules you and I know are out the window." He tells air traffic controllers that he is carrying the attorney general, but is worried that this information won't get through to military commanders who control the airspace around Washington. [Newsweek, 9/24/2001] Clemmer will later recall: "We didn't want to do anything that would jeopardize our safety or the safety of the [attorney general]. I know I didn't want to get shot down either." Plane Diverted to Richmond - According to some accounts, Ashcroft finally relents, and, at the insistence of the FAA, his plane is diverted to Richmond. Ashcroft will later recall, "It was a real negotiation [with the FAA]." [Washington Post, 9/28/2001; Newsweek, 3/10/2003; Spencer, 2008, pp. 258] However, according to a 2002 FAA report, Ashcroft's plane is diverted to Richmond "due to air traffic requests for the release of medevac aircraft in the Washington, DC, area." [Federal Aviation Administration, 3/21/2002] As the plane flies toward Richmond, Clemmer negotiates getting a fighter escort for it. Ashcroft will persist in his desire to reach Washington, and his plane will eventually be cleared to land in the capital (see 11:27 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Washington Post, 9/28/2001; Spencer, 2008, pp. 272]
Entity Tags: John Ashcroft, Northeast Air Defense Sector, David Clemmer, Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center, Ben Sliney
Weapons load crew members from the District of Columbia Air National Guard arming an F-16 on September 11. [Source: Corensa Brooks / District of Columbia Air National Guard] (click image to enlarge)Two District of Columbia Air National Guard (DCANG) fighter jets take off from Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, to defend the capital, the first DCANG planes to launch armed with missiles as well as bullets. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002; 9/11 Commission, 2004; 9/11 Commission, 2/17/2004; 9/11 Commission, 3/11/2004 ] The two F-16s are piloted by Captain Brandon Rasmussen and Major Daniel Caine. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002] Although Caine was his unit's supervisor of flying (SOF) this morning, he decided earlier on that he was going to get airborne, and so Lieutenant Colonel Phil Thompson has taken his place as SOF (see (Shortly After 9:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Filson, 2003, pp. 76; Spencer, 2008, pp. 184] Commander Supposedly Gave Shootdown Authority - As Caine and Rasmussen were passing the SOF area on the way to their fighters, they were quickly briefed by Brigadier General David Wherley, the commander of the DC Air National Guard. Wherley had by then received instructions from the Secret Service for his fighter jets to follow (see (10:15 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (Between 10:16 a.m. and 10:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001). According to author Lynn Spencer, he told the two pilots: "You need to establish a CAP [combat air patrol] over Washington. Intercept any incoming aircraft 60 miles out and use whatever force necessary to keep it from targeting buildings downtown." Wherley said, "You will be weapons free," which means the decision whether to fire on a hostile aircraft rests with the lead pilot, and added, "Just be careful." [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 44; Spencer, 2008, pp. 238] However, Rasmussen will contradict this account, saying that once he is airborne, "we still haven't been told, 'You are clear to engage anybody.' They just said, 'Get airborne as quick as you can.'" But while the two pilots were getting suited up ready to fly, Caine, who will be the flight lead, had reassured Rasmussen that he would take responsibility for firing on any hostile planes. He'd said: "Whatever you do, don't be the first one to shoot.… Let me be the first one to shoot, if it comes to that, and then do what I do." [Rasmussen, 9/18/2003] Fighters Loaded with Missiles - Three DCANG jets took off from Andrews earlier on, but none of them were armed with missiles (see (10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and 10:42 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Vogel, 2007, pp. 446] Missiles were loaded onto Caine and Rasmussen's F-16s while they were sitting in the cockpits. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002] Rasmussen will later recall that "we were probably 20 to 30 minutes behind" the previous two jets to launch, "because they were loading heat-seeking missiles on the aircraft.… Once they armed us up, we just rolled right down the runway and blasted off." The jets take off with hot guns and two AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles each. According to Rasmussen, this is the first time he has flown with live missiles. He will say, "I had never flown with real missiles and had never so much as seen them on the jet." Communicate with FAA Controllers - After taking off, Caine and Rasmussen communicate with the FAA's Washington Center, "primarily to control us and give us an idea of the air picture," according to Rasmussen. The Washington Center normally controls all of the air traffic in the area. However, its controllers are not trained as weapons controllers. Rasmussen will say: "[W]e're used to working with AWACS [Airborne Warning and Control System] weapons controllers or GCI [ground control intercept]." GCI is "a ground-based radar facility with weapons controllers who will give you the tactical air picture; control and coordinate who is targeting what aircraft; and run the air war that way." [Filson, 2003, pp. 84; Rasmussen, 9/18/2003] Airborne for 3-4 Hours - DCANG pilot Marc Sasseville, who took off at 10:42 a.m., was initially the CAP commander, but Caine takes over this responsibility from him once he is in the air. [9/11 Commission, 3/8/2004 ; Vogel, 2007, pp. 446] Caine and Rasmussen will remain airborne for three or four hours, which is at least twice as long as the usual maximum duration for an air-to-ground sortie, of about an hour and a half. [Rasmussen, 9/18/2003]
Entity Tags: 121st Fighter Squadron, Daniel Caine, Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center, District of Columbia Air National Guard, David Wherley, Brandon Rasmussen
Key Events
Day of 9/11
The Alleged 9/11 Hijackers
Alhazmi and Almihdhar: Specific Cases
Projects and Programs
Before 9/11
Warning Signs: Specific Cases
The Post-9/11 World
Investigations: Specific Cases
Other Al-Qaeda-Linked Figures
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