WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:07.000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:13.000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:13.430 --> 00:00:16.265 Hi, Boston Center, TMU. We have a problem here. 4 00:00:16.350 --> 00:00:18.894 We have a hijacked aircraft headed towards New York. 5 00:00:19.895 --> 00:00:24.441 On September 11, 2001, America came under attack. 6 00:00:25.067 --> 00:00:27.986 -Is this real-world or exercise? -No, this is not an exercise. 7 00:00:28.070 --> 00:00:31.365 Killing thousands of Americans, more than we lost at Pearl Harbor. 8 00:00:31.448 --> 00:00:33.408 This was an act of war. 9 00:00:33.492 --> 00:00:36.620 I felt very much that we had indeed seen the face of evil. 10 00:00:37.329 --> 00:00:41.917 This was a well-organized attack to severely damage our country. 11 00:00:42.626 --> 00:00:44.127 This just in to our newsroom: 12 00:00:44.211 --> 00:00:46.797 a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center. 13 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:50.384 It was a defining 24 hours that shaped a presidency, 14 00:00:50.467 --> 00:00:51.510 the country 15 00:00:51.593 --> 00:00:52.761 and the world. 16 00:00:52.845 --> 00:00:54.847 We'd never had a crisis quite like this. 17 00:00:54.930 --> 00:00:56.306 Of course we all were hurting. 18 00:00:57.307 --> 00:00:59.142 We all were terrified. 19 00:01:04.815 --> 00:01:06.275 Twenty years on, 20 00:01:06.358 --> 00:01:09.653 those at the heart of government relive an historic day. 21 00:01:09.736 --> 00:01:11.947 That 747 is not looking right. 22 00:01:12.030 --> 00:01:14.408 Every plane had become a missile. 23 00:01:14.491 --> 00:01:17.035 They're flying to the Capitol! Everybody go away… 24 00:01:17.119 --> 00:01:21.290 They were coming after Washington. One of the targets might well be the White House. 25 00:01:21.832 --> 00:01:24.626 With every minute of this extraordinary day captured… 26 00:01:24.710 --> 00:01:27.546 The inner sanctum of the inner sanctum, 27 00:01:27.629 --> 00:01:31.717 and the pilot is worried that someone could try to conduct an inside job 28 00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:33.051 and take down Air Force One. 29 00:01:33.135 --> 00:01:35.387 …and exclusive new interviews… 30 00:01:35.470 --> 00:01:37.264 We're watching on TV. 31 00:01:37.347 --> 00:01:38.974 There was nothing that could be done 32 00:01:39.057 --> 00:01:41.935 from the center of power of the greatest power on Earth. 33 00:01:42.019 --> 00:01:45.147 We needed to move the president. He could be a sitting duck. 34 00:01:46.064 --> 00:01:50.485 This is the story of 9/11 as it's never been told before. 35 00:01:50.569 --> 00:01:53.947 Did we miss something? Could we have connected the dots better? 36 00:01:54.031 --> 00:01:56.700 3,000 people died on your watch. 37 00:01:56.783 --> 00:01:59.244 By definition, you didn't do enough. 38 00:01:59.328 --> 00:02:00.829 America's under attack. 39 00:02:01.538 --> 00:02:03.332 And I'm watching a child read. 40 00:02:03.957 --> 00:02:08.377 The one emotion that became harder and harder for him to keep in check was anger. 41 00:02:08.877 --> 00:02:12.049 You know, the first plane was an accident. The second one was an attack. 42 00:02:12.132 --> 00:02:14.218 And the third one was a declaration of war. 43 00:02:54.258 --> 00:02:55.509 Hey. Just warming up. 44 00:02:55.592 --> 00:02:57.219 Come on, Stretch. Come on. 45 00:02:58.679 --> 00:02:59.721 Come on, Stretch. Let's go! 46 00:02:59.805 --> 00:03:01.348 "Come on, Stretch. Let's go." 47 00:03:03.559 --> 00:03:05.394 That was his nickname for me. 48 00:03:05.477 --> 00:03:08.814 And so I put down my cup of coffee and, I guess, my notepad 49 00:03:08.897 --> 00:03:12.067 and took off and caught up with him, and off we went. 50 00:03:13.402 --> 00:03:15.863 He runs a 5K in 22-and-a-half minutes? 51 00:03:17.739 --> 00:03:20.617 It was really a surreal experience. 52 00:03:22.536 --> 00:03:25.289 There was a Secret Service agent running right behind us, 53 00:03:25.372 --> 00:03:29.835 and another on a bicycle, with a submachine gun, in front of us. 54 00:03:32.212 --> 00:03:34.047 Stretch Keil, Bush found out, 55 00:03:34.131 --> 00:03:37.467 had been an NCAA all-American cross-country runner. 56 00:03:37.551 --> 00:03:41.680 And then he was, "I can't believe I invited him to go running for me." 57 00:03:41.763 --> 00:03:43.348 And the Bushes are very competitive. 58 00:03:43.432 --> 00:03:45.559 They don't let their grandkids beat them at checkers. 59 00:03:45.642 --> 00:03:47.144 So here he is, inviting somebody 60 00:03:47.227 --> 00:03:49.646 who he thinks is gonna beat him running on the golf course, 61 00:03:49.730 --> 00:03:51.565 and that's what he was preoccupied with. 62 00:03:52.941 --> 00:03:54.693 How far did you go, altogether? 63 00:03:54.776 --> 00:03:56.486 -About four and a half. -Four and a half miles? 64 00:03:56.570 --> 00:04:00.073 Well, he spurred me on to new heights. 65 00:04:00.574 --> 00:04:02.326 I knew he'd come back and brief you all, so… 66 00:04:03.493 --> 00:04:05.662 Yeah. He held his pace from the moment we left. 67 00:04:05.746 --> 00:04:07.247 -Thank you, Stretch. -Can we talk about tax cuts? 68 00:04:07.331 --> 00:04:08.332 Not right now. 69 00:04:10.125 --> 00:04:11.835 I remember saying to him, 70 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:15.005 "When you get back from the run, we'll do the CIA briefing, 71 00:04:15.088 --> 00:04:16.923 and then we're going over to the Emma E. Booker School, 72 00:04:17.007 --> 00:04:18.550 and it should be an easy day." 73 00:04:18.634 --> 00:04:21.261 …degrees at 8:00. It's Tuesday, September 11th. 74 00:04:21.345 --> 00:04:24.223 Primary day. And the polls are open in New York City. 75 00:04:24.306 --> 00:04:27.226 As Hurricane Erin remains well offshore, we'll have sunshine today. 76 00:04:27.309 --> 00:04:30.479 Giants lose their opener in Monday Night Football in Denver. Yankees… 77 00:04:30.562 --> 00:04:34.107 What I remember most about the morning of September 11th, 78 00:04:34.191 --> 00:04:37.361 it was absolutely spectacular weather. 79 00:04:38.278 --> 00:04:42.491 Warm, not humid, skies were clear. 80 00:04:42.574 --> 00:04:45.744 That kind of good weather gives everybody a little burst of energy. 81 00:04:48.121 --> 00:04:51.041 You know, one of those late summer days. 82 00:04:52.334 --> 00:04:54.837 The humidity of August is gone. 83 00:04:54.920 --> 00:04:57.047 It doesn't yet feel like fall. 84 00:04:58.757 --> 00:05:03.220 I never sit around in weather like that where I don't think back to that day. 85 00:05:16.942 --> 00:05:20.612 Good morning. American 11 with you. Passing through 1-niner-0 for 2-3-0. 86 00:05:20.696 --> 00:05:22.781 American 11, turn 20 degrees right. 87 00:05:23.782 --> 00:05:28.871 On 9/11, I was in my office at the White House initially, 88 00:05:29.454 --> 00:05:31.373 taking a briefing from the CIA. 89 00:05:31.999 --> 00:05:36.712 There had been a report that al-Qaeda was getting ready to do something. 90 00:05:38.422 --> 00:05:42.593 I don't think the intelligence was of sufficient specificity at that point 91 00:05:42.676 --> 00:05:44.887 that you could say, "Well, this is what they're gonna do." 92 00:05:45.512 --> 00:05:48.765 American 11, climb. Maintain flight level 3-5-0. 93 00:05:51.059 --> 00:05:52.895 American 11. Boston. 94 00:05:55.314 --> 00:05:57.900 This is Boston. I turned American 20 left, and I was going to climb him. 95 00:05:57.983 --> 00:05:59.651 He will not respond to me now. 96 00:06:00.903 --> 00:06:05.991 That summer, I think people described it as a summer of chatter. Of 2001. 97 00:06:07.159 --> 00:06:10.787 We had a supervisors' meeting scheduled for 10:00 that morning, 98 00:06:10.871 --> 00:06:15.709 and one of the things on my agenda for agent safety purposes was to say, 99 00:06:15.792 --> 00:06:17.336 "If you're flying with your family, 100 00:06:17.419 --> 00:06:19.546 one of the intel things that's coming up are hijackings. 101 00:06:19.630 --> 00:06:23.133 So just be aware of what's out there," you know. 102 00:06:23.217 --> 00:06:24.218 But… 103 00:06:26.011 --> 00:06:27.971 Is that American 11 trying to call? 104 00:06:28.055 --> 00:06:29.306 We have some planes. 105 00:06:29.389 --> 00:06:33.477 Just stay quiet and we'll be okay. We are returning to the airport. 106 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:35.479 American 11, are you trying to call? 107 00:06:38.315 --> 00:06:42.110 While American Airlines Flight 11 has just been hijacked, 108 00:06:42.194 --> 00:06:45.697 in Florida, the president heads to an elementary school 109 00:06:45.781 --> 00:06:48.825 after receiving his daily intelligence briefing. 110 00:06:48.909 --> 00:06:50.911 There was nothing out of the ordinary in the briefing. 111 00:06:52.621 --> 00:06:55.123 There were certainly no threat assessments. 112 00:06:55.207 --> 00:06:58.418 There was absolutely nothing in the briefing about terrorism. 113 00:06:59.419 --> 00:07:04.091 But al-Qaeda, by far, was the number one issue that was covered in those sessions. 114 00:07:05.092 --> 00:07:09.388 There was no clarity about where or when or how. 115 00:07:09.471 --> 00:07:15.477 It was just a lot of chatter about something big about to happen. 116 00:07:20.691 --> 00:07:22.860 AP Network News. I'm Rita Foley. 117 00:07:22.943 --> 00:07:26.738 A plane apparently has crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. 118 00:07:26.822 --> 00:07:29.157 We go live now to New York and our Robyn Walensky. 119 00:07:29.241 --> 00:07:30.742 Robyn, what can you tell us? 120 00:07:30.826 --> 00:07:32.953 Smoke is billowing out of the building 121 00:07:33.036 --> 00:07:35.289 from the upper floors of Tower 1. 122 00:07:35.372 --> 00:07:38.250 You can see the smoke for miles and miles. 123 00:07:38.333 --> 00:07:41.920 The plane actually seems to be in the building. 124 00:07:42.004 --> 00:07:45.382 We turned on the televisions in the solicitor general's office. 125 00:07:45.465 --> 00:07:50.637 The commentary was confused. People did not know what had happened. 126 00:07:50.721 --> 00:07:52.931 When they did speculate that it was an airplane, 127 00:07:53.015 --> 00:07:55.475 they speculated that it maybe was an accident. 128 00:07:55.559 --> 00:07:58.645 I'm sorry. You gotta go. Go! You gotta clear. Let's go. 129 00:07:58.729 --> 00:08:01.190 Let's go. Gentlemen, let's go. Go, go, go. 130 00:08:02.691 --> 00:08:05.861 My wife, Barbara, had boarded a plane that morning. 131 00:08:06.945 --> 00:08:09.364 She'd put off her trip from September 10th 132 00:08:09.448 --> 00:08:13.702 because my birthday was September 11th, and she wanted to wait one more day. 133 00:08:14.870 --> 00:08:17.748 I began to have this sense of dread. 134 00:08:18.498 --> 00:08:22.044 What about her airplane? Where is that plane? 135 00:08:27.799 --> 00:08:31.345 As the presidential motorcade approaches the school in Florida, 136 00:08:32.135 --> 00:08:35.307 the shocking news from New York is starting to filter through. 137 00:08:36.892 --> 00:08:40.604 I don't recall it being a very long ride to the school. 138 00:08:40.687 --> 00:08:43.524 But on the way, I called a very close friend in New York 139 00:08:43.607 --> 00:08:46.777 to tell him that I had just gone running with the president. 140 00:08:46.860 --> 00:08:51.073 And his voice sounded strange the minute he picked up the phone. 141 00:08:51.156 --> 00:08:53.408 And he said a plane just hit the World Trade Center. 142 00:08:54.743 --> 00:08:59.498 He said, "And my brother-in-law just moved to a new office in that building. 143 00:08:59.581 --> 00:09:01.166 We're all trying to reach him." 144 00:09:04.670 --> 00:09:05.671 In the press van, 145 00:09:05.754 --> 00:09:09.675 the Secret Service agent we were with had left his two-way radio open. 146 00:09:09.758 --> 00:09:12.094 And over it, we heard someone say 147 00:09:12.177 --> 00:09:15.973 that Condoleezza Rice was waiting on a secure line to talk to the president 148 00:09:16.056 --> 00:09:17.432 when he got to the school. 149 00:09:17.933 --> 00:09:21.520 Suddenly, there was this palpable element of tension in the air. 150 00:09:28.110 --> 00:09:31.238 The president finished shaking hands and went into the holding room. 151 00:09:31.321 --> 00:09:33.949 There are secure phones set up in that holding room. 152 00:09:34.032 --> 00:09:38.328 It's protected by the Secret Service. It's set up everywhere the president goes. 153 00:09:38.412 --> 00:09:41.748 And Condi Rice, the national security adviser, was on the phone. 154 00:09:42.958 --> 00:09:45.919 My assistant came in and said, "A plane has hit the World Trade Center." 155 00:09:46.003 --> 00:09:49.756 I said, "Well, that's a strange accident." And I called the president. 156 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:51.466 Yeah, I thought it was pilot error. 157 00:09:51.550 --> 00:09:56.638 I couldn't imagine anything other than a lousy pilot getting lost. 158 00:09:56.722 --> 00:09:58.515 In other words, just an accident. 159 00:09:59.558 --> 00:10:03.061 He'd been told a small twin-engine prop plane crashed into one of the towers 160 00:10:03.145 --> 00:10:04.313 of the World Trade Center. 161 00:10:04.897 --> 00:10:09.568 I was concerned, but I did not think of it as a national security threat. 162 00:10:09.651 --> 00:10:13.822 And I didn't think that it should disrupt the president's day. 163 00:10:14.698 --> 00:10:17.784 First thing that comes into a Secret Service agent's mind, 164 00:10:17.868 --> 00:10:19.661 "Is the president in any danger here?" 165 00:10:19.745 --> 00:10:23.790 "Is there direction of interest toward the president any way whatsoever?" 166 00:10:23.874 --> 00:10:27.794 The decision was made that the president's not in any danger at this moment. 167 00:10:27.878 --> 00:10:30.756 So we decided to allow him to go on with the event. 168 00:10:31.465 --> 00:10:33.175 Good morning. Hi. 169 00:10:33.258 --> 00:10:34.510 -Hi. -How are you? 170 00:10:34.593 --> 00:10:35.969 I remember when he came in. 171 00:10:36.053 --> 00:10:38.680 Even as a seven-year-old, you know who the president is, right? 172 00:10:38.764 --> 00:10:44.102 And I remember even feeling, that young, kind of, like, starstruck and giddy, 173 00:10:44.186 --> 00:10:45.729 like I'm going to Disney World or something. 174 00:10:45.812 --> 00:10:48.232 And I put my hand over my heart. 175 00:10:48.315 --> 00:10:51.777 Like, when you think about patriotic things when you're that little, you know-- 176 00:10:51.860 --> 00:10:55.280 You do the Pledge of Allegiance every day. And I literally put my hand over my heart. 177 00:10:55.364 --> 00:10:57.074 -Get ready. -"Cane." 178 00:10:57.157 --> 00:10:58.992 -Yes, "cane." Get ready. -"Can." 179 00:10:59.076 --> 00:11:00.202 Yes, "can." Get ready. 180 00:11:00.285 --> 00:11:02.663 I am right here at the foot of the World Trade Center. 181 00:11:02.746 --> 00:11:04.915 This, apparently, was a commuter plane. 182 00:11:04.998 --> 00:11:06.708 It looks, from what we're seeing, 183 00:11:06.792 --> 00:11:10.087 that it might have actually gone through one side and out the other. 184 00:11:10.170 --> 00:11:11.505 It could well have been. 185 00:11:11.588 --> 00:11:16.844 It hit with such force that the whole neighborhood really shook. 186 00:11:16.927 --> 00:11:19.012 Joining us now on the line is an eyewitness 187 00:11:19.096 --> 00:11:20.806 who is in the Empire State Building. 188 00:11:20.889 --> 00:11:22.391 Bob Bradley, what do you see? 189 00:11:22.474 --> 00:11:24.017 I saw this plane. 190 00:11:24.101 --> 00:11:27.896 It didn't look like he was out of control, like there was any trouble with the plane. 191 00:11:27.980 --> 00:11:30.524 It didn't swerve. It just landed directly in the building. 192 00:11:30.607 --> 00:11:32.442 Like he wanted to fly into the building. 193 00:11:33.652 --> 00:11:35.946 It's my responsibility to verify 194 00:11:36.029 --> 00:11:40.033 that we have all the proper communications established for the president. 195 00:11:40.659 --> 00:11:44.037 I asked my team if they could find a television. 196 00:11:45.914 --> 00:11:50.419 I was calling the White House Situation Room to talk to my senior duty officer. 197 00:11:50.502 --> 00:11:54.423 So I was chatting with him on the handset 198 00:11:54.506 --> 00:11:58.510 and watched, as the rest of the country was watching, 199 00:11:58.594 --> 00:12:02.973 at 9:03, when the second aircraft 200 00:12:03.056 --> 00:12:05.809 impacted into the second World Trade Center tower. 201 00:12:18.030 --> 00:12:21.742 Oh, my God! Oh, my God! 202 00:12:23.911 --> 00:12:27.206 -Oh, my God. -Oh, no. 203 00:12:27.289 --> 00:12:29.124 Oh, my God! 204 00:12:29.208 --> 00:12:34.588 When the second plane hit, there was an audible gasp of air in the room. 205 00:12:36.548 --> 00:12:38.467 It was two realizations, right? 206 00:12:38.550 --> 00:12:40.761 One, the immediate death toll. 207 00:12:42.513 --> 00:12:46.725 And then the fact that this was an attack on America. 208 00:12:56.235 --> 00:12:59.112 The other thing going through my mind at that moment was… 209 00:13:00.948 --> 00:13:04.868 "What are the chances of a plane coming and crashing into the school 210 00:13:04.952 --> 00:13:06.161 where we were at?" 211 00:13:11.542 --> 00:13:13.168 -Get ready. -"Smile." 212 00:13:13.252 --> 00:13:14.586 Yes, "smile." 213 00:13:14.670 --> 00:13:16.964 Sound it out. Get ready. 214 00:13:17.047 --> 00:13:18.674 "Smile." 215 00:13:18.757 --> 00:13:20.259 -What word? -"Smile." 216 00:13:20.342 --> 00:13:22.845 Yes, "smile." Read these words… 217 00:13:22.928 --> 00:13:26.640 Now it hits me, as I'm standing there next to the president, 218 00:13:28.225 --> 00:13:32.229 that he's the only one that doesn't know the second plane has hit the building. 219 00:13:34.606 --> 00:13:37.943 And it seemed like an eternity. It probably only lasted two minutes. 220 00:13:38.026 --> 00:13:41.905 And that was when the chief of staff made the decision to walk in 221 00:13:41.989 --> 00:13:44.074 and just go ahead and whisper it in his ear. 222 00:13:44.783 --> 00:13:47.119 Andy Card comes up behind me and says, 223 00:13:47.202 --> 00:13:50.372 "Second plane has hit the second tower. America's under attack." 224 00:13:51.540 --> 00:13:53.375 And I'm watching a child read. 225 00:13:55.169 --> 00:14:00.257 I was studying him intently, and his mouth was kind of drawn and tight. 226 00:14:02.968 --> 00:14:06.805 For just a brief moment, there was sort of a startled look in his eyes. 227 00:14:06.889 --> 00:14:08.473 You're literally seeing 228 00:14:09.183 --> 00:14:13.395 the mindset of the president of the United States play out on TV. 229 00:14:14.188 --> 00:14:16.815 Everything he thought he was about as a president 230 00:14:16.899 --> 00:14:18.567 is changing right in front of you. 231 00:14:19.318 --> 00:14:21.069 This is all happening in real time. 232 00:14:21.153 --> 00:14:24.198 -"But." Get ready. -"But the…" 233 00:14:24.281 --> 00:14:27.784 If you're leading an organization during a crisis, 234 00:14:27.868 --> 00:14:32.956 it's really important to set a tone and not to panic. 235 00:14:34.249 --> 00:14:36.418 I didn't wanna lurch out of the chair 236 00:14:36.502 --> 00:14:38.462 and scare the classroom full of children. 237 00:14:38.545 --> 00:14:39.755 And so I waited. 238 00:14:42.216 --> 00:14:45.385 We felt that we needed to move the president 239 00:14:45.469 --> 00:14:47.721 and just get him out of there. 240 00:14:47.804 --> 00:14:49.431 He could be a sitting duck. 241 00:14:50.974 --> 00:14:54.937 If somebody was able to plan flying into the Twin Towers, 242 00:14:55.020 --> 00:14:58.273 they were certainly able to figure out where the president was. 243 00:15:03.779 --> 00:15:08.075 We have got to consider that this situation could escalate, 244 00:15:08.867 --> 00:15:12.955 so I'm pulling my guys to the left of the stage, 245 00:15:13.038 --> 00:15:16.208 and we are planning to evacuate the building. 246 00:15:16.291 --> 00:15:20.337 "But one day a car robber came…" 247 00:15:20.420 --> 00:15:23.632 This is gonna become a battle with the president, I knew, 248 00:15:23.715 --> 00:15:26.009 because, of course, he's not gonna wanna leave. 249 00:15:27.302 --> 00:15:32.015 The lesson of a crisis, besides projecting calm, is to say something. 250 00:15:32.975 --> 00:15:37.229 People all across the country just in disbelief and shock and horror. 251 00:15:38.063 --> 00:15:41.942 There's always a void, and into that void comes, 252 00:15:42.025 --> 00:15:46.238 in this case, what turned out to be a psychological tsunami. 253 00:15:48.031 --> 00:15:52.536 Place them under your chairs, and thank you so much for coming today. 254 00:15:53.203 --> 00:15:57.708 So I got up and calmly left and went back into the holding room. 255 00:15:58.876 --> 00:16:00.169 I'll talk about it later. 256 00:16:00.252 --> 00:16:03.714 The first thing I said was, "Get the FBI director on the phone, 257 00:16:03.797 --> 00:16:05.382 get a line open to the vice president, 258 00:16:05.465 --> 00:16:07.885 get a line open to the White House Situation Room." 259 00:16:07.968 --> 00:16:11.471 And to Dan Bartlett, I said, "Get some remarks written for the president." 260 00:16:12.764 --> 00:16:16.351 This was a mad scramble to pull together as much information we could 261 00:16:16.435 --> 00:16:20.314 in order for the president to say enough 262 00:16:20.397 --> 00:16:24.902 to demonstrate that he's got his arms around what's unfolding. 263 00:16:26.486 --> 00:16:27.905 And none of us had this playbook. 264 00:16:27.988 --> 00:16:31.533 It's not like there's a thing, they say, "Okay, this is happening now. 265 00:16:31.617 --> 00:16:35.162 Crack this open and it's gonna give you the playbook of how to deal with this." 266 00:16:35.871 --> 00:16:36.997 Wasn't there. 267 00:16:40.459 --> 00:16:44.171 I asked the president, "With whom would you like to speak to first?" 268 00:16:44.755 --> 00:16:47.549 And I said, "Sir, I have the vice president." 269 00:16:48.926 --> 00:16:51.386 That first conversation mainly dealt with, 270 00:16:51.470 --> 00:16:54.389 "Are we going to describe it as a terrorist attack?" 271 00:16:56.183 --> 00:16:58.810 He and I both agreed an apparent terrorist attack. 272 00:16:59.853 --> 00:17:04.441 And that sort of set the stage for everything that follows from that. 273 00:17:05.817 --> 00:17:07.108 To me and Dick Cheney, 274 00:17:07.194 --> 00:17:11.323 it was pretty obvious that this was a well-organized attack 275 00:17:11.406 --> 00:17:13.406 to severely damage our country. 276 00:17:18.872 --> 00:17:20.582 I was in the office. 277 00:17:20.665 --> 00:17:23.669 My assistant came in, said, "Barbara's on the phone." 278 00:17:24.294 --> 00:17:26.713 I was relieved she was alive. 279 00:17:26.797 --> 00:17:31.218 But she told me immediately that her plane had been hijacked, 280 00:17:31.301 --> 00:17:33.595 and then the line went dead. 281 00:17:34.763 --> 00:17:36.223 This is John Thomas, Ops Manager. 282 00:17:36.306 --> 00:17:39.726 I think we need to let everybody know this right away. 283 00:17:39.810 --> 00:17:43.063 American 77 was just west of Charleston, West Virginia, 284 00:17:43.146 --> 00:17:44.648 and disappeared off our radar scope. 285 00:17:44.731 --> 00:17:46.984 We now believe that aircraft may have been hijacked. 286 00:17:47.067 --> 00:17:48.485 What with the World Trade Center, 287 00:17:48.569 --> 00:17:51.363 we could have another loose aircraft out there somewhere. 288 00:17:52.406 --> 00:17:55.158 President Bush, he knew Barbara. 289 00:17:55.242 --> 00:17:58.954 She was on television just two days earlier, defending him. 290 00:17:59.037 --> 00:18:02.791 President Bush is right. Kids have got to learn to read, or they're lost. 291 00:18:02.875 --> 00:18:06.503 The education issue is a centerpiece of his agenda. He's got an… 292 00:18:06.587 --> 00:18:11.175 And his whole leadership of his administration knew who Barbara was. 293 00:18:12.759 --> 00:18:14.970 Unaware of this third hijacking, 294 00:18:15.053 --> 00:18:19.224 in Florida, the president and his aides are still scrambling for information 295 00:18:19.308 --> 00:18:20.851 about the first two attacks. 296 00:18:21.560 --> 00:18:23.187 Everybody was working the phones, 297 00:18:23.270 --> 00:18:25.230 trying to ascertain what was happening. 298 00:18:25.898 --> 00:18:28.358 Typically, at a time of hot, breaking news, 299 00:18:28.442 --> 00:18:31.945 the press has access to a lot of things that the government doesn't, 300 00:18:32.029 --> 00:18:34.114 'cause the press has cameras everywhere. 301 00:18:35.282 --> 00:18:41.330 What TV stations are now broadcasting on the air is really important information. 302 00:18:43.457 --> 00:18:45.709 A rebroadcast came on, 303 00:18:45.792 --> 00:18:48.670 and the president whipped around to see where Dan was pointing, 304 00:18:48.754 --> 00:18:50.297 as the plane hit the tower. 305 00:18:50.797 --> 00:18:54.760 And you could feel the tension as people were stopping working the phones 306 00:18:54.843 --> 00:18:57.679 to look, all of a sudden, for the first time for us. 307 00:18:59.515 --> 00:19:01.266 There was just total disbelief. 308 00:19:01.350 --> 00:19:03.852 And we went from a very calm, beautiful day 309 00:19:03.936 --> 00:19:06.897 to one in which our world changed dramatically. 310 00:19:09.942 --> 00:19:13.695 While the president absorbs the horror of the attacks in New York… 311 00:19:15.989 --> 00:19:18.825 the crisis is escalating in America's skies. 312 00:19:21.203 --> 00:19:22.788 We took steps at that point 313 00:19:22.871 --> 00:19:25.874 to limit the amount of aircraft that could actually get airborne. 314 00:19:26.458 --> 00:19:28.710 I ground-stopped everything in the country. 315 00:19:28.794 --> 00:19:31.797 We had over 4,000 aircraft airborne. 316 00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:34.842 I knew, at least I surmised, 317 00:19:34.925 --> 00:19:39.054 that this was not the act of a deranged hijacker. 318 00:19:39.137 --> 00:19:41.932 That this was a concerted action by a group of people. 319 00:19:42.516 --> 00:19:46.019 As air traffic controllers deal with an unprecedented situation, 320 00:19:46.103 --> 00:19:48.313 a fourth plane's cockpit is breached. 321 00:19:48.397 --> 00:19:50.607 United 93. That traffic for you is one o'clock. 322 00:19:50.691 --> 00:19:52.442 Twelve miles eastbound, 3-7-0. 323 00:19:52.526 --> 00:19:54.695 Negative contact. We're looking. United 93. 324 00:19:54.778 --> 00:19:55.779 Hey! 325 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:02.077 Mayday-- 326 00:20:02.953 --> 00:20:04.413 You got United 93? 327 00:20:04.496 --> 00:20:05.789 It looks like he descended. 328 00:20:05.873 --> 00:20:07.457 United 93, verify 3-5-0. 329 00:20:07.541 --> 00:20:09.710 Do you have United 93 south of Chardon? 330 00:20:09.793 --> 00:20:11.920 We hear some funny noises. We're trying to get him. 331 00:20:12.004 --> 00:20:13.589 -Do you have him? -No. 332 00:20:14.548 --> 00:20:18.385 With United 93 the latest plane to be hijacked, 333 00:20:18.468 --> 00:20:21.013 President Bush prepares to address the nation, 334 00:20:21.096 --> 00:20:23.974 still uncertain as to the full nature of the attacks. 335 00:20:24.057 --> 00:20:27.352 Ladies and gentlemen, this is a difficult moment for America. 336 00:20:28.312 --> 00:20:30.647 Today we've had a national tragedy. 337 00:20:31.315 --> 00:20:33.233 This is the air traffic command center, 338 00:20:33.317 --> 00:20:35.569 the TMO on duty in the West area. 339 00:20:35.652 --> 00:20:40.282 I need to have all traffic management units do an inventory 340 00:20:40.365 --> 00:20:42.242 of all airborne traffic. 341 00:20:42.326 --> 00:20:45.662 Ensure that you do not have any aircraft that are not accounted for. 342 00:20:45.746 --> 00:20:49.249 I had my staff ask all the facilities in the country 343 00:20:49.333 --> 00:20:53.086 to identify for us any aircraft that they deemed suspicious. 344 00:20:53.170 --> 00:20:57.299 I actually considered closing the airspace at that point, 345 00:20:57.382 --> 00:21:02.095 but I hesitated, thinking about the chaos that would ensue. 346 00:21:03.347 --> 00:21:08.227 Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center. 347 00:21:08.310 --> 00:21:09.937 Barbara got back on the phone, 348 00:21:10.020 --> 00:21:13.690 and I had to tell her about the two airplanes 349 00:21:13.774 --> 00:21:15.901 that had been flown into the World Trade Center. 350 00:21:15.984 --> 00:21:18.612 We exchanged a couple of words of affection, 351 00:21:18.695 --> 00:21:20.364 and the line went dead again. 352 00:21:25.536 --> 00:21:27.663 And now, if you'd join me in a moment of silence. 353 00:21:32.334 --> 00:21:35.128 Please sit down. Keep remaining sitting. 354 00:21:35.212 --> 00:21:36.964 We have a bomb on board. 355 00:21:37.047 --> 00:21:39.132 Calling Cleveland Center. You're unreadable. 356 00:21:39.216 --> 00:21:40.217 Say again, slowly. 357 00:21:40.300 --> 00:21:45.222 United 93 may have a bomb on board. 358 00:21:45.305 --> 00:21:46.932 Can you give additional information 359 00:21:47.015 --> 00:21:48.183 why you believe there may be a bomb? 360 00:21:48.267 --> 00:21:50.060 He's screaming that on the frequency. 361 00:21:50.143 --> 00:21:51.186 Okay. 362 00:21:51.687 --> 00:21:54.565 I've gone from a classroom with a child reading 363 00:21:54.648 --> 00:21:59.194 to believing America's under attack in a pretty brief period of time. 364 00:22:00.362 --> 00:22:04.157 May God bless the victims, their families and America. Thank you very much. 365 00:22:11.206 --> 00:22:14.751 We have got to leave Sarasota and get the president to a safe place. 366 00:22:14.835 --> 00:22:17.588 We're gonna get to the plane as quickly as we can, 367 00:22:17.671 --> 00:22:22.384 because the safest location for the president at this time, 368 00:22:22.467 --> 00:22:26.138 until we know what's going on, is to get him up in the air. 369 00:22:27.181 --> 00:22:30.851 We immediately exited, went to the motorcade, 370 00:22:30.934 --> 00:22:34.104 and the call was made: We're gonna go at a high rate of speed. 371 00:22:34.188 --> 00:22:38.483 We're gonna shut the intersections down with physical barriers 372 00:22:38.567 --> 00:22:42.070 to make sure suicide attacks, everything, is not a concern. 373 00:22:44.323 --> 00:22:47.784 It really hit me when I was in the limousine heading out to Air Force One. 374 00:22:47.868 --> 00:22:51.038 I was immediately surrounded by serious protection. 375 00:22:51.872 --> 00:22:54.625 We were going like the bat out of proverbial hell. 376 00:22:54.708 --> 00:22:57.085 And I looked to my left, and I realized 377 00:22:57.169 --> 00:23:01.340 we were bracketed by four police cars, two in front and two in back. 378 00:23:01.423 --> 00:23:03.217 You know, sort of covering our flanks. 379 00:23:03.300 --> 00:23:04.676 The Secret Service said, 380 00:23:04.760 --> 00:23:07.471 "We were worried about a car bomb intercepting the motorcade, 381 00:23:07.554 --> 00:23:10.807 and we wanted to cause the bomb to go off 15 or 20 feet further away 382 00:23:10.891 --> 00:23:13.560 and give the president a greater chance of survivability." 383 00:23:15.229 --> 00:23:16.772 Sort of a sobering moment. 384 00:23:19.983 --> 00:23:22.402 With concerns growing over the president's safety… 385 00:23:24.988 --> 00:23:29.117 the vice president, too, now gets even closer protection. 386 00:23:30.244 --> 00:23:31.453 The door burst open, 387 00:23:31.537 --> 00:23:36.750 and one of my Secret Service agents, Jimmy Scott, came in rapidly. 388 00:23:36.834 --> 00:23:40.963 He put one hand, his right hand, on my belt in back, 389 00:23:41.046 --> 00:23:42.673 the other hand on my shoulder, 390 00:23:42.756 --> 00:23:47.302 and literally picked me up and moved me towards the door. 391 00:23:48.011 --> 00:23:51.723 The agent had told me that there was a plane coming in. 392 00:23:51.807 --> 00:23:55.936 It was unclear how far out it was, but at 500 miles per hour, 393 00:23:56.019 --> 00:23:58.939 it doesn't take long for something to arrive on your doorstep. 394 00:23:59.606 --> 00:24:01.233 Huntress ID. How can I help you? 395 00:24:01.316 --> 00:24:05.320 Our latest report, the aircraft VFR six miles southeast of the White House. 396 00:24:05.404 --> 00:24:06.905 Six miles southeast of the White House? 397 00:24:06.989 --> 00:24:08.615 Yep. Six southwest. 398 00:24:09.283 --> 00:24:11.285 Jimmy took me out into the hallway, 399 00:24:11.368 --> 00:24:13.787 down the stairs in the West Wing. 400 00:24:13.871 --> 00:24:16.707 The agent was instructed to take us down 401 00:24:16.790 --> 00:24:19.668 towards what they call the PEOC, the emergency center. 402 00:24:20.169 --> 00:24:22.421 I knew Jimmy, and I knew these guys are trained. 403 00:24:22.504 --> 00:24:25.549 And if he's moving like that, I'd better follow. 404 00:24:25.632 --> 00:24:27.509 I didn't have much choice, anyway. 405 00:24:28.260 --> 00:24:29.428 Aircraft is moving away. 406 00:24:29.511 --> 00:24:30.929 Moving away from the White House? 407 00:24:31.013 --> 00:24:32.222 -Yeah. -Deviating away. 408 00:24:32.306 --> 00:24:34.057 You don't have a type of aircraft, don't know who he is? 409 00:24:34.141 --> 00:24:36.602 Nothing. So I have no clue. None. 410 00:24:36.685 --> 00:24:39.855 And there was a lot of confusion as to what was happening, 411 00:24:39.938 --> 00:24:42.441 a lot of confusion as to where the planes were. 412 00:24:42.524 --> 00:24:43.859 Part of the problem, at that point, 413 00:24:43.942 --> 00:24:47.362 was to discern, what is the scope of this attack? 414 00:24:47.863 --> 00:24:50.449 With an unknown plane now over the Capitol, 415 00:24:50.532 --> 00:24:55.787 air traffic controllers enlist a cargo aircraft, call sign Gofer 06, 416 00:24:55.871 --> 00:24:57.331 to try to identify it. 417 00:24:57.831 --> 00:25:00.250 Gofer 06, traffic is eleven o'clock 418 00:25:00.334 --> 00:25:02.252 and five miles northbound, fast moving. 419 00:25:02.336 --> 00:25:03.921 Type and altitude unknown. 420 00:25:04.004 --> 00:25:06.840 Gofer 06. We have the traffic in sight, twelve o'clock. 421 00:25:06.924 --> 00:25:08.383 Do you know what kind it is? Can you see? 422 00:25:08.467 --> 00:25:10.219 Looks like a 757, sir. 423 00:25:11.345 --> 00:25:14.056 The first item that comes to mind is, 424 00:25:14.139 --> 00:25:16.725 they're coming after Washington, not only New York. 425 00:25:16.808 --> 00:25:19.436 That traffic is still in a descent now, 426 00:25:19.520 --> 00:25:22.231 and looks like he's rolled out northeast bound. 427 00:25:22.731 --> 00:25:25.359 You don't have time to say, "Oh, my goodness. What's happening to us?" 428 00:25:25.442 --> 00:25:27.986 Every plane had become a missile. 429 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:46.088 -Washington, this is Gofer 06. -Gofer 06, go ahead. 430 00:25:46.171 --> 00:25:48.841 It looks like that aircraft crashed into the Pentagon, sir. 431 00:25:53.887 --> 00:25:56.223 -See what happened up there? -Yeah. It went into the Pentagon. 432 00:25:56.306 --> 00:25:57.683 Looks like it went into the Pentagon. 433 00:25:58.308 --> 00:25:59.476 Plane into the building. 434 00:26:01.895 --> 00:26:04.731 I went into the Situation Room 435 00:26:04.815 --> 00:26:07.276 to try to reach the National Security Principals… 436 00:26:07.943 --> 00:26:10.153 -Keep going back. -…going back. Keep going back. 437 00:26:11.280 --> 00:26:16.159 Colin Powell was in Peru for an Organization of American States meeting. 438 00:26:16.243 --> 00:26:20.205 They said George Tenet, the CIA director, had already gone to a bunker. 439 00:26:20.289 --> 00:26:22.499 And they said, "We can't reach Secretary Rumsfeld. 440 00:26:22.583 --> 00:26:24.501 His phone is just ringing and ringing and ringing." 441 00:26:24.585 --> 00:26:27.671 And we looked on television, and a plane had hit the Pentagon. 442 00:26:30.090 --> 00:26:33.802 Then I called the president. He said, "I'm coming back." 443 00:26:33.886 --> 00:26:37.139 And I did something I had never done before and would never do again. 444 00:26:37.222 --> 00:26:39.391 I raised my voice at the president of the United States. 445 00:26:39.474 --> 00:26:42.186 I said, "Stay where you are. We're under attack." 446 00:26:42.769 --> 00:26:45.564 Okay, all units responding over to the Pentagon, 447 00:26:45.647 --> 00:26:46.773 you need to be careful. 448 00:26:46.857 --> 00:26:48.942 Possible terrorist attack. 449 00:26:49.860 --> 00:26:53.488 It was at that moment that I realized we were at war. 450 00:26:53.989 --> 00:26:57.075 You know, the first plane was an accident, the second one was an attack, 451 00:26:57.159 --> 00:26:59.620 and the third one was a declaration of war. 452 00:27:00.829 --> 00:27:01.955 Oh, my goodness. 453 00:27:02.039 --> 00:27:04.666 We're looking at a live picture from Washington, 454 00:27:04.750 --> 00:27:07.669 and there is smoke pouring out of the Pentagon. 455 00:27:08.837 --> 00:27:13.217 I'm sitting in a government office, two miles from the Pentagon. 456 00:27:13.884 --> 00:27:16.386 I knew what was coming, and then I saw it. 457 00:27:16.470 --> 00:27:20.182 And then I knew that my greatest fears were true. 458 00:27:20.682 --> 00:27:24.686 That that had to be the American Airlines plane that Barbara was on. 459 00:27:25.938 --> 00:27:28.857 We don't know whether this is the result of a bomb 460 00:27:28.941 --> 00:27:30.692 or whether it is yet another aircraft 461 00:27:30.776 --> 00:27:35.280 that has targeted a symbol of the United States' power. 462 00:27:36.114 --> 00:27:37.908 It was a helpless feeling, 463 00:27:37.991 --> 00:27:41.745 that this incomprehensible thing had happened to this country. 464 00:27:41.828 --> 00:27:46.667 It was a dreaded sense of horror. 465 00:27:52.089 --> 00:27:55.759 When I got word that American 77 had struck the Pentagon, 466 00:27:55.843 --> 00:27:58.011 that's when I shut down everything. 467 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:03.517 The order was to land all aircraft at the nearest airport, 468 00:28:03.600 --> 00:28:06.311 regardless of their final destination. 469 00:28:06.395 --> 00:28:09.022 Stand by. Everybody, stand by. This is the Command Center. 470 00:28:09.106 --> 00:28:11.692 The Command Center requests, as soon as possible, 471 00:28:11.775 --> 00:28:14.570 they want all aircraft on the ground. 472 00:28:14.653 --> 00:28:19.366 All aircraft, regardless of destination, land as soon as possible. 473 00:28:20.284 --> 00:28:24.746 That was the last step that I could take to get control of the airspace. 474 00:28:24.830 --> 00:28:27.708 I thought, "Well, if we get everyone out of the air, 475 00:28:27.791 --> 00:28:29.960 we'll be able to deal with the few that are left." 476 00:28:30.043 --> 00:28:33.922 I couldn't imagine there would be that many left that may be a problem. 477 00:28:34.756 --> 00:28:36.341 It would appear now, that 478 00:28:36.425 --> 00:28:39.887 perhaps this nation is under attack 479 00:28:39.970 --> 00:28:42.014 from some unknown source. 480 00:28:42.097 --> 00:28:44.183 I would say, without question. 481 00:28:44.266 --> 00:28:46.768 We're looking at pictures here, now. 482 00:28:46.852 --> 00:28:50.022 Looking at Washington, we're seeing from the Executive Office building, 483 00:28:50.105 --> 00:28:52.524 which is being evacuated now, along with the White House-- 484 00:28:52.608 --> 00:28:56.445 we're seeing columns of smoke across the river at the Pentagon rising. 485 00:28:56.528 --> 00:29:02.534 I remember it just looked chaotic, watching it from home. 486 00:29:02.618 --> 00:29:05.537 I knew I had to get to the office, but I didn't know how to get there. 487 00:29:06.121 --> 00:29:08.540 They were shutting down downtown Washington. 488 00:29:08.624 --> 00:29:12.836 I was on the phone with my chief of staff, who ran my office at the White House, 489 00:29:12.920 --> 00:29:17.299 and she said, "Karen, I've gotta go. They're telling us to run." 490 00:29:17.382 --> 00:29:18.592 And I said, "Well, then go!" 491 00:29:20.093 --> 00:29:22.012 The assumption was that 492 00:29:22.095 --> 00:29:24.223 one of the targets might well be the White House. 493 00:29:24.306 --> 00:29:29.061 And the Secret Service told everybody to evacuate. 494 00:29:29.144 --> 00:29:32.356 -Everybody, back. -Everybody not essential, let's go! 495 00:29:32.940 --> 00:29:34.399 This is the real thing. Let's go. 496 00:29:35.442 --> 00:29:39.780 The intensity and the volume of the voices kept escalating. 497 00:29:39.863 --> 00:29:42.866 The calls for us to get moving, to get out, to get out. 498 00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:49.373 Scatter, scatter. Please go home. 499 00:29:49.456 --> 00:29:52.501 I remember making eye contact with a woman 500 00:29:52.584 --> 00:29:55.546 who's part of the Secret Service, and I remember her screaming at me, 501 00:29:55.629 --> 00:29:57.548 "Take off your heels and run." 502 00:29:59.049 --> 00:30:01.635 That 747 is not looking right. 503 00:30:01.718 --> 00:30:05.264 Twelve o'clock high. He's turning hard. Shit. 504 00:30:05.347 --> 00:30:06.890 -Hold it. -They're flying to the Capitol! 505 00:30:06.974 --> 00:30:09.560 Everybody go away from the Capitol. 506 00:30:09.643 --> 00:30:14.565 The streets of Washington, there were cars stopped in the middle of the road, 507 00:30:14.648 --> 00:30:16.692 still running, doors open. 508 00:30:16.775 --> 00:30:19.820 People were running everywhere. There was smoke. 509 00:30:23.282 --> 00:30:24.408 It was Mad Max. 510 00:30:24.491 --> 00:30:27.077 …all of you, back and away. 511 00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:29.955 Do you copy? You need to move back and away. 512 00:30:30.789 --> 00:30:34.459 As America's skies close for the first time in US history 513 00:30:35.252 --> 00:30:36.837 and fear grips the Capitol, 514 00:30:37.588 --> 00:30:40.757 a further threat now causes concern for the president's safety. 515 00:30:41.967 --> 00:30:44.136 As we arrived at the airport, 516 00:30:44.219 --> 00:30:49.183 we began to get intel that Air Force One could be a target. 517 00:30:52.227 --> 00:30:56.315 There could be someone at the end of the runway that could be a threat. 518 00:30:57.357 --> 00:30:59.318 Someone with a stinger missile 519 00:30:59.401 --> 00:31:01.361 or some kind of high-powered rifle, even. 520 00:31:03.864 --> 00:31:05.949 There was an incredible push 521 00:31:06.033 --> 00:31:09.536 to get everybody on the plane as quickly as possible. 522 00:31:09.620 --> 00:31:12.998 They are yelling at us, "Move it, move it, move it," to board more quickly. 523 00:31:15.417 --> 00:31:19.880 I do remember actually feeling scared as I ran up the steps 524 00:31:19.963 --> 00:31:22.007 and having the disjointed thought, 525 00:31:22.758 --> 00:31:26.136 "I've never been scared being with a president before." 526 00:31:31.517 --> 00:31:35.521 I remember some of the air force personnel greeting me at the door, 527 00:31:35.604 --> 00:31:37.356 and they were shaken badly. 528 00:31:40.692 --> 00:31:42.653 So Colonel Tillman said to me, 529 00:31:42.736 --> 00:31:45.239 "I can turn around and fly the other direction, 530 00:31:45.322 --> 00:31:50.786 but it'll be the steepest takeoff you will ever see a 747 take, 531 00:31:50.869 --> 00:31:53.580 and you need to make sure the president's sitting down." 532 00:31:54.456 --> 00:31:56.500 I said, "I'll take care of that. Just do it." 533 00:31:57.751 --> 00:31:59.878 The decision was made to go ahead and rotate 534 00:31:59.962 --> 00:32:02.089 to counter the threat at the end of the runway 535 00:32:02.923 --> 00:32:05.175 and to max perform the aircraft. 536 00:32:05.259 --> 00:32:06.343 So we used full power. 537 00:32:06.426 --> 00:32:09.596 The plane was extremely light, minimal passengers. 538 00:32:09.680 --> 00:32:12.266 The goal was to get airborne, move away fast. 539 00:32:13.267 --> 00:32:18.105 My seat was 20 yards or so away, and I'm standing there, 540 00:32:18.188 --> 00:32:20.858 and I'm the only one who's not seated with a seat belt. 541 00:32:21.984 --> 00:32:24.570 So, I'm standing there with the president, 542 00:32:24.653 --> 00:32:29.241 and the engines just screamed, and we were screaming down the runway. 543 00:32:30.075 --> 00:32:33.078 And I'm going, "This is unbelievable. The plane doesn't take off like this." 544 00:32:33.161 --> 00:32:39.751 And I put my foot against the president's desk and my backside against the bulkhead 545 00:32:39.835 --> 00:32:42.254 and just pressed myself in there. 546 00:32:42.337 --> 00:32:45.048 The president, he leaned over with his arm. 547 00:32:45.132 --> 00:32:51.013 And we were taking off at an angle that I never want to experience again. 548 00:32:52.931 --> 00:32:55.100 I went partially weightless. 549 00:32:56.310 --> 00:32:59.229 I mean, I was petrified. 550 00:33:04.818 --> 00:33:07.279 It was a very emotional experience for everybody. 551 00:33:08.155 --> 00:33:10.616 I tried to be cool, calm and present. 552 00:33:11.116 --> 00:33:14.119 But some people were hyperventilating or-- 553 00:33:14.203 --> 00:33:16.079 "But what are we gonna do?" 554 00:33:16.163 --> 00:33:19.333 And kind of contagious with fear, 555 00:33:19.917 --> 00:33:23.378 and I didn't want that to infect the decision-making process 556 00:33:23.462 --> 00:33:25.589 that the president was gonna have to go through. 557 00:33:25.672 --> 00:33:27.883 So we did keep some people away. 558 00:33:29.384 --> 00:33:31.011 I was just trying to gather information 559 00:33:31.094 --> 00:33:33.931 so I could then begin to make rational decisions. 560 00:33:35.015 --> 00:33:38.101 The president said to me, "I want you to call George Tenet"-- 561 00:33:38.185 --> 00:33:40.187 the director of CIA, my boss-- 562 00:33:40.270 --> 00:33:45.192 "and I want you to tell George that I want to be the first to know 563 00:33:45.275 --> 00:33:48.445 if he learns anything about who did this." 564 00:33:50.113 --> 00:33:52.991 With the president desperate to learn more about the attacks, 565 00:33:53.659 --> 00:33:55.911 he immediately faces a new challenge. 566 00:33:56.662 --> 00:33:58.914 We had real problems aboard Air Force One that day 567 00:33:58.997 --> 00:34:00.541 with the communications equipment. 568 00:34:01.124 --> 00:34:04.378 The phone that was supposed to connect the president to the vice president 569 00:34:04.461 --> 00:34:08.297 and others in the bunker below the White House kept conking out. 570 00:34:09.299 --> 00:34:12.427 I remember the president holding the phone out in endless frustration. 571 00:34:15.222 --> 00:34:18.391 So we would not have full-time communications. 572 00:34:19.935 --> 00:34:23.647 TV reception. Air Force One didn't have satellite TV. 573 00:34:24.147 --> 00:34:25.940 And so we could get TV coverage 574 00:34:26.024 --> 00:34:30.737 as we would fly over cities where the ground-based antenna 575 00:34:30.821 --> 00:34:33.614 put out a sufficiently strong, powerful-enough signal 576 00:34:33.699 --> 00:34:36.201 that we could pick it up at 40,000 feet in the sky. 577 00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:40.330 As we're going through these different local TV zones 578 00:34:40.414 --> 00:34:43.041 and it'd be on, it'd be flickering and-- 579 00:34:43.125 --> 00:34:46.253 What was eerie about it is that it wasn't a constant picture. 580 00:34:47.545 --> 00:34:49.672 The TV came on, we were all riveted to it 581 00:34:49.755 --> 00:34:52.217 because we were getting new, fresh information. 582 00:34:52.717 --> 00:34:55.679 And then, as we would fly along and the signal would fade, 583 00:34:55.762 --> 00:34:58.307 the screen on the TV would fade to gray. 584 00:35:00.058 --> 00:35:03.729 Amazing to think that one of the worst places to be to get information 585 00:35:03.812 --> 00:35:07.316 was the place where information should have been set up, by design, 586 00:35:07.399 --> 00:35:10.360 to flow the best to the president of the United States. 587 00:35:11.778 --> 00:35:13.071 Now, by chance, 588 00:35:13.155 --> 00:35:16.742 just 73 minutes after the attacks began, 589 00:35:16.825 --> 00:35:19.745 the television signal on Air Force One holds steady 590 00:35:19.828 --> 00:35:21.413 long enough for a picture to form. 591 00:35:29.087 --> 00:35:31.924 Take two. Take two, in two, one. 592 00:35:32.007 --> 00:35:34.551 This is as close as we can get to the base of the World Trade Center. 593 00:35:34.635 --> 00:35:38.639 You can see the firemen assembled here, the police officers, FBI agents. 594 00:35:38.722 --> 00:35:41.016 And you can see the two towers-- 595 00:35:41.099 --> 00:35:45.312 Huge explosion now raining debris on all of us. We better get out of the way! 596 00:35:47.272 --> 00:35:48.732 Oh, no! 597 00:35:48.815 --> 00:35:51.401 -Oh, my God! -Oh, no! 598 00:35:54.530 --> 00:35:55.948 Oh, God! 599 00:35:57.199 --> 00:36:00.827 Oh, shit. Oh, man. 600 00:36:00.911 --> 00:36:02.287 Oh, man! 601 00:36:04.748 --> 00:36:07.626 -Oh, sh-- -Go! Come on! 602 00:36:08.669 --> 00:36:10.295 Look out behind you. 603 00:36:13.674 --> 00:36:15.092 Oh, shit. 604 00:36:24.893 --> 00:36:28.730 Those images are seared in my mind. 605 00:36:30.065 --> 00:36:33.068 There was no noise on Air Force One except the plane flying. 606 00:36:37.573 --> 00:36:38.866 I was horrified. 607 00:36:40.534 --> 00:36:41.577 And it was sickening. 608 00:36:42.160 --> 00:36:44.872 -Stay right where you are. -Stay where you are, man. 609 00:36:44.955 --> 00:36:46.415 Stay where you are. 610 00:36:47.416 --> 00:36:50.294 We were all transfixed, you know? 611 00:36:50.377 --> 00:36:54.214 All you could do was watch in horror, and nobody said anything. 612 00:36:55.757 --> 00:36:57.176 Just the thought of all the deaths 613 00:36:57.259 --> 00:37:00.053 that could have taken place in that one instant. 614 00:37:02.514 --> 00:37:07.978 What I saw was a man who was doing his level best 615 00:37:08.061 --> 00:37:10.647 to keep all the various emotions in check. 616 00:37:13.358 --> 00:37:18.155 The one emotion that I think became harder and harder for him to keep in check 617 00:37:18.238 --> 00:37:19.239 was anger. 618 00:37:21.283 --> 00:37:22.826 This brewing of… 619 00:37:24.703 --> 00:37:26.371 "You think you're gonna get away with this?" 620 00:37:28.665 --> 00:37:30.542 I knew if we were under attack, 621 00:37:30.626 --> 00:37:33.670 my job as president was to protect the country. 622 00:37:34.296 --> 00:37:38.467 And I didn't know who they were yet. 623 00:37:38.550 --> 00:37:41.512 One thing on the to-do list was to kick their ass. 624 00:37:45.390 --> 00:37:47.559 I wanted to go home to DC. 625 00:37:47.643 --> 00:37:49.436 I'm commander in chief, 626 00:37:49.520 --> 00:37:53.774 and I wanted to be at the center of the action. 627 00:37:54.691 --> 00:37:56.360 I said, "We can't do that. 628 00:37:57.903 --> 00:38:02.199 Until we can secure the White House and DC, 629 00:38:02.282 --> 00:38:04.701 we're gonna have to go someplace else." 630 00:38:04.785 --> 00:38:09.957 There's no way we're gonna take him into an unsecured area. 631 00:38:10.040 --> 00:38:13.293 I suggested we go west, not east. 632 00:38:13.377 --> 00:38:18.924 All of a sudden, I feel the plane turning away from northeast. 633 00:38:19.591 --> 00:38:23.762 And I called Andy, said, "Andy, let's get to DC." 634 00:38:23.846 --> 00:38:26.306 He said, "It's highly recommended we don't." 635 00:38:27.224 --> 00:38:30.811 I told the president we're gonna go to Barksdale Air Force Base, 636 00:38:30.894 --> 00:38:33.063 get a little more information of what's going on. 637 00:38:33.146 --> 00:38:35.274 We can tape a message for the American people. 638 00:38:35.941 --> 00:38:37.401 They're already under an exercise 639 00:38:37.484 --> 00:38:40.237 calling for them to be on the highest level of alert. 640 00:38:41.113 --> 00:38:44.825 But the president was adamant that he wanted to go back to Washington. 641 00:38:44.908 --> 00:38:46.159 He was telling me, 642 00:38:46.243 --> 00:38:49.997 "I am the president of the United States. We are going back to Washington, DC." 643 00:38:50.080 --> 00:38:53.917 And I said, "You don't wanna make that decision right now. 644 00:38:54.001 --> 00:38:56.336 I don't think you wanna make that decision right now. 645 00:38:56.420 --> 00:38:57.713 I think we have to know more." 646 00:38:57.796 --> 00:39:00.841 And he said, "I am making the decision right now!" 647 00:39:01.967 --> 00:39:04.136 I had a conversation with the president, 648 00:39:04.219 --> 00:39:09.183 and my recommendation was, to him, that he not come back yet. 649 00:39:10.058 --> 00:39:12.436 Washington was under attack, as well as New York, 650 00:39:12.519 --> 00:39:16.398 and that it was important for the two of us, the president and vice president, 651 00:39:16.982 --> 00:39:18.567 to stay separate. 652 00:39:19.651 --> 00:39:23.030 Andy Card on the plane and me on the phone 653 00:39:23.113 --> 00:39:25.407 pretty well persuaded him, 654 00:39:25.490 --> 00:39:26.617 "Not yet. Not yet." 655 00:39:27.367 --> 00:39:28.660 Because we just didn't know. 656 00:39:30.204 --> 00:39:33.207 There was no doubt in my mind, and in theirs, 657 00:39:33.290 --> 00:39:35.334 that I was the commander in chief. 658 00:39:35.417 --> 00:39:39.505 That's why it was vital that I have a team of people who understand 659 00:39:39.588 --> 00:39:42.841 the chain of command and the role of the president. 660 00:39:43.425 --> 00:39:44.676 But, needless to say, 661 00:39:44.760 --> 00:39:48.931 continuity of government became an essential element for the security forces. 662 00:39:50.015 --> 00:39:52.226 We were just very happy that the president agreed 663 00:39:52.309 --> 00:39:56.522 not to really force the issue to go back to Washington, DC, 664 00:39:56.605 --> 00:40:01.902 and that when we went to Barksdale, it would give us a chance to regroup, 665 00:40:02.486 --> 00:40:06.657 and we could put a plan together on what we were gonna do. 666 00:40:06.740 --> 00:40:09.159 …865. We have the traffic below us. 667 00:40:09.243 --> 00:40:11.245 Number 56865, Cleveland Center, roger that. 668 00:40:11.328 --> 00:40:14.164 I have a question for you. We have a Boeing 757. 669 00:40:14.248 --> 00:40:17.751 Can you see him up there, sir, and tell me an altitude if that's able? 670 00:40:17.835 --> 00:40:19.127 Southeast bound. 671 00:40:19.211 --> 00:40:20.420 We've got him. 672 00:40:20.504 --> 00:40:22.965 He's behind us and only about a thousand feet above us. 673 00:40:25.467 --> 00:40:29.513 There is now only one known hijacked flight remaining in the sky. 674 00:40:30.180 --> 00:40:33.475 Controllers track it by talking to another plane. 675 00:40:33.559 --> 00:40:36.186 Okay, he's descending. He's getting closer to our altitude. 676 00:40:36.270 --> 00:40:37.521 We have him in sight, yes. 677 00:40:37.604 --> 00:40:40.107 Number 56865, I advise you to stay away from that aircraft. 678 00:40:40.190 --> 00:40:42.025 Go north fast as you can. 679 00:40:43.485 --> 00:40:46.530 But it's not just controllers struggling with limited information. 680 00:40:46.613 --> 00:40:49.658 It's also those inside the White House bunker. 681 00:40:50.284 --> 00:40:52.327 It was very much the fog of war. 682 00:40:53.245 --> 00:40:56.456 There were specific flight numbers being thrown around 683 00:40:56.540 --> 00:40:58.876 of flights that were of concern. 684 00:40:58.959 --> 00:41:02.713 We were getting regular reports about how many were still in the air, 685 00:41:02.796 --> 00:41:04.756 how many were unaccounted for. 686 00:41:04.840 --> 00:41:06.633 Plane going here and a plane going there. 687 00:41:06.717 --> 00:41:10.429 I had reports that a car bomb had gone off at the State Department. 688 00:41:11.013 --> 00:41:13.390 Was a lot of information flying around, 689 00:41:13.473 --> 00:41:15.225 and a lot of it's not valid. 690 00:41:16.018 --> 00:41:17.227 Okay, what's he doing now, sir? 691 00:41:17.311 --> 00:41:20.480 It appears he might be turning a little to the north. Does that concur? 692 00:41:21.023 --> 00:41:24.401 That's concurred. Looks like he's rocking his wings now. 693 00:41:24.943 --> 00:41:28.280 The principal anxiety in the bunker was 694 00:41:28.363 --> 00:41:32.075 how many planes were out there that had been weaponized by terrorists 695 00:41:32.159 --> 00:41:35.204 and were headed for other targets around the United States, 696 00:41:35.787 --> 00:41:37.456 and how do we deal with it? 697 00:41:37.539 --> 00:41:39.416 Because we had no idea. 698 00:41:40.167 --> 00:41:42.085 He's rocking back and forth. 699 00:41:42.169 --> 00:41:43.212 Thank you, sir. 700 00:41:44.546 --> 00:41:47.090 You don't find it written in any manual, 701 00:41:47.174 --> 00:41:49.801 what to do in a situation like this. 702 00:41:50.511 --> 00:41:56.058 Essentially, we were flying by the seat of our pants at that point. 703 00:41:56.850 --> 00:41:59.144 I was sitting right across from the vice president 704 00:41:59.228 --> 00:42:01.313 when the military aide came in 705 00:42:01.396 --> 00:42:06.944 and reported that another flight was headed south toward Washington. 706 00:42:07.027 --> 00:42:09.488 It was presumed to be a hijacked flight. 707 00:42:09.571 --> 00:42:12.241 Turned out to be, I think, United 93. 708 00:42:13.742 --> 00:42:19.915 He asked the vice president for permission for military aircraft to engage. 709 00:42:20.832 --> 00:42:24.837 That's when the vice president used a very military term. 710 00:42:24.920 --> 00:42:26.630 "Take the track." 711 00:42:27.798 --> 00:42:29.883 Everybody in the room knew what that meant. 712 00:42:30.509 --> 00:42:32.135 "Shoot down that aircraft." 713 00:42:33.178 --> 00:42:37.391 There was a silence as people absorbed 714 00:42:37.933 --> 00:42:40.310 the order that had just been given. 715 00:42:41.270 --> 00:42:44.231 I got on the phone and talked with the president. 716 00:42:44.314 --> 00:42:46.900 Got his approval that that's what we wanted to do. 717 00:42:47.901 --> 00:42:49.945 We didn't know how many more planes were in the sky, 718 00:42:50.028 --> 00:42:51.613 how many were hijacked. 719 00:42:51.697 --> 00:42:53.198 I made the decision. 720 00:42:54.241 --> 00:42:56.159 Was I happy about it? No. 721 00:42:56.243 --> 00:42:58.954 But was I comfortable in making the decision? Yes. 722 00:42:59.663 --> 00:43:01.915 United Nine-Three. Have you got information on that yet? 723 00:43:01.999 --> 00:43:03.292 Yeah, he's down. 724 00:43:03.375 --> 00:43:04.793 -He's down? -Yes. 725 00:43:04.877 --> 00:43:06.670 When did he land? Because we have confirmation-- 726 00:43:06.753 --> 00:43:08.422 He did not land. 727 00:43:08.505 --> 00:43:09.631 He's down-down? 728 00:43:09.715 --> 00:43:12.092 Yeah, somewhere up northeast of Camp David. 729 00:43:12.759 --> 00:43:16.597 One of the watch standards came in and said, 730 00:43:16.680 --> 00:43:19.391 "The track has been eliminated." 731 00:43:19.474 --> 00:43:22.519 And the vice president said, "The plane's down?" 732 00:43:22.603 --> 00:43:25.063 And he said, "The track's been eliminated." 733 00:43:25.147 --> 00:43:29.568 The vice president looked at me, and he said, "Did we take that track?" 734 00:43:30.194 --> 00:43:31.945 And I said, "I don't know." 735 00:43:34.781 --> 00:43:39.995 We had every reason to believe that, in fact, we had taken down that aircraft. 736 00:43:40.996 --> 00:43:43.624 As the occupants of the bunker try to establish 737 00:43:43.707 --> 00:43:47.753 whether United 93 has been brought down by their own actions, 738 00:43:47.836 --> 00:43:50.506 suddenly their focus turns again to New York. 739 00:43:50.589 --> 00:43:52.633 An hour ago, there were people at the gas pumps 740 00:43:52.716 --> 00:43:55.135 who turned to look at the smoke coming from the city. 741 00:43:55.219 --> 00:43:57.387 Folks stepping out of bodegas and stores to look. 742 00:43:57.471 --> 00:43:59.389 Now people are gathering in large groups. 743 00:43:59.473 --> 00:44:03.227 In fact, in one corner, I saw a group of people actually holding hands and praying. 744 00:44:03.310 --> 00:44:05.354 As I stand on the Manhattan Bridge, which is closed-- 745 00:44:05.437 --> 00:44:07.147 It is open to pedestrian traffic. 746 00:44:07.231 --> 00:44:10.943 Some people are walking across, but there's just no way for them to… 747 00:44:11.527 --> 00:44:15.155 As I look out, something is-- It looks as though the building is going-- 748 00:44:15.239 --> 00:44:16.448 Is that the building going down? 749 00:44:16.532 --> 00:44:18.492 Is that the second building of the World Trade Center going down? 750 00:44:18.575 --> 00:44:22.287 Yes, that is the second tower. That is the second… 751 00:44:32.381 --> 00:44:36.677 It didn't implode even. It just melted. 752 00:44:40.097 --> 00:44:44.518 My brain could not process what I was seeing. 753 00:44:46.478 --> 00:44:50.399 This was a major attack on the United States. 754 00:44:51.859 --> 00:44:57.197 And it was pretty clear-cut that this was gonna be a very heavy loss of life. 755 00:44:58.824 --> 00:45:00.701 That was a searing moment. 756 00:45:00.784 --> 00:45:04.746 We're watching on TV, and there was nothing that could be done 757 00:45:04.830 --> 00:45:08.166 from the center of power of the greatest power on Earth. 758 00:45:11.712 --> 00:45:14.089 But from that room, we needed to figure out 759 00:45:14.173 --> 00:45:17.676 what we could do to help prevent anything further from happening. 760 00:45:19.219 --> 00:45:21.513 At this moment of national tragedy, 761 00:45:21.597 --> 00:45:23.682 from Air Force One to the bunker, 762 00:45:24.266 --> 00:45:26.935 the government is struggling to regain control. 763 00:45:27.769 --> 00:45:31.607 The communication devices down there were inept. 764 00:45:31.690 --> 00:45:32.858 If we had a screen-- 765 00:45:32.941 --> 00:45:34.651 We couldn't tell what was going on outside 766 00:45:34.735 --> 00:45:36.653 because if we had our visual, we had no sound. 767 00:45:36.737 --> 00:45:38.405 If we had sound, we had no visual. 768 00:45:39.072 --> 00:45:40.282 And it was terrifying. 769 00:45:40.365 --> 00:45:44.494 The country didn't know what was going on, and we didn't know. 770 00:45:45.162 --> 00:45:48.707 And it's a very scary time. 771 00:45:50.292 --> 00:45:53.086 The government was not well prepared for this moment. 772 00:45:54.338 --> 00:45:58.050 The bunker itself was antiquated. 773 00:45:58.133 --> 00:46:02.262 The furniture and technology were probably at least 20 years old. 774 00:46:04.348 --> 00:46:08.644 I remember the commander of the bunker facility pulling me aside 775 00:46:08.727 --> 00:46:12.648 when the oxygen in the bunker started to get dangerously low 776 00:46:12.731 --> 00:46:14.399 because there were too many people. 777 00:46:15.484 --> 00:46:18.904 Everybody started dozing off. I'm like, "Something is wrong here." 778 00:46:18.987 --> 00:46:22.115 Well, we had exhausted our oxygen 779 00:46:22.199 --> 00:46:25.118 and were breathing in our own CO2 and such. 780 00:46:25.202 --> 00:46:26.912 We were, like, poisoning ourselves. 781 00:46:29.039 --> 00:46:33.252 We ended up having a lot of people leave and go someplace else. 782 00:46:33.335 --> 00:46:34.753 We didn't need you in that site. 783 00:46:35.838 --> 00:46:39.633 As the administration battles with the limitations of the bunker, 784 00:46:39.716 --> 00:46:42.594 word of an imminent threat to Air Force One comes in 785 00:46:42.678 --> 00:46:45.138 and is immediately shared with the president. 786 00:46:46.932 --> 00:46:50.227 There was a call that said, "Angel's next." 787 00:46:50.894 --> 00:46:53.355 And Angel was the code word for Air Force One. 788 00:46:54.982 --> 00:46:56.567 A shiver goes through everybody. 789 00:46:57.568 --> 00:46:59.820 Who's got the code word for Air Force One? 790 00:47:01.363 --> 00:47:05.033 So when Air Force One's pilot, Colonel Tillman, heard about this, 791 00:47:05.117 --> 00:47:08.912 he posted at the base of the steps that lead up to the cockpit 792 00:47:08.996 --> 00:47:11.206 an air force security officer 793 00:47:11.290 --> 00:47:14.001 with instructions that no one is to go upstairs. 794 00:47:15.419 --> 00:47:17.129 Think about that. 795 00:47:17.212 --> 00:47:20.007 The inner sanctum of the inner sanctum, 796 00:47:20.090 --> 00:47:24.011 and the pilot is worried that someone in the president's circle 797 00:47:24.094 --> 00:47:27.431 could try to conduct an inside job and take down Air Force One. 798 00:47:30.767 --> 00:47:34.438 We're trying to figure out exactly how we could be attacked. 799 00:47:34.521 --> 00:47:37.274 At this point, it was to assume the worst case. 800 00:47:37.357 --> 00:47:40.694 Somehow, we're gonna be attacked airborne. So we had to be ready for it. 801 00:47:42.279 --> 00:47:44.740 Once we found that the president was a target, 802 00:47:44.823 --> 00:47:46.408 we take no chances. 803 00:47:47.659 --> 00:47:49.745 We've taken all the weapons away, we believe, right. 804 00:47:49.828 --> 00:47:52.080 We've done everything we can to. 805 00:47:52.164 --> 00:47:53.165 But you never know. 806 00:47:54.082 --> 00:47:55.834 The president's in the front of the aircraft. 807 00:47:55.918 --> 00:47:59.379 You have staff and Secret Service in the center of the aircraft, 808 00:47:59.463 --> 00:48:02.090 and the media and all the guests are in the back of the aircraft. 809 00:48:02.174 --> 00:48:05.886 So, we had the agents come up to the front of the aircraft 810 00:48:05.969 --> 00:48:08.597 and stand close to the president's cabin 811 00:48:08.680 --> 00:48:11.391 and make sure no one could come up to the front of the aircraft. 812 00:48:12.476 --> 00:48:16.522 Even your most senior White House staff members were not allowed to come up there 813 00:48:16.605 --> 00:48:18.398 unless the president called them up there. 814 00:48:20.192 --> 00:48:22.903 As security is tightened onboard, 815 00:48:22.986 --> 00:48:26.532 there are still real fears about an external attack. 816 00:48:28.575 --> 00:48:31.036 Air Force One is filing a random route, by the way. 817 00:48:31.119 --> 00:48:32.120 Okay. 818 00:48:32.204 --> 00:48:34.456 We don't know where they've decided to go, 819 00:48:34.540 --> 00:48:36.583 but they still don't have a fighter escort. 820 00:48:36.667 --> 00:48:38.168 -They still do not? -That's correct. 821 00:48:38.252 --> 00:48:39.378 Holy cow. 822 00:48:44.258 --> 00:48:45.717 In that moment, 823 00:48:46.885 --> 00:48:48.303 there was a bull's-eye on us. 824 00:48:48.387 --> 00:48:53.892 And we certainly don't know the scope of this entire attack. 825 00:48:55.394 --> 00:49:01.191 We don't know if we're in the beginning of it, the middle, or near the end of it. 826 00:49:03.610 --> 00:49:06.780 Most people would say one of the safest places you'd ever feel 827 00:49:06.864 --> 00:49:09.157 would be with the president of the United States. 828 00:49:09.241 --> 00:49:11.410 It was the first time that really came under question. 829 00:49:11.952 --> 00:49:14.830 You're like, "Maybe this is not the best place to be." 830 00:49:18.709 --> 00:49:20.836 And then, all of a sudden, we get this radio call. 831 00:49:20.919 --> 00:49:24.214 It was a flight of two F-16s. "We are your cover." 832 00:49:24.298 --> 00:49:27.593 And that was the greatest feeling ever because they're our folks, 833 00:49:27.676 --> 00:49:30.095 and they're coming up and joining on the wing. 834 00:49:32.681 --> 00:49:35.142 I was kneeling on one knee, 835 00:49:35.225 --> 00:49:40.439 my arm on the ledge beneath the windows, looking out. 836 00:49:42.649 --> 00:49:46.361 I'm sure people think that Air Force One's followed by fighter planes all the time, 837 00:49:46.445 --> 00:49:48.822 but very rarely in the United States. 838 00:49:50.073 --> 00:49:51.283 And, I mean… 839 00:49:56.580 --> 00:49:57.623 That really hit home. 840 00:49:59.499 --> 00:50:01.502 It just wasn't-- 841 00:50:01.585 --> 00:50:05.839 It just wasn't something that I'd contemplated. 842 00:50:05.923 --> 00:50:08.717 Why does Air Force One need a fighter escort? 843 00:50:13.597 --> 00:50:16.141 It turns out it was a terrible series of errors. 844 00:50:16.975 --> 00:50:20.687 The caller never used the word "Angel." They said, "Air Force One is next." 845 00:50:21.271 --> 00:50:25.234 One of the intelligence officers did what came routine to them. 846 00:50:25.317 --> 00:50:27.152 They used the word "Angel" 847 00:50:27.236 --> 00:50:30.113 and passed that down to the bunker underneath the White House, 848 00:50:30.197 --> 00:50:31.532 where the vice president was, 849 00:50:31.615 --> 00:50:34.743 who passed it up to the president, saying, "Angel is next." 850 00:50:36.703 --> 00:50:40.541 The amount of information that is wrong 851 00:50:40.624 --> 00:50:43.961 when you are in a moment of crisis, the filters are down, 852 00:50:44.044 --> 00:50:48.382 people let information through just in case, is staggering. 853 00:50:54.137 --> 00:50:57.266 We have a report now that a large plane crashed this morning 854 00:50:57.349 --> 00:51:00.894 in Western Pennsylvania, a Boeing 767 jet. 855 00:51:00.978 --> 00:51:03.772 We don't know if this is somehow connected 856 00:51:03.856 --> 00:51:07.276 to what has gone on in New York and Washington. 857 00:51:07.359 --> 00:51:11.947 As the public learns that a fourth plane has crashed, United 93, 858 00:51:12.030 --> 00:51:14.199 the administration is still trying to discover 859 00:51:14.283 --> 00:51:16.243 if its actions have brought it down. 860 00:51:16.326 --> 00:51:20.414 I remember the vice president being on the phone with the Pentagon, saying, 861 00:51:20.497 --> 00:51:24.334 "You must know whether or not you engaged a civilian aircraft." 862 00:51:24.418 --> 00:51:27.296 And they kept saying, "We can't confirm. We can't confirm." 863 00:51:28.797 --> 00:51:33.135 The Pentagon must have scrubbed that question every which way 864 00:51:33.218 --> 00:51:36.513 to make sure we were getting the right answer. 865 00:51:37.973 --> 00:51:41.852 Finally, we were told, "No, we did not shoot it down." 866 00:51:43.395 --> 00:51:45.272 United 93 had, in fact, crashed 867 00:51:45.355 --> 00:51:48.025 well before any shoot down order was even issued. 868 00:51:48.775 --> 00:51:53.030 It was the passengers, not the government, who had confronted the hijackers. 869 00:51:53.864 --> 00:51:57.951 As it turned out, the passengers onboard 870 00:51:58.035 --> 00:52:01.705 were able to move more quickly and effectively than we could. 871 00:52:02.915 --> 00:52:06.168 People rushing the cabin, sacrificing their own life 872 00:52:06.251 --> 00:52:08.462 to save the lives of a lot of people. 873 00:52:08.545 --> 00:52:13.175 And I still marvel at that kind of character. 874 00:52:15.093 --> 00:52:18.722 Every time I think about it, it just makes me tear up 875 00:52:18.805 --> 00:52:23.477 about the sacrifice that they made that day in Shanksville. 876 00:52:36.907 --> 00:52:38.492 Jim Kallstrom, 877 00:52:38.575 --> 00:52:42.037 former official of the FBI in the New York office, is on the air. 878 00:52:42.120 --> 00:52:43.622 Jim, what do you think? 879 00:52:43.705 --> 00:52:47.793 Well, my first thought is of the tremendous casualties. 880 00:52:47.876 --> 00:52:50.128 The death toll is just overwhelming. 881 00:52:50.212 --> 00:52:52.464 It's a day that, 50 years from now, 882 00:52:52.548 --> 00:52:54.007 our children will be taught about, 883 00:52:54.091 --> 00:52:58.387 when we went to war on American soil with terrorism. 884 00:52:58.887 --> 00:53:01.056 I realized, by the way, just as you mentioned it, 885 00:53:01.139 --> 00:53:03.141 something else that is very important at the moment. 886 00:53:03.225 --> 00:53:05.602 And again, I don't mean to say this in melodramatic terms. 887 00:53:05.686 --> 00:53:07.271 Where is the president of the United States? 888 00:53:07.354 --> 00:53:09.898 The president of the United States led-- I know we don't know where he is. 889 00:53:09.982 --> 00:53:12.568 But pretty soon the country needs to know where he is. 890 00:53:15.529 --> 00:53:18.448 America's largest city is devastated, 891 00:53:19.616 --> 00:53:21.743 its military headquarters burning 892 00:53:23.161 --> 00:53:26.415 and its president now a long way from home. 893 00:53:32.129 --> 00:53:35.048 Instead of going to DC, we went to Shreveport, Louisiana. 894 00:53:36.550 --> 00:53:38.927 Frankly, there was some humor during this day, 895 00:53:39.011 --> 00:53:41.013 and one of them was when we landed, 896 00:53:41.096 --> 00:53:46.143 I thought we were coming out of a Dr. Strangelove set on a movie. 897 00:53:46.226 --> 00:53:48.228 They were having a bomber drill. 898 00:53:48.312 --> 00:53:51.148 So, we had loaded bombers. 899 00:53:51.231 --> 00:53:53.525 And we're put into some kind of vehicle. 900 00:53:55.194 --> 00:53:57.696 There was no armored limousine for the president. 901 00:53:57.779 --> 00:54:03.785 A blue Dodge minivan pulled up to take the leader of the free world to safety. 902 00:54:04.953 --> 00:54:08.248 I don't think I've ever seen a president of the United States ride in a minivan. 903 00:54:11.543 --> 00:54:16.548 And there was a military driver who apparently was so scared 904 00:54:16.632 --> 00:54:18.675 that he just took off out of there. 905 00:54:20.093 --> 00:54:23.180 We're flying down the tarmac, 906 00:54:23.263 --> 00:54:25.307 and I told the sergeant driving, I said, 907 00:54:25.390 --> 00:54:27.309 "Man, I don't think there's any al-Qaeda on this base, 908 00:54:27.392 --> 00:54:30.521 so why don't we just take our time and get to the headquarters." 909 00:54:31.355 --> 00:54:33.899 That was the most danger I'd been in all day. 910 00:54:37.528 --> 00:54:39.696 And we get to the commander's office, 911 00:54:39.780 --> 00:54:41.073 and we go in there. 912 00:54:41.156 --> 00:54:42.574 He had very good communications. 913 00:54:42.658 --> 00:54:44.868 We communicated back to Washington, DC. 914 00:54:45.994 --> 00:54:48.497 The conversations back are really to understand, 915 00:54:48.580 --> 00:54:50.165 "What other intelligence are we seeing? 916 00:54:50.249 --> 00:54:51.500 What else should we know? 917 00:54:51.583 --> 00:54:55.254 And are any of our enemies trying to take advantage of this?" 918 00:54:56.880 --> 00:54:59.174 This is a period of great uncertainty. 919 00:54:59.258 --> 00:55:02.386 And as we began to heighten our defenses, 920 00:55:02.469 --> 00:55:05.097 we wanted to make sure that the Russians understood 921 00:55:05.180 --> 00:55:07.641 we weren't aiming any of that weaponry at them. 922 00:55:09.560 --> 00:55:13.522 I was concerned that the Soviets had an exercise underway that day. 923 00:55:13.605 --> 00:55:17.943 And we didn't want to have them misunderstand 924 00:55:18.026 --> 00:55:19.486 what was happening over here. 925 00:55:20.654 --> 00:55:23.699 If we alert our forces and the Russians alert theirs, 926 00:55:23.782 --> 00:55:25.242 and we alert and they alert, 927 00:55:25.325 --> 00:55:28.453 it's not long before you're actually at a state of war 928 00:55:28.537 --> 00:55:30.122 when things just start to happen. 929 00:55:32.249 --> 00:55:36.295 A lot of this defense business is automatic. 930 00:55:37.171 --> 00:55:40.215 It's built to minimize human error, 931 00:55:40.299 --> 00:55:45.512 and that obviously has the tandem effect of excluding humans 932 00:55:45.596 --> 00:55:49.057 when they need to be inserted into the process. 933 00:55:50.767 --> 00:55:54.938 So I had a phone call with President Putin, and 934 00:55:55.022 --> 00:55:59.818 I said, "Mr. President, our military forces are going to be going up on alert." 935 00:55:59.902 --> 00:56:02.821 And he said, "Don't worry. Ours will be coming down. 936 00:56:02.905 --> 00:56:04.448 We've canceled exercises." 937 00:56:04.531 --> 00:56:07.576 And I remember thinking, or almost chuckling to myself, 938 00:56:07.659 --> 00:56:11.872 "Of course you know that our forces are going up on alert. You can see it." 939 00:56:11.955 --> 00:56:16.960 But recognizing right at that moment that the Cold War was truly over. 940 00:56:17.044 --> 00:56:20.172 Putin had reacted in the right way. 941 00:56:24.510 --> 00:56:26.094 In a crisis of this magnitude, 942 00:56:26.178 --> 00:56:30.057 it's essential that leadership continually try to reassure the people. 943 00:56:30.140 --> 00:56:34.520 And I don't think you can overdo it. 944 00:56:36.104 --> 00:56:38.023 In the immediacy of a crisis. 945 00:56:38.690 --> 00:56:40.609 And so, therefore, it was essential 946 00:56:40.692 --> 00:56:45.405 that I speak on a regular basis as we gathered facts. 947 00:56:48.492 --> 00:56:51.954 I was looking at him with a reporter's eye but also as an American. 948 00:56:52.996 --> 00:56:54.957 I wanna reassure the American people… 949 00:56:56.834 --> 00:56:59.545 the full resources of the federal government… 950 00:56:59.628 --> 00:57:03.340 I found myself looking at his face as much as I was listening to the words. 951 00:57:05.634 --> 00:57:08.512 And I think that was probably true of most of the people in that room, 952 00:57:08.595 --> 00:57:09.847 reporters or not. 953 00:57:12.099 --> 00:57:14.518 I won't say he looked haunted, 954 00:57:15.310 --> 00:57:19.690 but the severity of what was happening registered clearly on his face. 955 00:57:21.817 --> 00:57:23.193 God bless. 956 00:57:27.239 --> 00:57:29.241 Then we were off again. 957 00:57:31.493 --> 00:57:34.162 But ABC's Ann Compton is on the telephone. 958 00:57:34.246 --> 00:57:37.416 We may be scrambled out of here-- Are we leaving? 959 00:57:37.499 --> 00:57:40.252 Okay, Peter, so we are leaving, and I think-- 960 00:57:40.335 --> 00:57:43.422 -Where you going, Annie? -Peter, I have no idea. 961 00:57:43.922 --> 00:57:46.133 Still insisting on a return to Washington, 962 00:57:46.884 --> 00:57:50.262 President Bush orders a quick departure from Barksdale. 963 00:57:50.846 --> 00:57:52.681 I remember getting into Air Force One. 964 00:57:52.764 --> 00:57:54.433 They shut those doors quick. 965 00:57:56.476 --> 00:57:57.769 And we're airborne. 966 00:58:00.564 --> 00:58:02.733 I wanted to go back to Washington. 967 00:58:02.816 --> 00:58:04.693 And there were some objections. 968 00:58:04.776 --> 00:58:07.446 He was telling me, "We're going back to Washington, DC," 969 00:58:07.529 --> 00:58:09.531 and kind of ordering me. 970 00:58:09.615 --> 00:58:10.824 And I'm saying, 971 00:58:10.908 --> 00:58:14.912 "I really don't think you wanna make that decision right now," again, 972 00:58:14.995 --> 00:58:18.957 which I had repeated over and over and over and over to him. 973 00:58:19.666 --> 00:58:22.878 Boy, he got angry with me. He got very, very angry with me. 974 00:58:24.880 --> 00:58:27.174 I might have chewed him out a little bit. 975 00:58:27.257 --> 00:58:29.009 But I wanted to get home. 976 00:58:29.801 --> 00:58:34.348 But I was being told by the security apparatus that it's unsafe. 977 00:58:35.390 --> 00:58:38.685 I remember him saying, "I'm not gonna run from these guys." 978 00:58:39.269 --> 00:58:41.355 He wanted to fight. He was ready to fight, right? 979 00:58:42.564 --> 00:58:45.526 As supervisors, you've got to be able to tell the president no. 980 00:58:46.610 --> 00:58:50.155 By law, Air Force One flies at the discretion of the Secret Service. 981 00:58:50.239 --> 00:58:53.575 So we had to explain to him it's our job 982 00:58:54.243 --> 00:58:57.829 to keep the office of the president of the United States safe, 983 00:58:57.913 --> 00:59:00.666 and it's really not your call. 984 00:59:02.626 --> 00:59:04.211 Yeah, he was fit to be tied. 985 00:59:06.630 --> 00:59:10.300 And he basically acquiesced more than approved. 986 00:59:12.094 --> 00:59:14.513 The most important thing is that we were then able to go 987 00:59:14.596 --> 00:59:17.891 where we could have even better security and communication. 988 00:59:19.017 --> 00:59:21.687 Offutt Air Force Base is an hour and 15 minutes north, 989 00:59:21.770 --> 00:59:24.314 and there are facilities there that will allow us to bring together 990 00:59:24.398 --> 00:59:27.150 all the important officials of the government together 991 00:59:27.234 --> 00:59:29.570 in a secure video conference. 992 00:59:29.653 --> 00:59:31.280 Now the president was not happy about this 993 00:59:31.363 --> 00:59:34.575 and made it clear that this was their last dodge. 994 00:59:34.658 --> 00:59:36.201 So, quicker the better. 995 00:59:41.290 --> 00:59:45.169 How the president now spends his time today, 996 00:59:45.252 --> 00:59:47.546 what he is seen to do, is absolutely vital. 997 00:59:47.629 --> 00:59:50.007 Not just to the country, but to him. 998 00:59:50.090 --> 00:59:51.466 It's a critical time for him. 999 00:59:51.550 --> 00:59:56.471 He said that the nation is being tested. The new president is being tested as well. 1000 00:59:57.222 --> 00:59:59.725 The main thing he has to do, for most Americans, 1001 00:59:59.808 --> 01:00:02.102 is communicate to them that he's in charge, 1002 01:00:02.186 --> 01:00:04.938 that he intends to take control of this situation 1003 01:00:05.022 --> 01:00:08.567 and, as he said, hunt down the people who are responsible for it 1004 01:00:08.650 --> 01:00:09.651 and punish them. 1005 01:00:14.823 --> 01:00:17.576 I saw how America was reacting. 1006 01:00:17.659 --> 01:00:20.162 You know, I'm really not a very angry person, 1007 01:00:20.245 --> 01:00:23.040 but I was angry that people killed Americans. 1008 01:00:24.958 --> 01:00:27.503 But you can't make rational decisions when you're angry. 1009 01:00:28.378 --> 01:00:30.547 As president, it's really important you don't decide 1010 01:00:30.631 --> 01:00:35.260 till you fully understand the environment and the facts. 1011 01:00:37.262 --> 01:00:39.389 The president asked to see me in his office. 1012 01:00:40.390 --> 01:00:41.558 Alone, he said. 1013 01:00:42.976 --> 01:00:46.647 President then looked at me and said, "Michael, who did this?" 1014 01:00:49.608 --> 01:00:52.194 I told him that I had not seen any intelligence 1015 01:00:52.736 --> 01:00:55.531 that would take us to a perpetrator, 1016 01:00:55.614 --> 01:00:58.617 so he was gonna get my best estimate, right? 1017 01:00:58.700 --> 01:01:03.372 Not finely analyzed intelligence. 1018 01:01:03.455 --> 01:01:06.041 And he said, "I understand the caveat, now move on." 1019 01:01:06.834 --> 01:01:09.378 It's a very, kind of, George Bush thing to do. 1020 01:01:10.087 --> 01:01:14.341 So I said, "Mr. President, there are two nation-states 1021 01:01:14.842 --> 01:01:17.010 who have the capability of doing this. 1022 01:01:17.094 --> 01:01:18.929 Iran and Iraq. 1023 01:01:19.012 --> 01:01:21.932 But neither one of them has anything to gain, 1024 01:01:22.015 --> 01:01:24.268 so I don't think it was one of them." 1025 01:01:24.351 --> 01:01:28.063 I told him that I thought when we got to the end of the trail, 1026 01:01:28.146 --> 01:01:32.317 we would find al-Qaeda, and we would find bin Laden. 1027 01:01:32.401 --> 01:01:35.362 And I told him, "Mr. President, I am so confident in that, 1028 01:01:35.445 --> 01:01:37.489 that I would bet my children's future on it." 1029 01:01:40.492 --> 01:01:44.955 Then he just sat there for almost five minutes. 1030 01:01:48.917 --> 01:01:50.252 My job changed. 1031 01:01:52.504 --> 01:01:56.300 Let me rephrase that. My job became crystal clear. 1032 01:01:57.301 --> 01:02:02.890 I thought, "If it's al-Qaeda, what do we need to do to bring them to justice?" 1033 01:02:10.689 --> 01:02:15.569 When we got to Offutt, one of the first things the president said is, 1034 01:02:15.652 --> 01:02:17.738 "I wanna go back to Washington, right now." 1035 01:02:19.656 --> 01:02:23.577 So, the idea was, "Let's go down into the bunker, get briefed." 1036 01:02:24.203 --> 01:02:26.747 But it was on his mind from the moment he arrived. 1037 01:02:26.830 --> 01:02:28.248 "I wanna go back to Washington." 1038 01:02:29.041 --> 01:02:30.959 Ann Compton, who's been with the president all day, 1039 01:02:31.043 --> 01:02:33.879 is on the phone from Nebraska. 1040 01:02:33.962 --> 01:02:35.547 And we don't wanna lose her, if we can have her. 1041 01:02:35.631 --> 01:02:36.924 Annie, can you hear me? 1042 01:02:37.007 --> 01:02:39.885 -Yes, Peter, I can, and-- -What are you doing in Nebraska? 1043 01:02:39.968 --> 01:02:42.804 Well, we didn't know where we were till we landed. 1044 01:02:42.888 --> 01:02:46.642 President Bush is here at the home of the Strategic Command, 1045 01:02:46.725 --> 01:02:49.311 and he has disappeared down the rabbit hole, Peter. 1046 01:02:49.394 --> 01:02:53.106 Down through a red brick, small building, 1047 01:02:53.190 --> 01:02:54.983 down into an underground bunker, 1048 01:02:55.067 --> 01:02:59.112 where the president is going to chair a National Security Council meeting 1049 01:02:59.196 --> 01:03:00.656 by teleconference. 1050 01:03:01.698 --> 01:03:03.700 Here he was at Offutt Air Force Base, 1051 01:03:03.784 --> 01:03:06.411 and all of this was going on, and he couldn't get back. 1052 01:03:06.495 --> 01:03:08.914 And he was really, kind of, caged. 1053 01:03:10.207 --> 01:03:13.001 That was the sense I had of his frustration. 1054 01:03:13.669 --> 01:03:17.130 He couldn't be where he needed to be. 1055 01:03:18.423 --> 01:03:19.758 Throughout the morning, 1056 01:03:19.842 --> 01:03:23.554 the moves to protect the president have compromised his access to information. 1057 01:03:24.221 --> 01:03:27.057 But now, 75 feet underground 1058 01:03:27.140 --> 01:03:30.018 and six hours since the first plane struck, 1059 01:03:30.102 --> 01:03:32.563 he finally receives up-to-date intelligence. 1060 01:03:33.730 --> 01:03:39.194 George Tenet was on the screen and was briefing the president 1061 01:03:39.278 --> 01:03:43.031 about information that we had uncovered 1062 01:03:43.115 --> 01:03:45.117 just in the last few hours. 1063 01:03:45.200 --> 01:03:46.952 Did we know it was al-Qaeda? 1064 01:03:47.035 --> 01:03:48.787 We thought we did. 1065 01:03:48.871 --> 01:03:52.666 The CIA director confirmed that we did. 1066 01:03:53.667 --> 01:03:57.963 George said, "We know that al-Qaeda did this." 1067 01:03:58.046 --> 01:04:02.176 He said, "Mr. President, we'll confirm in the morning, but we know." 1068 01:04:02.259 --> 01:04:04.595 And the president said, "How do you know?" 1069 01:04:04.678 --> 01:04:06.555 And that was when George said 1070 01:04:06.638 --> 01:04:11.602 those manifests had people who were on our watch list. 1071 01:04:16.190 --> 01:04:19.610 The president turned around and looked at me. 1072 01:04:19.693 --> 01:04:23.113 And I could tell by the look on his face that he was saying, 1073 01:04:23.197 --> 01:04:26.825 "I thought I told you that I wanted to be the first to know." 1074 01:04:27.409 --> 01:04:29.745 And it was a look of disappointment in me. 1075 01:04:31.872 --> 01:04:35.334 President Bush practically came through the television screen, and he said, 1076 01:04:35.417 --> 01:04:37.503 "We are at war against terror, 1077 01:04:37.586 --> 01:04:41.298 and from this day forward, this is the priority of our administration." 1078 01:04:43.050 --> 01:04:45.135 That was the first thing he said to all of us. 1079 01:04:46.386 --> 01:04:49.097 I did need to make sure that they knew who was in charge. 1080 01:04:49.181 --> 01:04:51.099 I'm not suggesting anybody was peeling off, 1081 01:04:51.183 --> 01:04:55.854 but teams function better when the leader, in this case, asserts himself. 1082 01:04:55.938 --> 01:04:59.107 And I wanted them to know that we needed a plan to deal with it 1083 01:04:59.191 --> 01:05:01.276 and that everybody had a role to play. 1084 01:05:02.444 --> 01:05:06.657 I remember him saying to the FBI director, 1085 01:05:06.740 --> 01:05:08.700 "Your job just changed. 1086 01:05:09.660 --> 01:05:15.499 You're accustomed, at the FBI, to catching the bad guys after a crime is committed. 1087 01:05:15.582 --> 01:05:20.838 Your job is now to prevent the terrorists from launching another attack." 1088 01:05:22.589 --> 01:05:24.883 I called George Tenet's executive assistant, 1089 01:05:24.967 --> 01:05:28.303 and he told me the information that CIA had developed 1090 01:05:28.387 --> 01:05:31.974 on al-Qaeda that day was embargoed from leaving the building. 1091 01:05:32.850 --> 01:05:37.145 And I said in a very loud voice, and with some swear words, 1092 01:05:37.229 --> 01:05:40.232 "Embargoed from the president of the United States?" 1093 01:05:41.692 --> 01:05:43.402 Long pause at the other end. 1094 01:05:43.986 --> 01:05:45.946 And I said, "Just send it to me right now." 1095 01:05:46.029 --> 01:05:47.614 And I slammed the phone down. 1096 01:05:52.286 --> 01:05:56.790 The president specifically asked George if he thought there would be more attacks. 1097 01:05:57.499 --> 01:06:01.879 And George Tenet told the president, "I think we're done for today." 1098 01:06:03.630 --> 01:06:08.719 When the president had heard all the information that he was presented, 1099 01:06:08.802 --> 01:06:10.929 and he was done asking questions, 1100 01:06:11.013 --> 01:06:15.142 he stood, he slapped his hand on the table, 1101 01:06:15.225 --> 01:06:17.186 and he says, "We're going home." 1102 01:06:19.980 --> 01:06:22.107 I decided to go back to Washington. 1103 01:06:23.483 --> 01:06:25.611 The idea was to give a speech to the nation. 1104 01:06:26.904 --> 01:06:29.740 And giving a speech to the nation 1105 01:06:29.823 --> 01:06:34.203 from a bunker in the middle of Nebraska was not my vision of leadership. 1106 01:06:35.537 --> 01:06:38.081 I said, "If I'm gonna give a speech to the nation, 1107 01:06:38.165 --> 01:06:41.293 it's gonna be from Washington, DC. And I'm coming home." 1108 01:06:45.631 --> 01:06:50.219 On the way back, the president came back on Air Force One, 1109 01:06:50.302 --> 01:06:52.471 stopping first in the Secret Service cabin, 1110 01:06:52.554 --> 01:06:54.806 thanking them, patting them on the shoulder. 1111 01:06:54.890 --> 01:06:57.476 And he stopped at the door to the press cabin. 1112 01:06:57.559 --> 01:07:01.271 He waved away our reporters' notebooks. Didn't wanna be quoted. 1113 01:07:01.355 --> 01:07:04.233 And then he said, "We're gonna get those thugs." 1114 01:07:06.735 --> 01:07:09.821 And I'm looking out the window of Air Force One, 1115 01:07:09.905 --> 01:07:12.950 and it's this beautiful, golden afternoon. 1116 01:07:13.575 --> 01:07:16.245 And there was this sense that the worst is over. 1117 01:07:17.996 --> 01:07:20.374 It was a day full of a lot of sadness. 1118 01:07:22.125 --> 01:07:25.879 And I knew that Mother and Dad would be worried about how I was feeling. 1119 01:07:25.963 --> 01:07:27.756 And I finally found 'em. 1120 01:07:28.382 --> 01:07:30.092 And Mother got on the phone, 1121 01:07:30.175 --> 01:07:32.094 and I said, "Mother, where are you, by the way?" 1122 01:07:32.177 --> 01:07:33.929 She said, "We're outside Milwaukee." 1123 01:07:34.012 --> 01:07:36.139 I said, "You gotta be kidding me. What're you doing there?" 1124 01:07:36.223 --> 01:07:37.975 She said, "You grounded our plane." 1125 01:07:39.017 --> 01:07:41.562 And so… It was typical Mother. 1126 01:07:41.645 --> 01:07:44.022 And was I concerned about 'em? You bet. 1127 01:07:44.106 --> 01:07:46.358 But once I knew they were safe, I was fine. 1128 01:07:48.527 --> 01:07:51.071 The president felt a sense of relief, 1129 01:07:51.154 --> 01:07:54.533 a sense of, "I'm excited to get back to Washington." 1130 01:07:54.616 --> 01:07:58.370 I think a lot of folks felt a sense of relaxation that it was over. 1131 01:07:58.453 --> 01:08:01.707 And I felt like, "I don't know if we really know what's going on," right? 1132 01:08:01.790 --> 01:08:04.793 I mean, we feel that way, that it's over. 1133 01:08:05.627 --> 01:08:08.547 We do have the escort from the F-16s, 1134 01:08:08.630 --> 01:08:11.383 but do I really know the whole terrorist event's over? 1135 01:08:12.926 --> 01:08:15.262 The concerns of the Secret Service deepen 1136 01:08:15.345 --> 01:08:17.345 when new intelligence suddenly emerges, 1137 01:08:18.055 --> 01:08:19.349 raising tensions again. 1138 01:08:21.977 --> 01:08:22.978 Flying back, 1139 01:08:23.060 --> 01:08:27.816 CIA headquarters securely faxed a package of materials to Air Force One. 1140 01:08:28.901 --> 01:08:30.652 There was a piece of intelligence 1141 01:08:30.736 --> 01:08:35.616 that had been provided to us by a European intelligence service 1142 01:08:35.698 --> 01:08:42.162 that said that what happened that morning was the first of two waves of attacks 1143 01:08:42.247 --> 01:08:43.457 against the US homeland. 1144 01:08:45.917 --> 01:08:50.087 Was this all part of their plan to get us back to Washington 1145 01:08:50.171 --> 01:08:52.799 so that the second wave could happen? 1146 01:08:54.384 --> 01:08:59.264 The president had just gone through the worst attack on the United States 1147 01:08:59.348 --> 01:09:00.682 in American history. 1148 01:09:01.433 --> 01:09:04.685 And here, his intelligence briefer was showing him a piece of intelligence 1149 01:09:04.770 --> 01:09:07.856 that suggested that there might be a second wave coming at us. 1150 01:09:09.024 --> 01:09:13.028 He didn't say anything that suggested that this hit him hard, 1151 01:09:13.111 --> 01:09:16.198 but I could tell just by the look on his face. 1152 01:09:18.283 --> 01:09:22.371 I spent a lot of time worrying about further attacks. A lot. 1153 01:09:22.453 --> 01:09:24.206 We felt pretty secure. 1154 01:09:25.165 --> 01:09:26.750 And all of a sudden… 1155 01:09:29.294 --> 01:09:33.465 a group of killers was able to penetrate our so-called defenses 1156 01:09:33.549 --> 01:09:37.094 and kill 3,000 people in one moment's notice. 1157 01:09:40.095 --> 01:09:42.890 As the prospect of further attacks occupies the president, 1158 01:09:44.475 --> 01:09:47.938 the effects of the initial strikes continue to unfold. 1159 01:09:48.479 --> 01:09:52.359 A third building in the World Trade Center complex is in danger of collapse. 1160 01:09:52.984 --> 01:09:55.237 Here we go. There it goes. 1161 01:09:56.697 --> 01:09:57.698 Shit. 1162 01:09:58.699 --> 01:10:01.994 Are we-- Is this-- Were there people down there? 1163 01:10:05.914 --> 01:10:09.126 A third World Trade Center building has now collapsed, 1164 01:10:09.209 --> 01:10:11.378 the 47-story building number seven. 1165 01:10:11.461 --> 01:10:13.881 CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick is there. 1166 01:10:13.964 --> 01:10:15.841 Suddenly everyone started screaming, 1167 01:10:15.924 --> 01:10:18.635 people started running, panicking because it looked like-- 1168 01:10:18.719 --> 01:10:22.014 it looked like just a wall of dust coming for us. 1169 01:10:23.807 --> 01:10:26.560 The fear on the streets of New York 1170 01:10:27.269 --> 01:10:30.480 is matched by the mood of many aboard Air Force One. 1171 01:10:30.564 --> 01:10:34.026 I think, just based upon the unknown, 1172 01:10:34.109 --> 01:10:38.363 I did have a few moments of real concern that I would never see my family again. 1173 01:10:41.658 --> 01:10:45.287 Precautions were being taken on many levels 1174 01:10:45.370 --> 01:10:49.708 that had me and, I'm sure, others concerned 1175 01:10:49.791 --> 01:10:51.919 that we might not make it through the day. 1176 01:10:53.754 --> 01:10:58.342 I remember Colonel Dick Tubb, who is the White House doctor, 1177 01:10:58.425 --> 01:11:02.054 he kind of went around to all of us and was giving us these pills. 1178 01:11:02.137 --> 01:11:04.806 I looked at him. I said, "Doc, what's this?" 1179 01:11:04.890 --> 01:11:06.850 And he says, "It's Cipro. Just take it." 1180 01:11:07.809 --> 01:11:11.480 Cipro is a prophylactic against anthrax. 1181 01:11:11.563 --> 01:11:13.565 But we had to be ready for everything. 1182 01:11:14.733 --> 01:11:15.859 So I take the pills. 1183 01:11:17.110 --> 01:11:18.946 I kinda looked around and I said, 1184 01:11:19.029 --> 01:11:21.865 "I didn't see anybody else take all the pills." 1185 01:11:21.949 --> 01:11:23.867 And so I looked down, and I picked it up, 1186 01:11:23.951 --> 01:11:28.038 and it says, "Take one pill each day for the next seven days." 1187 01:11:28.121 --> 01:11:29.540 I'd just taken all of them. 1188 01:11:30.791 --> 01:11:37.381 And I said to myself-- and I went, "You dumb SOB. You just killed yourself." 1189 01:11:37.464 --> 01:11:39.466 I literally thought I'd just killed myself. 1190 01:11:40.259 --> 01:11:44.429 Obviously, I came out the other end of this okay. 1191 01:11:44.513 --> 01:11:50.936 And so it became a recurring joke about me attempting to OD on Air Force One on 9/11. 1192 01:11:54.481 --> 01:11:57.818 As concerns over a second wave of attacks linger, 1193 01:11:58.777 --> 01:12:01.613 more shocking news filters through to Air Force One. 1194 01:12:02.406 --> 01:12:06.994 An extraordinary piece of information on the Pentagon crash. 1195 01:12:07.077 --> 01:12:10.747 Our understanding is that Barbara Olson was on the plane. 1196 01:12:11.456 --> 01:12:16.461 A frequent commentator on CNN and the wife of Solicitor General Ted Olson. 1197 01:12:17.588 --> 01:12:23.010 When word is broken on the media that Barbara Olson has died, Ted Olson's wife, 1198 01:12:23.635 --> 01:12:29.141 it was the one moment where it was sorta hard to keep it together. 1199 01:12:30.350 --> 01:12:31.602 It was… 1200 01:12:34.563 --> 01:12:35.856 so personal. 1201 01:12:41.612 --> 01:12:44.573 Most of the people who worked in the White House knew Ted Olson 1202 01:12:44.656 --> 01:12:46.033 and Barbara Olson. 1203 01:12:46.617 --> 01:12:50.913 I remember Harriet Miers was a good friend of hers. 1204 01:12:50.996 --> 01:12:53.540 And when we learned the news, with all the things going on, 1205 01:12:53.624 --> 01:12:56.126 saw the president walk over and put his arm around Harriet 1206 01:12:56.210 --> 01:12:58.545 to comfort her in her moment of grief. 1207 01:13:04.760 --> 01:13:07.137 I went to bed that night around midnight, 1208 01:13:07.221 --> 01:13:11.934 and there was a note on the pillow from Barbara. 1209 01:13:14.311 --> 01:13:19.149 "Ted, I love you more than I ever thought it possible to love. 1210 01:13:26.698 --> 01:13:30.702 You are my best friend, lover, everything to me. 1211 01:13:30.786 --> 01:13:33.872 Happy 61st birthday. 1212 01:13:35.249 --> 01:13:39.628 And know that I am thinking of you as you read this. 1213 01:13:39.711 --> 01:13:45.425 Sleep well, and I will celebrate with you on Friday. 1214 01:13:45.509 --> 01:13:46.969 All my love, Barbara." 1215 01:13:52.182 --> 01:13:55.269 Almost nine hours after leaving Florida, 1216 01:13:56.687 --> 01:13:59.231 and having flown over 3,000 miles, 1217 01:14:00.691 --> 01:14:04.319 the president finally arrives at Andrews Air Force Base 1218 01:14:05.445 --> 01:14:07.614 just outside Washington. 1219 01:14:10.200 --> 01:14:13.453 The routine was to get off of Air Force One, get on Marine One. 1220 01:14:13.537 --> 01:14:16.665 There's always a sense of aura, delight. Not anymore. 1221 01:14:18.792 --> 01:14:22.337 You could actually feel just a cold, hard tension. 1222 01:14:25.591 --> 01:14:29.845 There was a palpable sense of fear in the air. 1223 01:14:32.347 --> 01:14:34.141 There are two Marine Ones. 1224 01:14:34.224 --> 01:14:35.976 One is kind of the dummy one. 1225 01:14:36.059 --> 01:14:38.604 You're supposed to not know which one the president's on. 1226 01:14:38.687 --> 01:14:40.856 I was on the second one, 1227 01:14:40.939 --> 01:14:45.402 and I wanted a sign that said, "No, he's on the other one." 1228 01:14:48.405 --> 01:14:51.408 We'd fly at treetop level, zigzagging, 1229 01:14:53.076 --> 01:14:57.164 because it would be harder for a stinger missile to find us, I guess. 1230 01:14:59.708 --> 01:15:02.503 And we zigzag, and we get down to the Potomac River, 1231 01:15:02.586 --> 01:15:06.006 and you see the smoke billowing out of the Pentagon. 1232 01:15:10.219 --> 01:15:14.264 It was a surreal moment because the Capitol was vacant 1233 01:15:14.348 --> 01:15:18.936 except for military checkpoints on major thoroughfares. 1234 01:15:19.561 --> 01:15:22.272 And the Pentagon was smoldering in the background. 1235 01:15:23.148 --> 01:15:25.025 And it was a war zone. 1236 01:15:26.193 --> 01:15:29.780 And it's an image I'll never forget. 1237 01:15:30.989 --> 01:15:34.368 Meant I was a wartime president, and I was heading into the zone. 1238 01:15:37.246 --> 01:15:39.373 The president looked out his window, 1239 01:15:39.456 --> 01:15:43.502 and he said, "The mightiest building in the world is on fire. 1240 01:15:43.585 --> 01:15:46.129 That's the 21st-century war you just witnessed." 1241 01:15:48.924 --> 01:15:51.385 He said it out loud to no one in particular. 1242 01:15:52.469 --> 01:15:54.471 He was collecting his thoughts. 1243 01:15:57.266 --> 01:15:59.268 This was a different kind of war. 1244 01:16:00.310 --> 01:16:05.774 In the past, America had fought war against nation-states. 1245 01:16:05.858 --> 01:16:10.070 They had a capital. They had armies-- standing armies or navies. 1246 01:16:10.153 --> 01:16:14.533 In this case, we're at war with a shadow state. 1247 01:16:19.329 --> 01:16:21.164 The president and I had talked 1248 01:16:21.248 --> 01:16:23.417 about him addressing the nation that night. 1249 01:16:24.418 --> 01:16:25.961 I just remember him feeling like 1250 01:16:26.044 --> 01:16:28.839 it looked like he was just being chased around the country 1251 01:16:28.922 --> 01:16:33.760 and that that did not project the strength and reassurance that people needed. 1252 01:16:33.844 --> 01:16:35.762 And so, he was frustrated by that. 1253 01:16:38.098 --> 01:16:41.894 The president needs to move forward in a determined fashion… 1254 01:16:46.231 --> 01:16:47.482 to deal with the enemy. 1255 01:16:53.614 --> 01:16:55.240 When you speak from the Oval Office, 1256 01:16:56.575 --> 01:16:57.743 it's a big deal. 1257 01:16:59.328 --> 01:17:01.246 We started working on it pretty quickly. 1258 01:17:03.373 --> 01:17:07.503 Presidential addresses to the nation typically have a bit more time, 1259 01:17:07.586 --> 01:17:10.005 you know, days to be put together. 1260 01:17:10.088 --> 01:17:12.049 And this had to be done in hours. 1261 01:17:14.801 --> 01:17:20.807 There were pretty tense moments getting ready for the address to the nation. 1262 01:17:22.643 --> 01:17:25.145 Clearly tired and stressed-out people 1263 01:17:25.229 --> 01:17:27.564 trying to figure out what the next steps were. 1264 01:17:28.565 --> 01:17:32.653 This was the first attack on the territory, 1265 01:17:32.736 --> 01:17:35.822 the sovereign, homeland territory of the United States, 1266 01:17:35.906 --> 01:17:37.366 since the War of 1812. 1267 01:17:39.952 --> 01:17:43.580 I felt very much that we had indeed seen the face of evil. 1268 01:17:44.373 --> 01:17:48.961 And any moment, it looked as if there might be another attack. 1269 01:17:51.713 --> 01:17:54.132 The country was still in shock. 1270 01:17:54.216 --> 01:18:00.806 And there was a real struggle or tension about, is it reassurer in chief? 1271 01:18:01.682 --> 01:18:06.228 Or commander in chief? Do we need to start hitting the war drums? 1272 01:18:08.188 --> 01:18:11.984 The speech, I think, at the beginning, had more reassurance than he wanted. 1273 01:18:12.067 --> 01:18:14.736 He wanted a little bit more steel, which is what he got. 1274 01:18:16.029 --> 01:18:18.574 President basically has to set the tone, 1275 01:18:18.657 --> 01:18:20.909 and George Bush did. 1276 01:18:21.618 --> 01:18:22.995 He knew what he wanted. 1277 01:18:24.371 --> 01:18:29.585 The changes were necessary to avoid what happened to us on 9/11. 1278 01:18:29.668 --> 01:18:31.253 To minimize the risk. 1279 01:18:33.172 --> 01:18:36.300 The job of a president is to protect the American people from harm. 1280 01:18:38.260 --> 01:18:42.472 Some presidents don't need to worry about that, and some do. 1281 01:18:42.556 --> 01:18:44.892 Turns out I was one that did. 1282 01:18:46.935 --> 01:18:48.187 Two minutes. 1283 01:18:50.189 --> 01:18:52.274 It was very emotional for me 1284 01:18:52.357 --> 01:18:55.402 to see the president coming back into the Oval Office. 1285 01:18:57.487 --> 01:18:58.697 He was different. 1286 01:19:00.490 --> 01:19:03.869 He was a war president. 1287 01:19:09.750 --> 01:19:10.751 Dead fly. 1288 01:19:10.834 --> 01:19:13.045 -One minute. -Thank you. 1289 01:19:13.629 --> 01:19:15.964 I remember thinking, 1290 01:19:16.048 --> 01:19:19.051 "Gosh, I was in that office, the Oval Office, three days ago. 1291 01:19:19.134 --> 01:19:20.802 And wow. 1292 01:19:20.886 --> 01:19:26.892 The curtains are the same. Carpet is the same. Nothing's the same." 1293 01:19:31.355 --> 01:19:32.940 Good evening. 1294 01:19:33.023 --> 01:19:37.194 Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, 1295 01:19:37.277 --> 01:19:39.863 our very freedom came under attack 1296 01:19:39.947 --> 01:19:43.617 in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. 1297 01:19:44.826 --> 01:19:49.081 The victims were in airplanes or in their offices. 1298 01:19:49.164 --> 01:19:54.253 Secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers, 1299 01:19:54.336 --> 01:19:57.256 moms and dads, friends and neighbors. 1300 01:19:58.298 --> 01:20:02.886 There were certain things that we felt he had to say immediately. 1301 01:20:02.970 --> 01:20:06.390 Things that he wouldn't get a second chance to say. 1302 01:20:06.473 --> 01:20:08.183 And the Bush Doctrine, 1303 01:20:08.267 --> 01:20:12.020 "If you harbor a terrorist, we'll treat you as a terrorist," 1304 01:20:12.104 --> 01:20:13.730 was one of those things. 1305 01:20:15.065 --> 01:20:16.817 We understood that this was bold. 1306 01:20:16.900 --> 01:20:18.777 That it had implications. 1307 01:20:19.444 --> 01:20:22.739 And so I took the sentence out 1308 01:20:22.823 --> 01:20:26.034 and took it to him, and I said, "Do you want to say this?" 1309 01:20:26.118 --> 01:20:29.872 And he said, "Yes. I have to say it now." 1310 01:20:30.789 --> 01:20:34.293 The search is underway for those who were behind these evil acts. 1311 01:20:35.127 --> 01:20:36.545 I've directed the full resources 1312 01:20:36.628 --> 01:20:39.298 of our intelligence and law enforcement communities 1313 01:20:39.381 --> 01:20:43.260 to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. 1314 01:20:44.511 --> 01:20:49.600 We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts 1315 01:20:49.683 --> 01:20:51.018 and those who harbor them. 1316 01:20:52.644 --> 01:20:58.233 The inclusion of the Bush Doctrine in the president's speech was an open question 1317 01:20:58.317 --> 01:21:01.403 in the minutes before the speech was given, 1318 01:21:01.486 --> 01:21:04.656 because it's a very big deal 1319 01:21:04.740 --> 01:21:09.119 for the United States to announce that if you're harboring terrorism, 1320 01:21:09.203 --> 01:21:12.122 you are now an enemy of the United States. 1321 01:21:13.999 --> 01:21:17.377 Killing thousands of Americans, more than we lost at Pearl Harbor. 1322 01:21:18.712 --> 01:21:19.963 This was an act of war. 1323 01:21:22.090 --> 01:21:23.675 I was the guilty party. 1324 01:21:23.759 --> 01:21:28.931 I wanted to be as aggressive as necessary in order to achieve our objective. 1325 01:21:29.014 --> 01:21:30.807 And that was to keep the country safe. 1326 01:21:30.891 --> 01:21:34.728 Of course we all were hurting. We all were terrified. 1327 01:21:34.811 --> 01:21:38.440 War is not something you wanna get into if you can avoid it. 1328 01:21:39.775 --> 01:21:42.110 But we tend to be an aggressive nation. 1329 01:21:43.195 --> 01:21:45.572 Especially when we have been aggressed against. 1330 01:21:47.866 --> 01:21:51.453 When I'm asked about some of the things we did with speed, 1331 01:21:51.537 --> 01:21:54.790 I want to say to people, "What would you have done?" 1332 01:21:56.208 --> 01:21:58.544 We didn't have time for a lot of consultation 1333 01:21:58.627 --> 01:22:00.671 about how we were gonna handle it. 1334 01:22:02.965 --> 01:22:05.050 None of us will ever forget this day, 1335 01:22:05.717 --> 01:22:08.345 yet we go forward to defend freedom 1336 01:22:08.428 --> 01:22:12.641 and all that is good and just in our world. 1337 01:22:13.308 --> 01:22:17.688 Thank you. Good night. And God bless America. 1338 01:22:20.440 --> 01:22:23.777 Nobody knew then where this was going to end up. 1339 01:22:25.904 --> 01:22:30.200 But, one way or another, we were going into battle as a nation. 1340 01:22:33.412 --> 01:22:36.707 How, where, and what that would be, 1341 01:22:36.790 --> 01:22:38.166 how long it would take, 1342 01:22:39.376 --> 01:22:43.088 how big or how small the effort would be, were the things that nobody knew. 1343 01:22:46.842 --> 01:22:49.678 We did everything we knew to do. 1344 01:22:49.761 --> 01:22:53.473 But 3,000 people died on your watch. 1345 01:22:54.975 --> 01:22:58.312 Did we miss something? Could we have connected the dots better? 1346 01:22:58.395 --> 01:23:00.314 It just gnaws at you. 1347 01:23:00.397 --> 01:23:02.357 And you can never quite get over it 1348 01:23:02.441 --> 01:23:05.068 because, by definition, you didn't do enough. 1349 01:23:05.152 --> 01:23:06.862 The attack took place. 1350 01:23:09.489 --> 01:23:11.783 You know, I've thought about it a lot. 1351 01:23:12.284 --> 01:23:13.785 If there's more we could've done, 1352 01:23:13.869 --> 01:23:16.205 I'd like somebody to point it out to me what it is. 1353 01:23:18.498 --> 01:23:21.210 You can only act on the intelligence you got. 1354 01:23:22.711 --> 01:23:27.007 There was a onetime, vague mention of terrorists using airplanes, 1355 01:23:27.090 --> 01:23:29.718 but it was not actionable intelligence. 1356 01:23:33.680 --> 01:23:36.475 Okay, thank you very much. Let's go, guys. 1357 01:23:37.184 --> 01:23:38.352 Thank you. Let's go. 1358 01:23:40.646 --> 01:23:43.190 All right. Sad day. 1359 01:23:45.400 --> 01:23:46.401 Thanks. 1360 01:24:03.126 --> 01:24:06.505 After the longest three days of his presidency, 1361 01:24:06.588 --> 01:24:09.299 George Bush flies into downtown Manhattan 1362 01:24:09.383 --> 01:24:13.554 to see for himself the scene of devastation for the first time. 1363 01:24:15.722 --> 01:24:20.018 As we approached New York, probably five, eight miles out, 1364 01:24:21.562 --> 01:24:24.398 the smoke was blowing south. 1365 01:24:26.608 --> 01:24:30.612 And the cabin of that helicopter became filled 1366 01:24:30.696 --> 01:24:34.199 with this awful, awful smell. 1367 01:24:36.410 --> 01:24:39.371 You know, burnt plastic, burnt rubber. 1368 01:24:39.454 --> 01:24:42.624 And… And… 1369 01:24:45.335 --> 01:24:46.712 human bodies. 1370 01:24:49.798 --> 01:24:51.258 No one says a word, 1371 01:24:51.341 --> 01:24:56.471 and the pilot of Marine One circles that pillar of smoke. 1372 01:24:58.932 --> 01:25:02.936 And we can look down and see the rescue workers. 1373 01:25:04.146 --> 01:25:08.442 And then we go over and we land down by Wall Street. 1374 01:25:13.989 --> 01:25:18.619 We were the first group that had been down to Ground Zero 1375 01:25:18.702 --> 01:25:21.538 other than emergency services personnel. 1376 01:25:29.338 --> 01:25:31.882 It was almost like Pompeii. 1377 01:25:35.886 --> 01:25:40.140 A sandwich cart abandoned, covered with this dust. 1378 01:25:40.224 --> 01:25:41.433 Sandwiches still in it. 1379 01:25:43.268 --> 01:25:47.940 Meals still sitting on tables from several days before. 1380 01:25:49.691 --> 01:25:52.361 It was just like everything had been frozen in time. 1381 01:25:58.450 --> 01:26:00.494 It was like going into hell. 1382 01:26:01.620 --> 01:26:05.749 There was a fog of-- There was a stench of death. 1383 01:26:07.125 --> 01:26:09.294 Sloshing through water… 1384 01:26:10.879 --> 01:26:14.508 It was really, really overpowering. 1385 01:26:23.934 --> 01:26:28.814 After we left Ground Zero, we went to the Jacob Javits Center. 1386 01:26:29.648 --> 01:26:32.776 And we stop, and the Secret Service opens the door. 1387 01:26:32.860 --> 01:26:35.737 And the president gets out, and the advance man is there, 1388 01:26:35.821 --> 01:26:37.406 and president says, "What's this?" 1389 01:26:38.198 --> 01:26:42.452 "We've gathered some of the families of the policemen and firemen 1390 01:26:42.536 --> 01:26:46.874 and emergency workers that are missing down at Ground Zero. 1391 01:26:49.334 --> 01:26:51.211 We thought you could say something to them." 1392 01:26:55.090 --> 01:26:58.385 It was unbelievably disheartening in many ways 1393 01:26:58.468 --> 01:27:00.971 because there were families 1394 01:27:01.054 --> 01:27:04.183 who were waiting for their loved ones to come out of the rubble. 1395 01:27:05.142 --> 01:27:08.645 And I had just seen the rubble and knew that nobody was coming out. 1396 01:27:11.106 --> 01:27:14.985 And so my job there was to provide comfort as best as I could 1397 01:27:15.068 --> 01:27:18.906 to people who hoped for the impossible. 1398 01:27:21.325 --> 01:27:23.702 The last person I saw was Arlene Howard. 1399 01:27:25.120 --> 01:27:27.664 Arlene held this badge. 1400 01:27:29.708 --> 01:27:33.879 Her son, George, was off duty that day, 1401 01:27:33.962 --> 01:27:36.465 but when things started rolling, he showed up. 1402 01:27:36.548 --> 01:27:40.719 Got up, put on his uniform, and went into those buildings and died. 1403 01:27:41.887 --> 01:27:45.641 And she took the badge from his corpse, from his dead body, 1404 01:27:45.724 --> 01:27:48.268 and gave it to the president of the United States and said, 1405 01:27:48.352 --> 01:27:50.103 "I"-- 1406 01:27:50.187 --> 01:27:51.855 "I want you to always remember." 1407 01:27:55.692 --> 01:27:59.196 It meant never forget. Never forget the victims. 1408 01:28:00.864 --> 01:28:03.617 It took 20 years 1409 01:28:03.700 --> 01:28:08.080 for the date to become meaningless to a lot of people. 1410 01:28:10.499 --> 01:28:14.795 And yet, to the people that went through it, it's not. 1411 01:28:14.878 --> 01:28:18.131 And that badge reminds us it's not a meaningless date. 1412 01:28:21.051 --> 01:28:24.721 Personally, I think it strengthened my faith. 1413 01:28:24.805 --> 01:28:27.516 And it certainly strengthened my faith in the American people, 1414 01:28:27.599 --> 01:28:30.102 because I saw America at its best.