The Only Plane in the Sky

by Garrett M Graff

  “There’s no way we’re leaving the Pentagon”

  * * *

  With the Secretary of Defense

  Once Donald Rumsfeld returned from the crash site to the Pentagon’s National Military Command Center (NMCC) inside, the nation’s military leaders—who still didn’t know whether the attacks were over or whether a second wave might be in the offing—tried to understand what had transpired already, formulate a response, and take the action necessary to secure the country, even as the rescue and firefighting efforts continued outside their command post. Those inside the military’s operations hub found themselves stymied by poor communications systems and, as the morning unfolded, fearing the smoke from the still-spreading fires inside the damaged portion of the building.

  William Haynes, general counsel, Department of Defense: There were very poor communications. We didn’t have secure video teleconference capability [in the NMCC] that we had upstairs. The secretary was on a regular handset with the vice president.

  Victoria “Torie” Clarke, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs: Donald Rumsfeld was making phone calls to the White House. Condi Rice and the vice president were there, and he was on the phone to [CIA Director] George Tenet pretty quickly.

  Col. Matthew Klimow, executive assistant to the vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, Pentagon: At 10:40 a.m., we had a conference call with Vice President Cheney. The vice president said, “I understand we’ve taken a plane down.” I’m sure he was referring to Flight 93. I remember Secretary Rumsfeld looking at General Myers—everybody was puzzled. Secretary Rumsfeld said, “We can’t confirm that.”

  Joe Wassel, communications officer, Office of the Secretary of Defense: The White House initiated a phone call with Secretary Rumsfeld from Air Force One. I said, “This is a really bad connection, but this is a strange day.” Normally, I wouldn’t put the secretary on such a bad connection, but obviously that day we were going to do any comms we could get.

  Adm. Edmund Giambastiani, senior military assistant, Office of the Secretary of Defense: We lost air-conditioning in the building soon afterward.

  Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense: The building was burning and filling up with smoke. It was hard to see, your eyes were smarting, and it was hard on your throat.

  William Haynes: There was a lot of smoke starting to infiltrate the NMCC.

  Steven Carter, assistant building manager, Pentagon: We got calls from both the secretary’s office and the Joint Staff offices and were constantly on the phone with the NMCC about conditions. Were we going to be able to hold, or would it get worse? Was the fire going toward them, and were we looking toward evacuation of the entire Pentagon?

  Victoria “Torie” Clarke: Different people—Larry Di Rita, the deputy defense secretary, Steve, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs—said at different times they wanted to get the secretary out of the building. To my recollection, he never said no, [but] he kept working. He was constantly writing down notes on his yellow pieces of paper.

  Col. Matthew Klimow: Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz had asked Secretary Rumsfeld, “Where do you want me to go? I could go to the PEOC”—the Presidential Emergency Operations Center in the White House—“or I could go to Site R.” Site R is the top-secret, deep underground bunker—nuclear proof—outside the Beltway but within helicopter range. Secretary Rumsfeld told him to go to Site R and set up our headquarters there.

  Donald Rumsfeld: I made the decision to stay here as long as I could.

  Victoria “Torie” Clarke: The secretary would not leave, but the people who truly understand the procedures and the need for a functioning leadership said the deputy had to go off-site. One of the main reasons the secretary wanted to stay where he was at the Pentagon was he knew the communications were the single most important thing—with the White House, the CIA, FAA, the president—and they were working well. He felt a great deal of confidence with that.

  Col. Matthew Klimow: Helicopters started arriving at the Pentagon. They picked up Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz and Mary Turner and our staff sergeant in charge of General Myers’s office, and they all went out to Site R.

  Dan Creedon, departure controller, TRACON, Reagan National Airport, Washington, D.C.: These Doomsday and Continuity of Government plans—different elements of the military and FAA practice every day to move the decision makers of Washington to a safe, undisclosed location. That all happened that day. It had been developed for years and modified as things went on. Now here were all of these helicopters and various other things coming into the area to pick people up and fly them to safe locations. Meanwhile the fighters were airborne and armed. We did not trust anybody. How we didn’t accidentally shoot down one of the evacuation aircraft is a testament to the D.C. Air National Guard guys, the F-16 pilots, and the air traffic controllers who were calling the shots.

  Lawrence Di Rita, special assistant to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld: I went to Site R with the deputy. We started to make plans to be able to continue our operations somewhere else. I’m not sure that even then that I knew that a plane had hit our building. I knew that something had happened.

  Col. Matthew Klimow: There were only six of us in the room. Secretary Rumsfeld, General Myers, the legal counsel Bill Haynes, the press spokeswoman for the secretary Torie Clarke, and Vice Adm. Ed Giambastiani, and then myself. I was in the corner taking notes. I had a terrible headache and couldn’t focus. I really thought I was going to pass out. Vice Adm. Giambastiani kept talking to me—talking, and talking, and talking—and all I could think of was, Would he please shut up and leave me alone? I don’t feel well.

  Adm. Edmund Giambastiani: I’m a submariner, so I’m used to living in an enclosed environment. We measure the atmospheres all the time.

  Col. Matthew Klimow: Finally the admiral started to shake me, and he said, “Colonel, Colonel, you don’t understand—I’m a submariner. I know what’s going on.” He said, “There’s no oxygen in this room. It’s filling up with carbon dioxide.” I said, “Well, we could move. I’ve been trying to get hold of the Navy Operations Center. I can’t raise him, but the Army Operations Center is up and going.” I didn’t know at that time the Navy Operations Center was taken out, all hands dead. He said, “I want you to go find an air monitor and see how bad the air quality is.”

  To my surprise, around the corner comes Captain Donahue with an Arlington County fire captain and their air quality specialist. The air quality specialist said, “OK, here’s the story: in some of the corridors in the Pentagon, the air is filled with about 88 percent carbon dioxide. That’s lethal.” He said, “In the outer office here in the NMCC you’re at 33 percent oxygen. In the SCIF [for the videoconference], you’re at 16 percent oxygen, and you cannot survive at 13 percent. You need to leave.” I remember interrupting Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers, passing this information to them, and a dramatic discussion took place about whether to evacuate the Pentagon.

  Victoria “Torie” Clarke: Rumsfeld looked up and realized that there were about 75 people in the immediate vicinity, and he said something to the effect that they could leave if they wanted to. Myers said, “Sir, they will not leave unless you do. They will go down with you.” I remember writing notes, and in the margin I wrote, “Uh oh, this could be pretty serious.” He went right back to his work.

  Col. Matthew Klimow: General Myers expressed concern about all the troops that were still operating in the Pentagon and their health. He was thinking like a soldier. Secretary Rumsfeld was thinking more strategically. He said, “There’s no way we’re leaving the Pentagon.” He said, “This is the symbol of America’s military power. We can’t leave.”

  “We are at war!”

  * * *

  At Barksdale Air Force Base

  At around 11:45 a.m. ET, Air Force One landed at Barksdale Air Force Base, outside Shreveport, Louisiana, where only hours earlier the military had been practicing a Cold War exercise, code-named VIGILANT GUARDIAN, aimed at respond
ing to the threat of a Russian attack by nuclear bombers. Barksdale’s own fleet of B-52 bombers had been armed that morning with nuclear weapons, ready to fight an imaginary war. Instead, Air Force One brought with it a new kind of conflict.

  Col. Mark Tillman, presidential pilot, Air Force One: Going into Barksdale, there’s this plane that appears. The fighter jets were with us. I still remember the F-16s starting in on this guy—bearing, range, altitude, distance. You see the F-16 roll off—they ask, “Hey, who has shoot-down authority?” I say, “You do.” That was a big moment. It turned out to be a crop duster, some civilian flyer who didn’t get the word.

  Gordon Johndroe, assistant press secretary, White House: You cannot hide a blue-and-white 747 that says “United States of America” across the top. You can’t move it secretly through the daylight. Where does local TV go when there’s a national emergency? They go out to their local military base. We’re watching ourselves land on local television. The announcer’s saying, “It appears Air Force One is landing.” The pool is looking at me like, We can’t report this?

  Staff Sgt. William “Buzz” Buzinski, security, Air Force One: Barksdale was going through a nuclear surety inspection. They already had these cops in flak jackets and M-16s. They were all locked and loaded. As soon as we landed, they surrounded the aircraft.

  Brian Montgomery, director of advance, White House: As soon as we landed, Mark Rosenker—director of the White House Military Office—and I went off the back stairs. There’s this guy who looks like Gen. Buck Turgidson from Dr. Strangelove—big guy, all decked out in a bomber jacket. He was straight out of central casting. We said, “What do you need?” He said, “See those planes? Every one is loaded with nukes—tell me where you want ’em.” We looked over and there were rows of B-52s, wingtip to wingtip. I joked, “Gosh, don’t tell the president!”

  Capt. Cindy Wright, presidential nurse, White House Medical Unit: I remember how different it was, landing at Barksdale. We’d gotten off the plane and we were at war.

  Dave Wilkinson, assistant agent in charge, U.S. Secret Service: My biggest concern was the Humvees. Would they be there? When I saw the four or five Humvees pull up, I had a real sense of relief. One of the other agents raised the concern that the air force wanted to drive the president—the Secret Service are normally the only people who drive the president. I said, “That’s the least of our concerns.”

  Col. Mark Tillman: We let the president out through the bottom stairs, because you want that low vantage point in case there’s a sniper.

  Ari Fleischer, press secretary, White House: Normally, there’s a whole infrastructure that flies ahead of the president. All that was waiting for him in Barksdale was this uparmored Humvee with room for a standing gunner. The air force driver was nervous and driving as fast as could be.

  Andy Card, chief of staff, White House: The guy was driving really fast, and in a Humvee the center of gravity isn’t as low as you think. The president said, “Slow down, son, there are no terrorists on this base! You don’t have to kill me now!”

  Col. Mark Tillman: I went down to the tarmac to see about having the plane refueled. We could carry 14 hours of fuel. I wanted 14 hours of fuel. It turned out we’d happened to park over a hot refueling tank they used for bombers. This civilian is arguing with our crew, “The fuel pits are only authorized for use in time of war.” This air force master sergeant—God bless him—overhears this and roars, “We are at war!” He whips out his knife and starts cutting open the cover. That defines to me what the day was like.

  Lt. Gen. Tom Keck, commander, Barksdale Air Force Base: The president had landed already and I was on my way to meet him. He was on his way to the conference center. I gave a sharp salute, and his first words to me were, “I guess I put you on the map.” He told me he needed a secure phone to call Governor [George] Pataki [of New York], so I took him to my office. As he started making calls, he stopped for a second: “Tell me where I am?” I said, “You’re on the east side of the Red River in Bossier City, Barksdale Air Force Base, near Shreveport, Louisiana.”

  Brian Montgomery: Andy Card came out and said this was an opportunity to call loved ones, but don’t tell them where we are.

  Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Florida): When we got to Barksdale—keep in mind that we haven’t really had good TV images—we were all overwhelmed with emotion, because we were all catching up to where everyone else had had a couple hours to process. I called my wife and said, “I’m safe. I can’t tell you where I am.” She said, “Oh, I thought you were in Barksdale? That’s what I saw on TV.”

  Lt. Gen. Tom Keck: Andy Card and Karl Rove came into my office with him.

  Karl Rove, senior adviser, White House: This was the first point where he gets fully briefed. All three strikes were over, so we knew the extent of the damage. His first instinct was to bring together the leaders of government, but everyone had dispersed. It’s amazing how technology has changed. At the time, the only way to get everyone together was to go to Offutt Air Force Base [outside Omaha, Nebraska], the nearest facility that had multiple-site video teleconferencing. Now the president travels with a black Halliburton case that has a screen that can do it through any broadband outlet. It’s amazing.

  Col. Mark Tillman: I went into the base situation room. I told them I needed to get this guy underground. Where were all the places that I could do that? Offutt was the best choice.

  Lt. Gen. Tom Keck: People forget how much confusion there was that day about what was actually going on. Intel officers were coming in all the time. One said that there was a high-speed object moving toward the president’s Texas ranch. I saw him start thinking about who was at the ranch. It turned out to be a false report.

  Maj. Scott “Hooter” Crogg, F-16 pilot, 111th Fighter Squadron, Houston: I was thinking, I’ve done these Combat Air Patrols over southern Iraq for hundreds of hours, enforcing the no-fly zone, and now I’m doing it over the United States. It was really strange. No one else was airborne.

  Ellen Eckert, stenographer, White House: To wait for the president, they took us to the Officers’ Club. I was basically the only person on the trip who smoked cigarettes—or so I thought. While we’re standing there, all of a sudden everyone’s asking for a cigarette. “Wait, you don’t smoke!” Everyone was so whipped up.

  Lt. Gen. Tom Keck: Everyone was busy doing their own thing. The president was looking over the remarks he wanted to give the country. He asked the room, “I use the word ‘resolve’ twice in here—do I want to do that?” No one was answering him, so I said, “I think Americans probably want to hear that.”

  Brian Montgomery: We got with someone from the base and found this rec room or something like that with a bunch of memorabilia on the walls. Gordon and I started rearranging everything—got some flags, found a podium. We knew this was important. Everyone wanted to see the president.

  Gordon Johndroe: Barksdale was a blur. It was really chaotic. No one really remembers the president’s statement there. It was bad lighting, bad setting, but it was important to have him say something to the nation.

  Sonya Ross, reporter, AP: I dictated a brief report to my colleague Sandra Sobieraj back in Washington, and then I left my phone on so she could hear the president’s brief statement. He said, “Our military at home and around the world is on high alert status. We have taken the necessary security precautions to continue the functions of your government.” He reiterated that it was a terrorist attack and urged people to be calm.

  Ellen Eckert: I’d never seen the president look so stern. I was lying on the ground at the president’s feet. We didn’t know if the [TV news] feed was working, it was so iffy, so I was there lying down with my mic above my head in case no one else was recording his remarks.

  Andy Card: We didn’t want attention to where we were until we left. We videotaped the statement, so that it went out as we left.

  Lt. Gen. Tom Keck: After the press conference, he came back to my office. He was sitting on my couch and watched the Towers
fall on TV. He turned to me, because I was there, and said, “I don’t know who this is, but we’re gonna find out, and we’re going to go after them, we’re not going to slap them on the wrist.” I said, “We’re with you.” I knew he meant every word.

  Ari Fleischer: Andy Card made the decision to chop down the number of passengers. We didn’t know where we were going. Anybody nonessential had to be left behind and that included all the congressmen, which they weren’t pleased with. Several White House staffers had to get off. Andy asked if we could take the press down to three. I thought five was the absolute minimum.

  Rep. Adam Putnam: As we were waiting on board, supply trucks came up and started unloading food—tray after tray of meat, loaf after loaf of bread, hundreds of gallons of water. We realized they were equipping that plane to be in the air for days. It was really unnerving.

  Gordon Johndroe: It was difficult telling half the press pool that they weren’t coming with us. Their reaction was half-professional—We’re missing the story of our lifetimes—and then their personal reaction—You’re leaving us in Louisiana and the airspace is shut down?

  Sonya Ross: They herded us out to a blue school bus. Gordon came on the bus. He read off who was going to come with them: AP reporter, AP photographer, TV camera, TV sound, and radio. Everyone else, he said, was going to be left behind. At that point, Judy Keen, the newspaper reporter from USA Today, and Jay Carney, the magazine pooler, they raised a stink. I scooped up my stuff and ran.

  Karl Rove: As we’re driving back out, the president said to me something like, “I know this is a dodge—they’re trying to keep me away from Washington—but I’m going to let them have this one and go to Offutt, and then we’re going home.”