by Steve Vogel
Soon after taking office Donald Rumsfeld, author interview, 19 Apr. 2006; WP, 10 Jan. 1981; Star, 1 Apr. 1964; Goldberg, The Pentagon, 125; WP, 5 Sept. 1977; David O. Cooke, oral history with Goldberg, 20 Nov. 1989, oral history collection, OSD HO.
The corridors General Accounting Office, report to Congress, “Actions Needed to Prevent Further Deterioration and Obsolescence,” May 1991 (hereafter GAO buildings report, 1991); Freeman, Hall interview.
In 1984, Steve Carter Steve Carter, author interview, 18 Nov. 2005.
The basement was worse “The History of the Pentagon Building Condition,” Pentagon Renovation Program Web site, http://renovation.pentagon.mil/history-condition.htm (hereafter PENREN Web site); Carter, author interview; WP, 26 June 1992. Stanley “Joe” Nance Allan, who had worked as a carpenter on the original Pentagon construction, returned to the site in 1967 to oversee architectural design at the Pentagon Metro Station as project manager for Harry Weese Associates. “At the beginning, strangely enough, we discovered that the original pile foundation drawings for the Pentagon were nowhere to be found,” he said (Allan, “Building the Pentagon”).
CHAPTER 19: THE REMAKING OF THE PENTAGON
If we’re lucky the floods will be shallow
It was C-Day Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor, The Generals’ War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf, 54–55; H. Norman Schwarzkopf with Peter Petre, It Doesn’t Take a Hero, 310. Colin Powell with Joseph E. Persico, My American Journey, 467.
The Army and Air Force Carter, author interview; Weisberg, “Edifice Wrecked.”
“speed bumps” Colin Powell, author interview, 3 Feb. 2006.
The coffee Carter, author interview; Freeman, Hall interview; WP, 8 Aug. 1990; GAO buildings report, 1991, 23.
Electricians Bobby McCloud Bobby McCloud, author interview, 29 Nov. 2005; Reimund Schuster, author interview, 16 Feb. 2006.
The smoky fire WP, 8 Aug. 1990; “The History of the Pentagon Building Condition,” PENREN Web site; GAO buildings report, 1991, 23.
Mechanical engineers Freeman, Hall interview; Weisberg, “Edifice Wrecked.”
The horror board
Doc Cooke would later say WP, 27 June 2002; Army Times, 20 Mar. 1990; Carter, author interview.
David O. Cooke had many Cooke, Goldberg oral history, 11 Jan. 1990.
Colin Powell had learned early Powell, My American Journey, 299–300; Powell, author interview.
Defense secretaries and their staffs Paul Haselbush, author interview, 16 June 2003; Bob Woodward, The Commanders, 71; Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, Cooke award presentation, 21 Jan. 1999, on Pentagon Web site, www.defenselink.mil/speeches; Carter, author interview.
The Pentagon did not meet any OSD, “A Report to Congress on the Pentagon Renovation Program,” 1 March 1993, 10–13, box 1304, OSD HO (hereafter 1993 Pentagon renovation report); Lee Evey, DoD news briefing on Pentagon renovation, 15 Sept. 2001 (hereafter Evey briefing 15 Sept. 2001; this and all DoD news briefings dating after October 1994 are available at www.defenselink.mil/transcripts); “Fixer Upper,” Government Executive, Aug. 2000; USA Today, 28 Jan. 2000. The few passenger elevators that had been added to the building over the years were restricted to the executive suites.
The asbestos used WP, 29 Jan. 1985; 1993 Pentagon renovation report, 9.
Throughout the building Ken Ringle, “Five-Sided Home of Megathink Blithely Ignores 40th Birthday,” WP, 15 Jan. 1983; WP, 18 Jan. 1985; Charles W. Hall, “The Rat Patrol; Ever-Growing Rodent Population Gains Ground at the Pentagon,” 15 Dec. 1991.
The General Services Administration Freeman, Hall interview; GAO buildings report, 1991, 34; Judith Havemann, “Pentagon’s Maintenance Woes: A Boiling Issue for GSA,” WP, 27 Mar. 1990; Weisberg, “Edifice Wrecked.”
With GSA showing little Haselbush, author interview; A. L. Singleton, “Mayor of the Pentagon,” Government Executive, Sept. 1995; GAO buildings report, 1991, 2, 4, 15. The other one was the Department of Agriculture South Building.
Cooke requested that Congress J. B. Hudson, author interview, 2003; “Miserable Offices,” Government Executive, May 1990; “Pentagon Transfer and Renovation Chronology,” David O. Cooke papers, OSD HO; 1994 Pentagon renovation report, 33, OSD HO.
The timing turned out Freeman, Hall interview; David Hackworth, “The Pentagon’s $2 Billion Face Lift,” San Francisco Examiner, 15 July 1994.
Several months before Cooke, statement before the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Readiness and Defense Infrastructure, 20 May 1993, box 1304, OSD HO; Singleton, “Mayor of the Pentagon.”
A certain respectability
“one of the most complex” Myron P. Curzan, “Report on Pentagon Renovation Project,” 14 May 1996, Cooke papers, OSD HO.
The plan began with Sherrie Winston, “Pentagon Contractors Divide and Conquer,” ENR, 4 Sept. 2000; 1994 Pentagon renovation report, 22, OSD HO; Cooke letter to Rep. Patricia Schroeder, 17 Apr. 1990, box 1304, OSD HO; Pentagram, 18 Oct. 1990.
Later, when it Pentagon Renovation briefing, “Getting Back to Basics,” 22 Oct. 1999, Cooke papers, OSD HO; Evey briefing, 15 Sept. 2001, DoD.
The fiftieth anniversary Charles W. Hall, “Pentagon Fetes Five Decades in Five Sides,” WP, 13 May 1993; minutes of the Pentagon fiftieth-anniversary steering group, 26 Oct. 1992 and 23 Apr. 1993, box 1303, OSD HO; Glenn Flood, author interview, Feb. 2006.
The Eiffel tower AP, “Pentagon Celebrates 50th Birthday, 12 May 1993.
The building so reviled National Register of Historic Places Inventory, 19, 23, 27, OSD HO.
They wanted the noise to stop
It was shades of 1942 The Renovator, Jan. and Feb. 1995, box 1304, OSD HO.
Construction of a new The Renovator, Dec. 1994; Carter, author interview; Lee Evey, author interview, 28 Nov. 2005. The original contractor, the George Hyman Construction Company of Bethesda, Md., merged with Clark in October 2005.
The first work The Renovator, Dec. 1994; “The History of the Pentagon Building Condition,” PENREN Web site; Frank Probst, author interview, 22 Nov. 2005.
It was not long before other Ken Catlow, author interview, 10 Nov. 2005.
The real trouble began Carter, author interview.
The message was not DoD news briefing, 16 Mar. 1995; Hamre, author interview.
The work already under contract John Deutch, Pentagon renovation memo, 9 Mar. 1995, box 1304, OSD HO; Gilbert A. Lewthwaite, “Pentagon face lift at age 52,” Baltimore Sun, 26 Nov. 1995; Catlow, author interview; Pentagram, 22 Mar. 1996.
Doc Cooke had a new generation Carter, author interview; Deutch, e-mail to author, 11 Feb. 2006.
The review continued Hamre, author interview; The Renovator, Feb. 1997.
At the rate the program “Problems with Pentagon Renovation Projects,” Federal Facilities Division, 23 Jan. 1997, Cooke papers, OSD HO.
But that was not the worst Ibid.; “Sewer Line Corrections,” Pentagon renovation program, 14 Aug. 1997, OSD HO; Probst, author interview.
“The program wasn’t looked” Ibid.
Hamre, who had succeeded Hamre, author interview.
The psychology major
Walker Lee Evey knew nothing Evey, author interviews, 9 July 2002 and 28 Nov. 2005; Steve Vogel, “From Ruins, Pentagon Rises Renewed,” 8 Sept. 2002; Evey resume, 2002, author’s papers; Hamre, author interview.
On November 17, 1997 Evey, author interview, 2005; WP, 7 June 2005.
Hamre and Cooke Hamre, author interview; “Notes on organizational structure,” undated memo, Cooke papers, OSD HO; Evey, author interview, 2005.
Hamre “asked Air Force” Ibid.
Back in his office Ibid.; WP, 17 Nov. 1997.
Hamre warmly ushered Evey, author interview, 2005; Hamre, author interview.
Whistling in the dark
On his first morning Evey, author interviews, 2002 and 2005.
In subsequent days Catlow, author interview; Evey, author interview, 2005.
At one of his first Ibid.
“This guy’s lost it” Probst, author interview.
The first sign Evey, author interview, 2005.
The Big Bash
The Big Bash The Renovator, Feb/Mar. 1998; Hamre, author interview.
Wedge 1 Evey, author interview, 2002; Catlow, author interview.
It was easier said Winston, “Pentagon Contractors Divide and Conquer” “Wedge 1,” PENREN Web site, http://renovation.pentagon.mil/projects-W1.htm
As the work continued Evey, author interviews, 2002 and 2005; Vogel, “From Ruins, Pentagon Rises Renewed” Les Hunkele, author interview, 9 Dec. 2005.
Evey soon hit a brick wall Ibid.; Catlow, author interview; Brian Dziekonski, author interview, 10 Nov. 2005; Evey, author interview, 2005; Probst, author interview; Allyn Kilsheimer, author interview, Aug. 2002; Winston, “Pentagon Contractors Divide and Conquer.”
Terrorists don’t arrive on buses
At about 10:30 A.M. WP, 13 Aug. 1998; Steve Coll, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, 403–4, 406–412; Peter L. Bergen, Holy War, Inc., Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden, 108; Time, 24 Aug. 1998.
In his office, Doc Cooke John Jester, author interview, 30 Nov. 2005; 1993 Pentagon renovation report, 17, OSD HO; 1994 Pentagon renovation report, 12, OSD HO.
Cooke had been pushing Cooke, statement before the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Readiness and Defense Infrastructure,” 20 May 1993, box 1304, OSD HO; 1994 Pentagon renovation report, 29; Jester, author interview.
The embassy bombings Evey, author interview, 2005; Jester, author interview; The Renovator, Winter 2001.
The loading docks were hardly Evey, author interview, 2005; Catlow, author interview; American Society of Civil Engineers. The Pentagon Building Performance Report, 6, (hereafter ASCE Building Performance Report); Evey briefing, 15 Sept. 2001, DoD.
Putting blast-resistant Evey, author interview, 2003 and 2005; Rudy DeLeon, Pentagon security memo draft, June 2000, box 1304, OSD HO; Georgine Glatz, author interview, 22 Mar. 2006; ENR, 14 Sept. 2001.
The tougher problem Evey, author interview, 2005; Catlow, author interview; Jester, author interview; Glatz, author interview; ENR, 24 Sept. 2001; 60 Minutes II, 28 Nov. 2001.
The Pentagon’s bus-and-subway Haselbush, author interview; Freeman, Hall interview; NYT, 17 Dec. 1983; NYT, 11 Mar. 1987; Pentagram, Apr. 1987; Evey briefing, 15 Sept. 2001, DoD; WP, 5 Sept. 1977; The Renovator, Jan./Feb. 2002; Pentagram, 28 Feb. 1997; Lyndsey Layton and Steven Ginsberg, “Pentagon to Move Bus Station,” WP, 14 Apr. 2000.
From an old VW Bug to a big Cadillac
The Arleigh Burke Bell Pentagram, 6 Sept. 2002.
Everything else in the Navy Command Kevin Shaeffer, e-mail to author, 14 Dec. 2005; Shaeffer, “My Ring Story,” Shipmate, Sept. 2002; Jo Becker, Steve Vogel, and Michael E. Ruane, “Aboard Room 1D457,” WP, 16 Sept. 2001; William Wertz, author interview, 15 Sept. 2001.
Wedge 1 was on cost The Renovator, winter 2001; Winston, “Pentagon Contractors Divide and Conquer.”
The Remote Delivery Facility The Renovator, winter 2001; Evey, author interview, 2005; Jester, author interview; Dziekonski, author interview. In the interim since the march, the lawn had been paved over for a parking lot.
Evey, for his part Evey, author interview, 2002.
By September 10 The Renovator, Jan./Feb. 2002; Government Executive, May 2002; Evey, author interview, 2005. Probst, author interview.
CHAPTER 20: SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
I’m never going to see my boys again
Frank Probst checked the new Probst, author interview: ASCE Building Performance Report, 13; Vince Crawley, “Fortress Reborn,” Army Times, 16 Sept. 2002.
It’s headed toward the Pentagon
American Airlines Flight 77 The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, 8; Debra Burlingame, author interview, Sept. 2003.
The Boeing 757 ASCE Building Performance Report, 12; Marc Fisher and Don Phillips, “On Flight 77: Our Plane is Being Hijacked,” WP, 12 Sept. 2001; Annie Gowen and Avis Thomas-Lester, “Family Was Starting Exciting Adventure,” WP, 20 Sept. 2001; Rudi Williams, “Scholarship honors young attack victim,” American Forces Press Service, 6 Sept. 2002; Hamil Harris, “1,000 Recall Studious, Fun-Loving 11-Year-Old,” WP, 21 Sept. 2001; Ted Olson, CNN Larry King Weekend, 6 Jan. 2002.
Hani Hanjour The 9/11 Commission Report, 226.
The idea had been proposed Ibid., 153–5.
Hanjour was joined Ibid., 3–4.
The hijackers made their move Ibid., 8–9.
In the back of the plane Ibid., 9; Olson, CNN Larry King Weekend, 6 Jan. 2002.
At 9:32, air traffic The 9/11 Commission Report, 25, 9, 39; Lieutenant Colonel Robert Rossow, Uncommon Strength: The Story of the Office of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel During the Attack on the Pentagon, 11 September 2001, 13.
But the aircraft was heading The 9/11 Commission Report, 9; Richard Cox, interview with Margaret Roth, 22 May 2002.
In the last seconds ASCE Building Performance Report, 12; The (Allentown, Pa.) Morning Call, 11 Sept. 2003.
Something can happen in this world
“My God!” Becker, et al., “Aboard Room 1D457.”
It was the first inkling Ibid.; Shaeffer, e-mail to author; Shaeffer, “My Ring Story.”
The lead item Rowan Scarborough, “Pentagon Staff to Be Trimmed by 15 Percent,” Washington Times, in DoD “Current News Early Bird,” 11 Sept. 2001; Smith, “No Regrets for a Love of Explosives,” 11 Sept. 2001.
Shaeffer and his branch Shaeffer, e-mail to author; Shaeffer, “My Ring Story.”
On the opposite Rumsfeld, author interview, 19 Apr. 2006; Paul Wolfowitz, OSD interview, 19 Apr. 2002, OSD HO; Rumsfeld statement, The 9/11 Commission: Proceedings and Analysis, Book 3, 191.
Below Rumsfeld’s office The 9/11 Commission Report, 37; Leidig testimony and statement, The 9/11 Commission: Proceedings and Analysis, Book 4, 594, 651.
In the Building Operations Center Carter, author interview; Jester, author interview; Bradley Graham, “Pentagon Unprepared for ‘Something We Had Never Even Thought Of,’” WP, 16 Sept. 2001; The 9/11 Commission Report, 37. The information received by the command center was not about American 77 but instead American 11, which had already crashed into the World Trade Center.
Despite the flurry Col. Phil McNair, author interview, 25 July 2002; Paul Gonzales, author interview, 6 Mar. 2002; Steve Vogel, “Survivors Healed, but Not Whole,” WP, 11 Mar. 2002.
I don’t want to get burnt again
Frank Probst—on the ground Probst, author interview.
Alan Wallace Alan Wallace, interview with Margaret Roth, 2002; Newsweek, 27 Sept. 2001.
A rapidly moving avalanche
Army Specialist Chin Martha Carden, author interview, July 2002; McNair, author interview; Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, “The U.S. Army DCSPER Newsletter, 9-11 Memorial Special Edition,” Feb. 2002; Esther Schrader, “At the Pentagon, ‘Not Just an Assignment,’” Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2002; The Tulsa World, 8 Sept. 2002.
The Boeing 757 ASCE Building Performance Report, 40–41; Rossow, Uncommon Strength, 17.
The avalanche burst Ibid.; Glatz, author interview; ASCE Building Performance Report, 39, 50, 12; The Renovator, Jan./Feb. 02.
The fuselage in essence ASCE Building Performance Report, 40–1; FBI evidence report, “First Floor—West,” author’s possession; Steve Vogel, “Lost and, Sometimes, Never Found,” WP, 13 Sept. 2002.
Hail Mary full of grace. Help me out of this place
In the Navy Command Center Shaeffer, “My Ring Story” Shaeffer, e-mail to author; Earl Swift, “Inside the Pentagon on 9/11,” The Virginian-Pilot, 7–10 Sept. 2002.
In the adjacent DIA Gonzales, Aaron Cooper, Dave Lanagan, Patty Pague, Dan Hooton, interview with author
, 6 Mar. 2002; Vogel, “Survivors Healed, but Not Whole.”
There are people behind me
In the Building Operations Carter, author interview.
Nearby, confusion reigned Ted Anderson, author interview, 23 July 2002; Karen Baker, e-mail to author, 19 Aug. 2002; Michael E. Ruane, Steve Vogel, Manny Fernandez, Patricia Davis, and Avis Thomas-Lester, “Inch by Inch,” WP, 8 Sept.2002.
Two women had jumped Anderson, author interview; Swift, “Inside the Pentagon on 9/11.”
Reentering the door Anderson, author interview.
Anderson and Braman carried Ibid.; Swift, “Inside the Pentagon on 9/11” James Schwartz, author interview, 15 Mar. 2006; Ruane et al, “Inch by Inch.”
I’m alive
Colonel Phil McNair felt McNair, author interview; Rossow, Uncommon Strength, 39–45; Glatz, author interview; Swift, “Inside the Pentagon on 9/11.”
Unlike Ted Anderson McNair, author interview; Nancy McNair, author interview, August 2002.
McNair heard a voice McNair, author interview; Swift, “Inside the Pentagon on 9/11” Rossow, Uncommon Strength, 45.
On the first floor, the DIA Gonzales, author interview; Vogel, “Survivors Healed, but Not Whole.”
In the adjacent Navy Shaeffer, “My Ring Story” Swift, “Inside the Pentagon on 9/11.”
It was just a smoking, burning mess
Rumsfeld had been in the midst Rumsfeld, author interview.
Hundreds of employees Payam Zeraat, interview with Margaret Roth, 22 May 2002; Wallace, Roth interview; WP, 12 Sept. 2001; Rumsfeld, author interview; Charles Fowler, author interview, 11 Sept. 2001.
