background image
1.3 NATIONAL CRISIS MANAGEMENT
When American 11 struck the World Trade Center at 8:46, no one in the White
House or traveling with the President knew that it had been hijacked.While
that information circulated within the FAA, we found no evidence that the
hijacking was reported to any other agency in Washington before 8:46.
179
Most federal agencies learned about the crash in New York from CNN.
180
Within the FAA, the administrator, Jane Garvey, and her acting deputy, Monte
Belger, had not been told of a confirmed hijacking before they learned from
television that a plane had crashed.
181
Others in the agency were aware of it,
as we explained earlier in this chapter.
Inside the National Military Command Center, the deputy director of oper-
ations and his assistant began notifying senior Pentagon officials of the inci-
dent. At about 9:00, the senior NMCC operations officer reached out to the
FAA operations center for information. Although the NMCC was advised of
the hijacking of American 11, the scrambling of jets was not discussed.
182
In Sarasota, Florida, the presidential motorcade was arriving at the Emma
E. Booker Elementary School, where President Bush was to read to a class and
talk about education.White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card told us he was
standing with the President outside the classroom when Senior Advisor to the
President Karl Rove first informed them that a small, twin-engine plane had
crashed into the World Trade Center.The President's reaction was that the inci-
dent must have been caused by pilot error.
183
At 8:55, before entering the classroom, the President spoke to National
Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, who was at the White House. She recalled
first telling the President it was a twin-engine aircraft--and then a commer-
cial aircraft--that had struck the World Trade Center, adding "that's all we know
right now, Mr. President."
184
At the White House,Vice President Dick Cheney had just sat down for a
meeting when his assistant told him to turn on his television because a plane
had struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The Vice President was
wondering "how the hell could a plane hit the World Trade Center" when he
saw the second aircraft strike the South Tower.
185
Elsewhere in the White House, a series of 9:00 meetings was about to begin.
In the absence of information that the crash was anything other than an acci-
dent, the White House staff monitored the news as they went ahead with their
regular schedules.
186
The Agencies Confer
When they learned a second plane had struck the World Trade Center, nearly
everyone in the White House told us, they immediately knew it was not an
accident. The Secret Service initiated a number of security enhancements
"WE HAVE SOME PLANES"
35
Final1-4.4pp 7/17/04 9:12 AM Page 35