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New Bush admin 911 photos - Magda Hassan - 26-07-2015

Wondering why the new photos of the Bush people on 911....? Why now...? What's that all about...?


New Bush admin 911 photos - Drew Phipps - 27-07-2015

Do you have a link? Or, can you show us the photos?


New Bush admin 911 photos - Magda Hassan - 27-07-2015

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/25/politics/national-archives-new-photos-bush-911/


New Bush admin 911 photos - Drew Phipps - 27-07-2015

FOIA release.

That very first picture shows something a bit strange: Dick Cheney in his office with sunlight streaming thru the windows (as opposed to the bunker) while the Towers burn on the TV in the background.

[Image: attachment.php?attachmentid=7289&stc=1]

Caption:Then-Vice President Cheney Talks with Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

(emphasis mine)


Too bad he wasn't playing his fiddle.


New Bush admin 911 photos - Peter Lemkin - 27-07-2015

Drew Phipps Wrote:FOIA release.

That very first picture shows something a bit strange: Dick Cheney in his office with sunlight streaming thru the windows (as opposed to the bunker) while the Towers burn on the TV in the background.

[Image: attachment.php?attachmentid=7289&stc=1]

Caption:Then-Vice President Cheney Talks with Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

(emphasis mine)


Too bad he wasn't playing his fiddle.

That is NOT the only anomaly in the photos. One labeled [and looking reasonably like] 'White House staff abandoning White House', shows Chaney [and others] walking away with papers under their arms, White House behind them - BUT, the sky is DARK and Chaney's official story is the SS picked him up by the belt and took him underground via an elevator INSIDE the WH to the PEOC when it was LIGHT and JUST AFTER THE FIRST attack. It can't logically be when they left the PEOC, as they'd have been under HEAVIER GUARD, or used the secret exits, and in the photo they are not. Officially [sic], Chaney went from the PEOC bunker to a secret underground location for use in times of National Emergency/Nuclear War - likely the one in W. Virginia, but where is secret and will not be released. There are many and other National leaders were also sent to his and others - there are many near D.C. and scattered all over the USA. When someone is taken to one, they are usually encircled with armed and body-armored agents, put in armored vehicles and/or armored battle-ready planes...the rather casual stroll out of the White House strikes me as very odd. No time or date is given. There is so much we don't know and may never be told about the truth of 9-11-01, but we already know so much of the main scenario is totally false, so I'd not be surprised the trimmings were too.

[Image: attachment.php?attachmentid=7290&stc=1]

Photo at top is after second WTC 'attack'. [long after official version has Chaney down in subsubsubsub basement bunker. I think these are, at best, re-enactments or something else very odd, or staged - or the official story is at least partly false [no surprise there!]. Most of the others show little of importance - just moderately worried faces. As to the why now...its anyone's guess. I think they were released by the National Archives [which works closely with intelligence agencies as to what and when to release what].


New Bush admin 911 photos - Tracy Riddle - 27-07-2015

The photo of Cheney and Libby in the VP office must have been taken in the afternoon - sunlight streaming through the windows, the office is located on the west end of the building.


New Bush admin 911 photos - Peter Lemkin - 27-07-2015

Complete 911 Timeline

Dick Cheney's Actions on 9/11

Project: Complete 911 Timeline
Open-Content project managed by matt, Paul, KJF, mtuck, paxvector


add event | references

(Shortly Before 7:00 a.m.-7:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney Receives Daily Intelligence Briefing; Heads to White House

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[Image: a633_vice_presidents_residence_2050081722-19139.jpg]The Vice President's Residence. [Source: David Bohrer/ White House]Just before 7:00 a.m., Vice President Dick Cheney sits in the library of the vice president's residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, for his regular CIA briefing. His solo briefing is more detailed than the president's because he asks for more material. According to journalist and author Stephen Hayes, the briefing is "unremarkable." Cheney typically sets off for the three-mile drive to the White House at 7:30 a.m. He usually joins the president for his intelligence briefing, but with Bush away in Florida, there is no briefing at the White House on this day. [HAYES, 2007, PP. 327-328] According to David Kuo, a special assistant to the president, Cheney arrives at the White House at just after 7:00 a.m. this morning. Kuo will later recall that Cheney "looked like an absentminded professor, deep in thought, oblivious to the world." [KUO, 2006, PP. 183]
Entity Tags: Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Stephen Hayes, David Kuo
[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]



[B][B][B](8:25 a.m.-8:50 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Speaks with Cheney; Neither Can Later Recall What They Discuss

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[Image: a634_sean_okeefe_2050081722-19155.jpg]Sean O'Keefe.[Source: Bill Ingalls / NASA]Sean O'Keefe, the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, stops by Vice President Dick Cheney's White House office for an unscheduled visit. According to journalist and author Stephen Hayes, Cheney's colleagues have learned to keep any impromptu sessions with him short and succinct. Yet O'Keefe spends more than 20 minutes with the vice president. Cheney is scheduled to meet John McConnell, his chief speechwriter, at 8:30 a.m. Yet McConnell is left waiting outside the office while the vice president is deep in discussion with O'Keefe. According to Hayes, while the topic of O'Keefe and Cheney's conversation seems urgent at present, "In time, neither man would be able to recall what it was that ha[/B][/B][/B] [B][B]d been so important." [HAYES, 2007, PP. 328-330] O'Keefe is a former Pentagon comptroller, and had been a close confidant of Dick Cheney's when he was the secretary of defense, in the early 1990s. He was also secretary of the navy from 1992 to 1993. [NEW YORK TIMES, 7/7/1992; NEW YORK TIMES, 2/3/2003]
[B]Entity Tags: Sean O'Keefe, John McConnell, Stephen Hayes, Richard ("Dick") Cheney

[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]


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[B][B][B](8:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Some US Leaders Are Scattered; Others in Washington

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[Image: 266_powell_leaves_lima_hotel2050081722-9165.jpg]Secretary of State Colin Powell leaves his Lima, Peru hotel after hearing news of the attacks. [Source: Agence France-Presse]Just prior to learning about the 9/11 attacks, top US leaders are scattered across the country and overseas:
[Image: childbullet.gif] President Bush is in Sarasota, Florida.[WASHINGTON POST, 1/27/2002]
[Image: childbullet.gif] Secretary of State Colin Powell is in Lima, Peru.[WASHINGTON POST, 1/27/2002]
[Image: childbullet.gif] General Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is flying across the Atlantic on the way to Europe. [WASHINGTON POST, 1/27/2002; GIESEMANN, 2008, PP. 19-40]
[Image: childbullet.gif] Attorney General John Ashcroft is flying to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. [WASHINGTON POST, 1/27/2002]
[Image: childbullet.gif] Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Joe Allbaugh is at a conference in Montana. [ABC NEWS, 9/14/2002] Others are in Washington:
[Image: childbullet.gif] Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice are at their offices in the White House.[WASHINGTON POST, 1/27/2002]
[Image: childbullet.gif] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is at his office in the Pentagon, meeting with a delegation from Capitol Hill. [WASHINGTON POST, 1/27/2002]
[Image: childbullet.gif] CIA Director George Tenet is at breakfast with his old friend and mentor, former Senator David Boren (D-OK), at the St. Regis Hotel, three blocks from the White House. [WASHINGTON POST, 1/27/2002]
[Image: childbullet.gif] FBI Director Robert Mueller is in his office at FBI headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC. [WASHINGTON POST, 1/27/2002]
[Image: childbullet.gif] Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta is at his office at the Department of Transportation. [US CONGRESS, 9/20/2001]
[Image: childbullet.gif] Counterterrorism "tsar" Richard Clarke is at a conference in the Ronald Reagan Building, three blocks from the White House.[CLARKE, 2004, PP. 1]
Entity Tags: John Ashcroft, Joseph M. Allbaugh, Richard A. Clarke,Henry Hugh Shelton, Norman Mineta, George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice,David Boren, George J. Tenet, Robert S. Mueller III
[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, George Bush, Dick Cheney,Richard Clarke, Donald Rumsfeld[/B][/B]


[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B][B](Between 8:48 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney Sees Footage of WTC Crash on Television, but Allegedly Does Not Realize It Is Terrorism

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Vice President Dick Cheney later claims he learns of the first attack on the World Trade Center just before 9:00 a.m. He has just finished an impromptu discussion in his office at the White House with Sean O'Keefe, the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (see (8:25 a.m.-8:50 a.m.) September 11, 2001). His chief speechwriter John McConnell has come in for a meeting, when his secretary, Debbie Heiden, calls in and tells him a plane hit the WTC. Cheney recalls, "So we turned on the television and watched for a few minutes." However, journalist and author Stephen Hayes suggests Cheney learns of the attack earlier. He says that while McConnell is waiting for his meeting, O'Keefe comes out of the vice president's office. McConnell gestures at a television showing the burning WTC, and "O'Keefe nodded; they had been watching the reports inside." When McConnell enters Cheney's office, "The small television on the other side of the desk was tuned to ABC News." [MEET THE PRESS, 9/16/2001; HAYES, 2007, PP. 328-330] According to his own recollection, Cheney is puzzled by the reports: "I was sitting there thinking about it. It was a clear day, there was no weather problemhow in hell could a plane hit the World Trade Center?" [NEWSWEEK, 12/30/2001; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 35] He claims it is only when he sees the second tower hit at 9:03 that he realizes this is a terrorist attack, saying, "as soon as that second plane showed up, that's what triggered the thought: terrorism, that this was an attack." [MEET THE PRESS, 9/16/2001; CNN, 9/11/2002]
Entity Tags: Debbie Heiden, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, John McConnell,Sean O'Keefe
[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]

[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B][B](Shortly After 8:48 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney's Lead Secret Service Agent Sees TV Coverage of Crash at the WTC and Alerts Colleagues

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James Scott, a Secret Service special agent assigned to the vice presidential protective division, sees the television coverage of the plane crash at the World Trade Center and alerts other Secret Service agents protecting Vice President Dick Cheney to the incident. Scott is the "on-duty shift whip" for Cheney's Secret Service detail. [UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 10/1/2001] His current location is unstated, but he is presumably at the Joint Operations Center (JOC) at the White House. The JOC monitors the White House complex and constantly tracks the location of every "protected person," including the president and the vice president. [NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, 12/22/1997; NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, 9/27/2004]After he sees "the aircraft crash on television network news," Scott will later recall, he "alerted the working shift." Presumably he does this in a phone call or over his radio. [UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 10/1/2001] The "working shift" includes the "body men" around a Secret Service protectee, according to journalist and author Ronald Kessler. "The normal working shift," Kessler will write, "consists of a shift leader or whip"in this case, Scott"and four shift agents." [KESSLER, 2009, PP. 80-81] However, although he contacts the members of the working shift at this time, Scott will only head to the West Wing of the White House and discuss the crisis with them in person at around 9:30 a.m. (see (9:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). And he will not evacuate Cheney from his office in the West Wing until around 9:36 a.m., according to some accounts, after he learns of an unidentified aircraft flying toward the White House (see (9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 10/1/2001; UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 11/17/2001 [Image: pdfbw.png]; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39-40; GELLMAN, 2008, PP. 115] Around the time that Scott alerts the members of the working shift to the crash in New York, a Secret Service agent posted at the door of Cheney's office (who is presumably a member of the working shift) also receives a phone call from the Secret Service's intelligence division, informing him that the aircraft that hit the WTC was a passenger jet, according to Cheney's chief speechwriter, John McConnell, who is with the agent (see (8:50 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [HAYES, 2007, PP. 329-330]
Entity Tags: James Scott, US Secret Service
[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]

[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B][B](8:50 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Secret Service Agent outside Vice President Cheney's Office Learns Plane that Hit WTC Is Passenger Jet

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[Image: John_McConnell_2050081722-19190.jpg]John McConnell.[Source: University of Tennessee]While he is waiting outside Vice President Dick Cheney's office for a scheduled meeting, Cheney's chief speechwriter John McConnell has been chatting with Cheney's secretary Debbie Heiden and the Secret Service agent posted at the door. They all see the news about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center on the television above Heiden's desk. McConnell will later recall: "There wasn't any kind of alarm. It was just kind of, Oh man, look at that.'" The Secret Service agent then receives an urgent call from the agency's intelligence division. According to McConnell: "He put the phone down and told me: passenger jet. And that's when you go, Geez. And then you start getting a sick feeling. Because a passenger aircraft isnot going to crash into the World Trade Center." [HAYES, 2007, PP. 329-330] But, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, it is not until they learn of the second crash at 9:03 that nearly everyone in the White House realizes this is not an accident (see (Between 8:46 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 35]
Entity Tags: US Secret Service, John McConnell, Debbie Heiden
[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]


[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B][B](After 8:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Serious Communications Problems Experienced in Washington Area, Affect Key Government Officials

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In the Washington, DC, area, members of the public, emergency responders, and government officials experience serious communications problems. Telephone and cell phone services around the capital remain unavailable to members of the public for most of the day. [VERTON, 2003, PP. 149]
[Image: childbullet.gif] Particular problems are experienced around the Pentagon. Reportedly, cellular and landline telephone communications there are "virtually unreliable or inaccessible during the first few hours of the response," after it is hit at 9:37 (see After 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). [US DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, 7/2002, PP. C36]
Some senior government officials also experience communications difficulties:
[Image: childbullet.gif] CIA Director George Tenet has problems using his secure phone while heading from a Washington hotel back to CIA headquarters, located about eight miles outside Washington (see (8:55 a.m.-9:15 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [INDEPENDENT, 11/6/2002; TENET, 2007, PP. 161-162]
[Image: childbullet.gif] Secretary of State Colin Powell has to take a seven-hour flight from Peru, to get back to the capital. He later complains that, during this flight, "because of the communications problems that existed during that day, I couldn't talk to anybody in Washington" (see (12:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.) September 11, 2001).[ABC NEWS, 9/11/2002]
[Image: childbullet.gif] Between the time of the second WTC attack and about 9:45 a.m., Vice President Dick Cheney, who is at the White House, has problems reaching Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert at the US Capitol by secure telephone (see (9:04 a.m.-9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [DAILY HERALD (ARLINGTON HEIGHTS), 9/11/2002; HAYES, 2007, PP. 336-337]
[Image: childbullet.gif] Even President Bush experiences difficulties communicating with Washington after leaving a school in Florida, and subsequently while flying on Air Force One (see (9:34 a.m.-11:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, 9/10/2006]
A classified after-action report will later be produced, based on observations from a National Airborne Operations Center plane launched near Washington shortly before the time of the Pentagon attack (see (9:27 a.m.) September 11, 2001). According to one government official, the report indicates that the nation was "deaf, dumb, and blind" for much of the day.[VERTON, 2003, PP. 150-151] Members of the public in New York City also experience communications problems throughout the day, particularly with cell phones (see (After 10:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001).
Entity Tags: Colin Powell, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Dennis Hastert,George J. Tenet, George W. Bush
[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, George Bush, Dick Cheney,Pentagon[/B][/B]

[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B][B]Shortly After 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001: Secret Service Learns of Additional Suspicious Planes, but Vice President's Agents Supposedly Not Alerted

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[Image: Nelson_Garabito_2050081722-30485.jpg]Nelson Garabito.[Source: CNN]A senior Secret Service agent at the White House establishes a direct phone line with his counterpart at the FAA and is told there are more suspect planes that are unaccounted for, but this information supposedly does not lead to the evacuation of the vice president from his White House office.
Secret Service Liaison Calls FAA - Secret Service agent Nelson Garabito, who is responsible for coordinating the president's movements and is also the agency's liaison to the FAA, is at the Secret Service Joint Operations Center (JOC) at the White House, attending a 9:00 a.m. meeting. After seeing the second attack on the World Trade Center on television, he calls Terry Van Steenbergen, his counterpart at the FAA. According to Garabito, the TV's sound is off, so it takes a few minutes before he realizes a second plane has hit the WTC and makes the call. But Van Steenbergen, who is at FAA headquarters in Washington, DC, will say Garabito calls him "within 30 seconds" of the attack.
Warning Not Passed On - Shortly into the call, Van Steenbergen tells Garabito there are two unaccounted for planes that are possibly hijacked, in addition to the two that have crashed into the WTC. Garabito tells someone with him to run upstairs and pass this information on to other Secret Service agents, but, according to the 9/11 Commission, "it either was not passed on or was passed on but not disseminated." As a result, Van Steenbergen's information "failed to reach agents assigned to the vice president, and the vice president was not evacuated at that time." [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/28/2003, PP. 9-11; 9/11 COMMISSION, 3/30/2004; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 464]
Conflicting Evacuation Times - According to the 9/11 Commission, the Secret Service does not evacuate Vice President Dick Cheney from his office at the White House until "just before 9:36." [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39] However, some accounts will say Cheney is evacuated around the time of the second attack on the WTC (see (Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001), which would suggest that Van Steenbergen's information is indeed passed on and disseminated. [NEW YORK TIMES, 9/13/2001; ABC NEWS, 9/14/2002] Garabito and Van Steenbergen will remain in contact over the phonevia a direct line, not a conference callfor the next 14 hours. Garabito feeds information to Van Steenbergen, though Van Steenbergen does not know how Garabito is getting this information. [9/11 COMMISSION, 3/30/2004]
Entity Tags: US Secret Service, Nelson Garabito, Terry Van Steenbergen, Richard ("Dick") Cheney
[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney, Flight AA 77,Flight UA 93[/B][/B]


[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B][B]Shortly After 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney's Daughter Calls Father about Crash at the WTC

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Liz Cheney, Vice President Dick Cheney's eldest daughter, calls her father and tells him a plane has hit the World Trade Center, but he is already aware of both crashes in New York. [HAYES, 2007, PP. 330-332] The vice president, who is in his office at the White House, was informed of the first crash at the WTC (see(Between 8:48 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001) and watched the second crash live on television. [MEET THE PRESS, 9/16/2001]Liz Cheney heard about the first crash on her car radio and now phones her father on his private line. She says to him, "A plane has hit the World Trade Center." He replies: "Two planes have hit. It's a terrorist attack." Dick Cheney tells his daughter, "I've got to go," before ending the call. The vice president then picks up a phone with a direct line to President Bush, according to journalist and author Stephen Hayes. He tells the person who answers, "I need to talk to the president," and then promptly hangs up. [HAYES, 2007, PP. 331-332]
Entity Tags: Elizabeth ("Liz") Cheney, Richard ("Dick") Cheney
[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]

[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B][B](9:04 a.m.-9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001: House Speaker Hastert Has Problems Contacting Vice President Cheney; Receives Nuisance Call

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[Image: a392_dennis_hastert_2050081722-18293.jpg]Dennis Hastert.[Source: Congressional Pictorial Directory]Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, who is third in line for the presidency, is in his office suite on the second floor of the US Capitol building when he sees the second plane hitting the World Trade Center live on television.[HASTERT, 2004, PP. 5] He is told that Vice President Dick Cheney will soon be calling him on the secure telephone in his office. [DAILY HERALD (ARLINGTON HEIGHTS), 9/11/2002] However, Cheney is currently having problems using secure phones, and Hastert is too. Hastert later recalls, "To use the secure phone, you have to push a button and turn a key. On that dreadful day I couldn't make the thing work. No matter what I did, I couldn't connect with the vice president. As the minutes passed, my frustrations grew." [HASTERT, 2004, PP. 6; HAYES, 2007, PP. 336] Several attempts to reach the vice president are unsuccessful. Hastert's later explanation is that "Anyone who has used a secure phone can tell you they do not work very well." However, numerous other people in the Washington area, including senior government officials, are also experiencing serious communications problems throughout the day (see (After 8:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Around the time the Pentagon is hit, the light on Hastert's regular phone starts flashing, but instead of being Cheney it is apparently a nuisance caller, who complains, "I can't get a hold of Jeb Bush, I can't get a hold of the president, I can't get a hold of Colin Powell. All this stuff is happening. What are you guys doing?" When Hastert asks the caller who they are, their reply is, "I'm just a citizen. Who is this?" [CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 9/25/2001; DAILY HERALD (ARLINGTON HEIGHTS), 9/11/2002;ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6/16/2007] Shortly afterwards, the Capitol is evacuated (see 9:48 a.m. September 11, 2001) and Hastert's Secret Service agents hurry him out of the building. It is not until around 11 a.m. that Cheney finally speaks to him. [HASTERT, 2004, PP. 8-9; HAYES, 2007, PP. 337 AND 340-341]
Entity Tags: Dennis Hastert, Richard ("Dick") Cheney
[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]


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[B][B][B](Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney's Lead Secret Service Agent Discusses Emergency Plans with Supervisor

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James Scott, a Secret Service special agent assigned to the vice presidential protective division, learns of the second plane crash at the World Trade Center and realizes this is a terrorist attack, but reportedly makes no attempt to evacuate Vice President Dick Cheney from his White House office at this time. Scott is the "on-duty shift whip" for Cheney's Secret Service detail. He has seen the TV coverage of the first crash in New York and contacted Secret Service agents who are members of the "working shift" protecting Cheney to alert them to the incident (see (Shortly After 8:48 a.m.) September 11, 2001). After Flight 175 crashes into the WTC at 9:03 a.m. (see 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001), Scott confers with the on-duty supervisor who is with him. This is apparently Assistant Special Agent in Charge Scott Johnson. The two men are now "[c]ertain that the airplane crashes were terrorist activities," they will later recall. They therefore discuss "emergency contingency plans and a heightened security alert." [UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 10/1/2001]However, Scott will only head to the West Wing of the White House and join the shift agents there at around 9:30 a.m. (see(9:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). And, he will say, he only evacuates Cheney from his office in the West Wing some time after that, apparently around 9:36 a.m. (see (9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 10/1/2001; UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 11/17/2001 [Image: pdfbw.png]]
Entity Tags: James Scott, Douglas Scott Johnson
[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]

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[B][B][B](Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001: White House Officials Reportedly Converge on Vice President Cheney's Office, but Accounts Conflict

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Vice President Dick Cheney sees the second plane hitting the World Trade Center live on television while meeting with his speechwriter John McConnell. He later claims that several other officials then come and join him in his White House office: National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, political adviser Mary Matalin, and his chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who has come across from the Old Executive Office Building next door to the White House. [MEET THE PRESS, 9/16/2001] According to journalist and author Stephen Hayes, "As word of the attacks spread throughout the West Wing, many White House officials migrated to Cheney's office." As well as Rice, Libby, and Matalin, these include Sean O'Keefe, the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget; Josh Bolten, the deputy White House chief of staff; and counterterrorism "tsar" Richard Clarke. [HAYES, 2007, PP. 332] However, other accounts contradict this. Clarke claims that when he arrives at the White House shortly after 9:03, he sees the vice president and Rice, but the two are "alone in Cheney's office" (see (9:05 a.m.) September 11, 2001). (It is possible, though, that the other officials only arrive after Clarke ends his brief visit to the vice president's office.)[CLARKE, 2004, PP. 1-2] In numerous interviews where she discusses her actions this morning, Rice makes no mention of heading to Cheney's office after the second tower is hit. [O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE, 2/1/2002; BBC RADIO 4, 8/1/2002 [Image: pdfbw.png]; AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, 9/11/2002;MSNBC, 9/11/2002; NEW YORK TIMES, 9/11/2002] Also, according to some accounts, the Secret Service evacuates Cheney from his office shortly after the second attack occurs (see (Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [NEW YORK TIMES, 9/13/2001; ABC NEWS, 9/14/2002]Cheney claims that President Bush phones him around this time, while he is still in his office. [MEET THE PRESS, 9/16/2001] But according to White House adviser Karl Rove, who is with the president in Florida, Bush is unable to reach the vice president because Cheney is being evacuated from his office (see (9:16 a.m.-9:29 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [MSNBC, 9/11/2002]
Entity Tags: Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby,Condoleezza Rice, Mary Matalin, Richard A. Clarke, John McConnell,Joshua Bolten, Sean O'Keefe
[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney, Richard Clarke[/B][/B]

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Quote:[B][B][B](Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney Evacuated from Office, Earlier than Some Accounts Claim

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[Image: Ashely_Estes_2050081722-9235.jpg]Ashley Estes.[Source: Eric Draper / White House]Vice President Dick Cheney is taken by the Secret Service from his White House office toward the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the East Wing of the White House around this time, according to some accounts, although other accounts, including the 9/11 Commission Report, will state that he is evacuated from his office about half an hour later. [NEW YORK TIMES, 9/13/2001; DAILY TELEGRAPH, 12/16/2001; ABC NEWS, 9/14/2002;CLARKE, 2004, PP. 1-2; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39-40]
[Image: childbullet.gif] The Secret Service evacuates Cheney from his office "[j]ust after 9 a.m.," according to ABC News. At this time, "two or three agents came in and told him, Sir, you have to come with us.'" [ABC NEWS, 9/14/2002]
[Image: childbullet.gif] New York Times columnist William Safire will write, two days after 9/11, that Cheney is evacuated at 9:03 a.m., after he sees Flight 175 crashing into the World Trade Center live on television (see 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001). "At that moment," according to Safire, "his Secret Service detail grabbed him and hurried him down to [the] PEOC." [NEW YORK TIMES, 9/13/2001]
[Image: childbullet.gif] Britain's Daily Telegraph will report that at about 9:05 a.m., around the time when President Bush is informed of the second plane crash in New York (see (9:06 a.m.) September 11, 2001), "a squad of Secret Service agents stormed into the office of Vice President Dick Cheney," seizes the vice president, and carries him down to the PEOC. [DAILY TELEGRAPH, 12/16/2001]
[Image: childbullet.gif] White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke will indicate that Cheney is evacuated shortly after the second plane hits the WTC. Clarke will write that after he learns of the second attack, he briefly talks to Cheney in the vice president's office (see (9:05 a.m.) September 11, 2001). As he leaves the room, he notices Cheney gathering up his papers and then sees eight Secret Service agents in Cheney's outer office, "ready to move to the PEOC." [CLARKE, 2004, PP. 1-2]
[Image: childbullet.gif] President Bush's personal secretary, Ashley Estes, will recall seeing Secret Service agents running down the hallway, carrying Cheney along, after she watches the second plane hit the WTC on television at 9:03 a.m. [WHITE HOUSE, 8/29/2002]
Cheney will describe the urgency with which his Secret Service agents move him out of his office, recalling that they "came in and said, Sir, we have to leave immediately,' and grabbed me… and they hoisted me up and moved me very rapidly down the hallway, down some stairs, through some doors, and down some more stairs into an underground facility under the White House." [MEET THE PRESS, 9/16/2001]
Some Accounts Consistent with Early Evacuation Time - Some accounts, while not specifically describing Cheney being hurried away from his office by the Secret Service, will be consistent with the vice president being evacuated around the time of the second attack in New York. White House adviser Karl Rove, who is with the president in Florida, will tell NBC News that when Bush tries phoning Cheney at around 9:16 a.m., he is unable to contact him because "the vice president was being… grabbed by a Secret Service agent and moved to the bunker" (see (9:16 a.m.-9:29 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [MSNBC, 9/11/2002] And Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta will say that when he arrives at the PEOC, between around 9:20 a.m. and 9:27 a.m., Cheney is already there (see (Between 9:20 a.m. and 9:27 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [MSNBC, 9/11/2002; 9/11 COMMISSION, 5/23/2003; ACADEMY OF ACHIEVEMENT, 6/3/2006] However, other accounts, including the 9/11 Commission Report, will state that Cheney is evacuated from his office a significant time after the second attack, at around 9:36 a.m. (see (9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 11/17/2001 [Image: pdfbw.png]; NEWSWEEK, 12/30/2001; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39-40;GELLMAN, 2008, PP. 115]
Entity Tags: Norman Mineta, Karl C. Rove, Ashley Estes, Richard A. Clarke, US Secret Service, Richard ("Dick") Cheney
[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: Key Day of 9/11 Events, All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]


N.B. Second tower was hit at 9:03 EST.
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New Bush admin 911 photos - Peter Lemkin - 27-07-2015

(9:05 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Clarke, Cheney, and Rice Talk; Clarke Concludes that Al-Qaeda Is behind Attacks

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[Image: Lisa_Gordon_Hagerty_2050081722-9196.jpg]Lisa Gordon-Hagerty.[Source: University of Michigan]Counterterrorism "tsar" Richard Clarke is driving up to a gate outside the White House when Lisa Gordon-Hagertya member of his staff who is already at the White Housecalls and tells him, "The other tower was just hit." He responds: "Well, now we know who we're dealing with. I want the highest level person in Washington from each agency on-screen now, especially the FAA." He ordered Gordon-Hagerty to set up a secure video conference about five minutes earlier. A few minutes later, according to his own recollections, Clarke finds Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in Cheney's White House office. Clarke tells Cheney: "It's an al-Qaeda attack and they like simultaneous attacks. This may not be over." Rice asks Clarke for recommendations and he says, "We're putting together a secure teleconference to manage the crisis." He also recommends evacuating the White House. (A slow evacuation of the White House will begin around 9:20-9:25 (see (9:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001).) Rice notes the Secret Service wants them to go to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House, and as Clarke leaves the other two, he sees Cheney gathering up his papers. In Cheney's outer office, Clarke will recall, he sees eight Secret Service agents instead of the usual two, ready to move to the PEOC. [CLARKE, 2004, PP. 1-2; AUSTRALIAN, 3/27/2004]
Entity Tags: US Secret Service, Richard A. Clarke, Condoleezza Rice,Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, Al-Qaeda, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Federal Aviation Administration
[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney, Richard Clarke[/B][/B]



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(9:16 a.m.-9:29 a.m.) September 11, 2001: President Bush Works on Speech with Staff; Makes No Decisions

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[Image: 300_bush_crash_tv.jpg]Bush in a holding room before giving his speech. Communications director Dan Bartlett points to the TV, and the clock reads 9:25. [Source: White House]After leaving the Booker Elementary School classroom, President Bush returns to an adjacent holding room where he is briefed by his staff, and gets his first look at the footage of the burning World Trade Center on a television that has been set up there. He instructs his press secretary, Ari Fleischer, to take notes to create an accurate accounting of events. According to some accounts, he speaks on the phone with Vice President Dick Cheney who is at the White House, and they both agree that terrorists are probably behind the attacks. [SAMMON, 2002, PP. 92-93; DAILY MAIL, 9/8/2002;9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39] But White House adviser Karl Rove, who is also in the holding room, will later tell NBC News that Bush is unable to reach Cheney because the vice president is being moved from his office to the White House bunker at this time. [MSNBC, 9/11/2002] The president speaks with New York Governor George Pataki and FBI Director Robert Mueller. Bush learns from Mueller that the planes that hit the WTC were commercial American aircraft, and at least one of them had apparently been hijacked after leaving Boston. According to some accounts, Bush also speaks with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice around this time. However, Rice herself will later suggest otherwise (see (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001).[SAMMON, 2002, PP. 93-94; DAILY MAIL, 9/8/2002; ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 9/8/2002; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39] Fleischer and White House communications director Dan Bartlett quickly draft a statement for the president to deliver in the school's library, which Bush rewords, scribbling three sheets of notes. Bush will deliver this at 9:30 a.m. (see 9:30 a.m. September 11, 2001). While he works on the statement, Bush briefly glances at the unfolding horror on the television. Turning to his aides in the room, he declares, "We're at war." [SAMMON, 2002, PP. 94; ALBUQUERQUE TRIBUNE, 9/10/2002] According to the 9/11 Commission, the focus at the present time is on the president's statement to the nation, and the only decision made by Bush's traveling party is to return to Washington. [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39] Bush will later claim that he makes no major decisions in response to the crisis until after Air Force One takes off at around 9:55 a.m. (see (Shortly After 9:56 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [WASHINGTON POST, 1/27/2002]
[B]Entity Tags: George E. Pataki, Dan Bartlett, Condoleezza Rice, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, George W. Bush, Ari Fleischer, Robert S. Mueller III,Karl C. Rove

[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney, George Bush[/B][/B]


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(Between 9:20 a.m. and 9:27 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Transportation Secretary Mineta Reaches Bunker, Meets Vice President Cheney

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[Image: 301_norman_mineta.jpg]Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta. [Source: US Department of Transportation]Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta arrives at the White House bunkerthe Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC)containing Vice President Dick Cheney and others. Mineta will tell NBC News that he arrives there at "probably about 9:27," though he later says to the 9/11 Commission that he arrives at "about 9:20 a.m." He also later recalls that Cheney is already there when he arrives. [MSNBC, 9/11/2002; 9/11 COMMISSION, 5/23/2003; ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 7/4/2004;ACADEMY OF ACHIEVEMENT, 6/3/2006] This supports accounts of Cheney reaching the bunker not long after the second WTC crash (see (Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Questioned about this in 2007 by an activist group, Mineta will confirm that Cheney was "absolutely… already there" in the PEOC when he arrived, and that "This was before American Airlines [Flight 77] went into the Pentagon," which happens at 9:37. Yet, while admitting there is "conflicting evidence about when the vice president arrived" in the PEOC, the 9/11 Commission will conclude that the "vice president arrived in the room shortly before 10:00, perhaps at 9:58." Mineta also later claims that when he arrives in the PEOC, Mrs. Lynne Cheney, the wife of the vice president, is already there. Yet the 9/11 Commission will claim she only arrives at the White House at 9:52 (see (9:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 40; 911TRUTHSEATTLE (.ORG), 6/26/2007] Once in the PEOC, Mineta establishes open phone lines with his office at the Department of Transportation and with the FAA Operations Center. [ACADEMY OF ACHIEVEMENT, 6/3/2006]
[B]Entity Tags: Lynne Cheney, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Norman Mineta

[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Flight AA 77, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]


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(9:26 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Cheney Given Updates on Unidentified Flight 77 Heading toward Washington; Says Orders Still Stand'; but Accounts Differ on Timing and Identity of the Plane

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According to some accounts, Vice President Dick Cheney is in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House by this time, along with Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and others. Mineta will recall that, while a suspicious plane is heading toward Washington, an unidentified young man comes in and says to Cheney, "The plane is 50 miles out." Mineta confers with acting FAA Deputy Administrator Monte Belger, who is at the FAA's Washington headquarters. Belger says to him: "We're watching this target on the radar, but the transponder's been turned off. So we have no identification." According to Mineta, the young man continues updating the vice president, saying, "The plane is 30 miles out," and when he gets down to "The plane is 10 miles out," asks, "Do the orders still stand?" In response, Cheney "whipped his neck around and said, Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?'" Mineta will say that, "just by the nature of all the events going on," he infers that the order being referred to is a shootdown order. Nevertheless, Flight 77 continues on and hits the Pentagon. [BBC, 9/1/2002; ABC NEWS, 9/11/2002; 9/11 COMMISSION, 5/23/2003; 9/11 COMMISSION, 5/23/2003; ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 7/4/2004] However, the 9/11 Commission will later claim the plane heading toward Washington is only discovered by the Dulles Airport air traffic control tower at 9:32 a.m. (see 9:32 a.m. September 11, 2001). But earlier accounts, including statements made by the FAA and NORAD, will claim that the FAA notified the military about the suspected hijacking of Flight 77 at 9:24 a.m., if not before (see (9:24 a.m.) September 11, 2001). The FBI's Washington Field Office was also reportedly notified that Flight 77 had been hijacked at about 9:20 a.m. (see (9:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001). The 9/11 Commission will further contradict Mineta's account saying that, despite the "conflicting evidence as to when the vice president arrived in the shelter conference room [i.e., the PEOC]," it has concluded that he only arrived there at 9:58 a.m. [9/11 COMMISSION, 6/17/2004] According to the Washington Post, the discussion between Cheney and the young aide over whether "the orders" still stand occurs later than claimed by Mineta, and is in response to Flight 93 heading toward Washington, not Flight 77. [WASHINGTON POST, 1/27/2002]
[B]Entity Tags: Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Monte Belger, Norman Mineta

[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: Key Day of 9/11 Events, All Day of 9/11 Events, Flight AA 77, Flight UA 93, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]

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(9:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney's Lead Secret Service Agent Heads to the West Wing and Discusses Crisis with Colleagues

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Special Agent James Scott, a member of Vice President Dick Cheney's Secret Service detail, heads to the West Wing of the White House and discusses the ongoing crisis with the members of Cheney's detail posted there. Scott, the "on-duty shift whip" for Cheney's Secret Service detail, has learned of the attacks in New York and has been discussing emergency plans with a supervisor (see (Shortly After 8:48 a.m.) September 11, 2001and (Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 10/1/2001] Although his location is unstated, Scott is presumably at the Joint Operations Center at the White House, where the Secret Service constantly monitors the movements of every "protected person," including the vice president. [NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, 12/22/1997; NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, 9/27/2004] Scott will later recall that at "approximately 9:30 a.m.," following his discussions with the supervisor, he heads down to the West Wing, where Cheney's office is located. He will say that he discusses the "heightened alert" and reviews the "contingency plan" with the shift agents posted there. After he has finished briefing the agents, Scott stays near the door to Cheney's office. He will recall that he subsequently evacuates Cheney from his office, apparently at around 9:36 a.m., after learning of an unidentified aircraft flying toward the White House (see (9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 10/1/2001; UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 11/17/2001 [Image: pdfbw.png]]
[B]Entity Tags: US Secret Service, James Scott

[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]

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(9:33 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Reagan Airport Informs Secret Service about Aircraft Approaching the White House, but Cheney Reportedly Not Evacuated

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A supervisor at Washington's Reagan National Airport calls the Secret Service Joint Operations Center (JOC) and warns it about an unidentified aircraft that is heading toward the White House.[FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/14/2001; FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/17/2001 [Image: pdfbw.png]; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 9] Controllers at Reagan Airport have just been contacted by controllers at Washington Dulles International Airport, and notified of the unidentified aircraft, later determined to be Flight 77, approaching Washington (see(9:33 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [WASHINGTON POST, 9/11/2001; 9/11 COMMISSION, 8/26/2004, PP. 33 [Image: pdfbw.png]]
Supervisor Calls Secret Service - Immediately after he learns of this aircraft, Victor Padgett, the operations supervisor at the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) at Reagan Airport, picks up a direct line to the White House and informs the Secret Service JOC there: "We have a target five [miles] west. He's turning south but he's still on our scope. We're not talking to him. It's definitely a suspicious aircraft." [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/14/2001; SPENCER, 2008, PP. 146] According to the 9/11 Commission, this is "the first specific report to the Secret Service of a direct threat to the White House." [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39] Padgett provides the Secret Service with continuous updates on the aircraft's actions. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/14/2001; FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/17/2001 [Image: pdfbw.png]] After traveling almost 10 miles south of Reagan Airport, the aircraft turns back toward Washington and again appears to be heading for the White House. Padgett tells the Secret Service: "What I'm telling you, buddy, if you've got people, you'd better get them out of there! And I mean right g_ddamned now!" [SPENCER, 2008, PP. 158] (People will begin rapidly evacuating from the White House at about 9:45 a.m. (see (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [CNN, 9/11/2001; CNN, 9/12/2001]
Cheney Not Evacuated - According to the 9/11 Commission, when Padgett initially calls the JOC, "No move [is] made to evacuate the vice president" from his White House office. The officer who takes the call will explain, "[I was] about to push the alert button when the tower advised that the aircraft was turning south and approaching Reagan National Airport." According to the Commission, Vice President Dick Cheney is not evacuated until "just before 9:36" (see (9:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39] (However, other accounts indicate he was evacuated earlier on, shortly after 9:00 a.m. (see (Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [NEW YORK TIMES, 9/13/2001; ABC NEWS, 9/14/2002] ) A supervisor at Dulles Airport also contacts the Secret Service around this time to notify it of the approaching aircraft (see (9:33 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/17/2001 [Image: pdfbw.png]]
[B]Entity Tags: US Secret Service, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Victor Padgett

[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney, Flight AA 77[/B][/B]

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(9:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Secret Service, Concerned about Aircraft Approaching the White House, Orders Evacuation of Vice President Cheney

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The Secret Service calls for the immediate evacuation of Vice President Dick Cheney from his office after learning that a suspicious aircraft is flying toward the White House. Air traffic controllers informed the Secret Service that an unidentified aircraft was heading toward the White House at around 9:33 a.m. (see (9:33 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (9:33 a.m.) September 11, 2001), but the aircraft then turned away from the White House and so, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, the Secret Service made no attempt to evacuate Cheney from his office at that time. Now, however, the Secret Service learns that the aircraft is "beginning to circle back." This news prompts it to order "the immediate evacuation of the vice president." [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/17/2001 [Image: pdfbw.png]; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39] Someone at the Secret Service Joint Operations Center at the White House passes on the details of the suspicious aircraft to Special Agent James Scott, the "on-duty shift whip" for Cheney's Secret Service detail, and the shift agents with him in the West Wing of the White House, where Cheney's office is located. The agents hear the "broadcast alert" over their radios, telling them, "Unidentified aircraft coming toward the White House." [UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 10/1/2001;UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 11/17/2001 [Image: pdfbw.png]] Some or possibly all of the agents will immediately go into Cheney's office, and hurry the vice president out of there and down toward the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a bunker below the White House (see (9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 11/17/2001 [Image: pdfbw.png]; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39-40; GELLMAN, 2008, PP. 114-116]However, a number of accounts will indicate that Cheney was evacuated from his office earlier on, at around 9:03 a.m., when the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center (see(Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [NEW YORK TIMES, 9/13/2001; DAILY TELEGRAPH, 12/16/2001; ABC NEWS, 9/14/2002]
[B]Entity Tags: US Secret Service, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, James Scott

[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]

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(9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney Evacuated from Office, according to Some Accounts

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[Image: Cheney_Evacuated_2050081722-45852.jpg]Dick Cheney heading to the the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.[Source: David Bohrer / White House]Vice President Dick Cheney is taken by the Secret Service from his office to an underground tunnel leading to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House around this time, according to some accounts, including the 9/11 Commission Report, although other accounts will suggest he was evacuated from his office about half an hour earlier. [UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, 11/17/2001 [Image: pdfbw.png]; NEWSWEEK, 12/30/2001; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39-40; HAYES, 2007, PP. 333, 335] Cheney, who is in his office in the West Wing of the White House, is aware of the two plane crashes in New York and realizes this is a terrorist attack. He is now "watching developments on the television," he will later recall, and starting "to get organized to figure out what to do." [MEET THE PRESS, 9/16/2001;HAYES, 2007, PP. 330-331] The Secret Service was informed that an unidentified aircraft was heading toward the White House at around 9:33 a.m. (see (9:33 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (9:33 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Concern about this aircraft prompted it to order the evacuation of Cheney "just before 9:36," according to the 9/11 Commission Report (see (9:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/17/2001 [Image: pdfbw.png];9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39]
Armed Agents Enter Cheney's Office - Four or five Secret Service agents carrying submachine guns therefore enter Cheney's office, according to Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman. One of them, Special Agent James Scott, pushes through the group of government officials who are gathered around Cheney (see (Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001) and tells the vice president, "Sir, we need to move younow." Cheney nods, indicating that he will respond to the agent in a moment, and then turns to say something to another person. But Scott brings down the flat of his hand sharply on Cheney's desk and commands, "Now!" [GELLMAN, 2008, PP. 114-115]
Cheney Propelled out of His Office - Scott then puts his hand on Cheney's shoulder, grabs the vice president by the back of his belt, and moves him out the door. [HAYES, 2007, PP. 333] Cheney will comment that Secret Service agents "practice this, I'm sure, because… whether you wanted to move or not, you're going. They don't exactly pick you up and carry you. It's more like they propel you forward." [WHITE HOUSE, 11/19/2001] As the Secret Service agents take Cheney through his outer office, the vice president manages to grab the latest issue of The Economist off a table. "I'm always carrying something in case I get hung up someplace," he will explain. "I've got to have something to read." [NEWSWEEK, 12/30/2001; HAYES, 2007, PP. 333] Carrying the magazine but nothing more, Cheney is hurried down the hallway, past the Oval Office, and down into the basement of the White House.[WHITE HOUSE, 11/19/2001]
Other Officials Left in Cheney's Office - The officials who were with Cheney are left in his office. Mary Matalin, one of Cheney's senior advisers, will recall: "[S]peechwriter John McConnell and I were left behind in his office, staring at each other as if to say, What are we, chopped liver?' I think I actually said that."[NATIONAL REVIEW, 9/8/2011] Cheney will arrive in the underground tunnel leading to the PEOC about a minute after he leaves his office (see (9:37 a.m.) September 11, 2001). There he will learn that the Pentagon has been hit and talk over the phone with the president (see (9:45 a.m.-9:56 a.m.) September 11, 2001) before heading into the PEOC (see (9:58 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 40; HAYES, 2007, PP. 335-336] However, according to some accounts, Cheney was evacuated from his office a significant time earlier on, around 9:03 a.m., when the second plane crashed in New York (see (Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [NEW YORK TIMES, 9/13/2001; DAILY TELEGRAPH, 12/16/2001;ABC NEWS, 9/14/2002; CLARKE, 2004, PP. 1-2]
[B]Entity Tags: John McConnell, Mary Matalin, James Scott, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, US Secret Service

[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: Key Day of 9/11 Events, All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]


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(9:37 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney Enters Tunnel Leading to PEOC, Learns about Pentagon Attack

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Vice President Dick Cheney, after being evacuated from his office, stops in an underground tunnel leading to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House, where he learns about the attack on the Pentagon and talks over the phone with President Bush. Secret Service agents hurried Cheney out of his office in the West Wing of the White House at around 9:36 a.m., according to some accounts (see (9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39-40; GELLMAN, 2008, PP. 114-116] (However, other accounts will suggest he was evacuated from his office earlier on, at around 9:03 a.m. (see (Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [NEW YORK TIMES, 9/13/2001; DAILY TELEGRAPH, 12/16/2001; ABC NEWS, 9/14/2002] ) The Secret Service agents then rushed the vice president along the hallway, through some locked doors, and down some stairs into an underground tunnel. "It's a small corridor," Cheney will later describe. "There is a door at each end, a fairly heavy door. It's obviously a place of refuge… a shelter for the president or, in this case, the vice president." [WHITE HOUSE, 11/19/2001]
Agents Take Up Positions on Staircase - Cheney arrives in the tunnel about a minute after leaving his office. [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 40; HAYES, 2007, PP. 335] He will recall that when he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he "watched as Secret Service agents positioned themselves at the top, middle, and bottom of the staircase, creating layers of defense in case the White House itself should be invaded." One of the agents, James Scott, gives out "additional firearms, flashlights, and gas masks" to his colleagues. Scott tells Cheney that he'd evacuated him from his office because he'd heard over his radio that "an inbound, unidentified aircraft" was flying toward the White House (see(9:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001).
Cheney Asks to Talk to the President - Moments later, Scott receives another report over his radio. He passes on what he is told to Cheney, saying, "Sir, the plane headed for us just hit the Pentagon." Cheney will comment, "Now I knew for certain that Washington as well as New York was under attack, and that meant that President Bush, who had been at an elementary school in Florida, had to stay away." [CHENEY AND CHENEY, 2011, PP. 1-2]Cheney and the Secret Service agents with him therefore stop in an area of the tunnel where there is a bench to sit on and a secure phone, and Cheney says he wants to speak to the president. It takes some time for his call to get connected, however, and so he will speak to Bush at 9:45 a.m. (see (9:45 a.m.-9:56 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 40;HAYES, 2007, PP. 335] There is also a television in the tunnel, on which Cheney will see the coverage of the burning Pentagon after the building has been hit (see 9:39 a.m.-9:44 a.m. September 11, 2001). The vice president will be joined in the tunnel by his wife, Lynne Cheney, at around 9:55 a.m. (see (9:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001). The Cheneys will enter the PEOC shortly before 10:00 a.m., according to the 9/11 Commission Report (see (9:58 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [WHITE HOUSE, 12/17/2001; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 40]
[B]Entity Tags: US Secret Service, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, James Scott

[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
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(9:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Counterterrorism Tsar' Clarke Possibly Told to Pass on Shootdown Authorization, Earlier than Other Accounts Claim

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According to one account, counterterrorism "tsar" Richard Clarke is given the go-ahead to authorize Air Force jets to shoot down threatening aircraft around this time. In late 2003, Clarke will recall to ABC News that, minutes earlier, he'd picked up the phone in the White House Situation Room and called Vice President Dick Cheney, who is in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House. He'd told him: "We have fighters aloft now. We need authority to shoot down hostile aircraft." [ABC NEWS, 11/29/2003] This call appears to be one Clarke also describes in his 2004 book Against all Enemies, though in that account he will describe having made his request to Army Major Mike Fenzel, who is also in the PEOC, rather than directly to Cheney. According to that account, the call occurred shortly before Clarke learns of the Pentagon attack, so roughly around 9:36 (see (Between 9:30 a.m. and 9:37 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [CLARKE, 2004, PP. 6-7] Clarke describes to ABC News, "I thought that would take forever to get that [shootdown] authority." But, "The vice president got on the phone to the president, got back to me, I would say within two minutes, and said, Do it.'" [ABC NEWS, 11/29/2003] If correct, this would mean the president authorizes military fighters to shoot down threatening aircraft at around 9:37-9:38. However, around this time, the president and vice president are reportedly having difficulty communicating with each other, while Bush heads from the Booker Elementary School to the Sarasota airport (see (9:34 a.m.-11:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [NEW YORK TIMES, 6/18/2004;CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, 9/10/2006] Furthermore, this account contradicts several others. In his 2004 book, Clarke will describe being told to inform the Pentagon it has shootdown authorization slightly later, some time between 9:45 and 9:56 (see (Between 9:45 a.m. and 9:56 a.m.) September 11, 2001).[CLARKE, 2004, PP. 8] According to journalists Bob Woodward and Bill Sammon, Bush gives the shootdown authorization in a phone call with Cheney shortly after 9:56 (see (Shortly After 9:56 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [SAMMON, 2002, PP. 102; WOODWARD, 2002, PP. 17-18;WASHINGTON POST, 1/27/2002] The 9/11 Commission will say he gives it in a call at 10:18 (see 10:18 a.m.-10:20 a.m. September 11, 2001).[9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 41]
[B]Entity Tags: Richard A. Clarke, Richard ("Dick") Cheney

[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney, Flight UA 93,George Bush, Richard Clarke[/B][/B]

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(After 9:40 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Officials at White House Bothered by TV and Video Conference Technical Problems

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[Image: Anna_Perez_2050081722-38540.jpg]Anna Perez. [Source: Paul Drinkwater / NBC Universal]Government officials in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House are frustrated at technical problems they have with the televisions in the center, which mean they are unable to get audio from both the TV broadcast channels and the videoconferencing system at the same time. [WHITE HOUSE, 11/1/2001; NEWSWEEK, 12/30/2001]Two large television screens are built into a wall of the PEOC conference room, and, according to journalist and author Stephen Hayes, for most of the day one of them is tuned to CNN and the other to the Fox News Channel. Hayes will write, "Watching the uninterrupted news coverage not only provided new and timely information; it also allowed officials in the shelter [i.e. the PEOC] to understand, as they designed their public response, what exactly the American people were seeing." [HAYES, 2007, PP. 337, 342]
Officials Have Problems with Television and Video Conference Audio - But, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice will later recall, the "only frustration" among those in the PEOC is "that we kept having trouble getting the TV to work.… [W]e were having trouble with the, some of the video link." Therefore, "if you were trying to do the video conference, you had trouble doing TV." [WHITE HOUSE, 11/1/2001] The "video conference" Rice refers to is presumably the White House video teleconference being conducted by counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke (see (9:10 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and 9:25 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 36] Anna Perez, Rice's communications counselor, will add, "[Y]ou couldn't do the SVTS [secure video teleconference system] at the same time you could do the CNN." [WHITE HOUSE, 11/1/2001] Eric Edelman, a member of Vice President Dick Cheney's staff, will recall: "[T]he video conference that Dick Clarke was chairing was going on.… [W]e could see that, so that was on the screen, we could follow that. Not always with audio… sometimes with audio, sometimes not." [WHITE HOUSE, 10/25/2001] According to Hayes, however, the problem is in fact that "[a]lthough the two televisions on the wall could be tuned to different channels, they could get audio from only one." Consequently, "On several occasions, the officials could see notices of breaking news' without being able to hear the details of those updates." [HAYES, 2007, PP. 342]
'Everybody' in PEOC Frustrated by TV Problem - Rice will recall that the problem with the televisions is "kind of frustrating to everybody." [WHITE HOUSE, 11/1/2001] One unnamed official will recall that Cheney, who is in the PEOC for much of the day, is "cranked up" about the problem and repeatedly demands that it be fixed. [HAYES, 2007, PP. 342] Mary Matalin, a counselor to Cheney, will recall, "You can have sound on one or the other [i.e. the TV broadcasts or the video teleconference], and [Cheney] found that technically imperfect." [CNN, 9/11/2002; CNN, 9/14/2002] According to Newsweek, this is the only thing that causes Cheney's composure to break and leads to him showing any irritation while he is in the PEOC. [NEWSWEEK, 12/30/2001]
Accounts Conflict over Whether Problem Is Fixed - It is unclear whether this technical problem with the televisions gets fixed. According to Perez, PEOC personnel are able to fix it. "It took them a little while, but they did get it together. They got it right," she will say. [WHITE HOUSE, 11/1/2001] But according to Hayes, the problem remains unfixed. [HAYES, 2007, PP. 342] Clarke will later give a different account of the problem with getting audio from television broadcasts and the video conference simultaneously. He will write that when he goes down to the PEOC sometime around midday (see (Shortly Before 12:30 p.m.) September 11, 2001), Army Major Mike Fenzel complains to him, "I can't hear the crisis conference because Mrs. Cheney [Lynne Cheney, the wife of the vice president] keeps turning down the volume on you so she can hear CNN." [CLARKE, 2004, PP. 18]
[B]Entity Tags: Lynne Cheney, Anna Perez, Condoleezza Rice, Richard A. Clarke, Eric Edelman, Presidential Emergency Operation Center, Mike Fenzel, Mary Matalin, Richard ("Dick") Cheney

[B]Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline[/B]
[B][B]Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Dick Cheney[/B][/B]


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(9:45 a.m.-9:56 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney Tells President Bush to Stay Away from Washington

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Shortly after boarding Air Force One, President Bush speaks by phone with Vice President Dick Cheney for approximately 10 minutes. [HAYES, 2007, PP. 335-336] According to the 9/11 Commission, Cheney had reached the underground tunnel leading to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House at 9:37 a.m. (see (9:37 a.m.) September 11, 2001). He and the Secret Service agents escorting him had paused in an area of the tunnel with a secure phone and a television. He'd then asked to speak to the president, but it had taken a while for his call to be connected. However, elsewhere in its final report, the Commission will indicate that Bush, not Cheney, makes this phone call, saying that after he'd boarded Air Force One, the president "called the vice president." [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 39-40] Cheney will later recall making "one phone call [to the president] from the tunnel. And basically I called to let him know that we [at the White House] were a target and I strongly urged him not to return to Washington right away, that he delay his return until we could find out what the hell was going on." [NEWSWEEK, 12/30/2001; [url=http://web.archive.org/web/20041020144854/http://www.decloah.com/mirrors/9-11/911_Report.txt]9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 4


New Bush admin 911 photos - Drew Phipps - 27-07-2015

Nothing quite shows off the gravitas of that fateful moment on 9/11 than putting your feet up on the desk to watch the buildings burn:

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And here's Colin Powell, looking none the worse for wear after using the White House teleporter to make a timely return from Lima, Peru.

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Also note the cheerful bowl of peanut M&M's and the plate of cookies thoughtfully prepared for our hard-working public servants to cope with the crisis.

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New Bush admin 911 photos - Drew Phipps - 27-07-2015

I hope you enjoyed those photos while they were available. I cannot find them on the NARA website
any more.