New Bush admin 911 photos

[Peter Lemkin]

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

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

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

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

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

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 ]
[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

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 ; 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 ]
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 ] 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 ]
[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

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 ; 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 ] 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 ; 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

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 ; 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 ;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

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

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

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

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