September 11, 2001

One inescapable conclusion is that most agencies of the U.S. government suffered a near-total failure to perform their stated functions.

It's debatable whether the government could have actually lessened or prevented any deaths by doing its job that day. What is painfully clear, however, is that just about everyone who could drop the ball did drop the ball.

Nothing functioned the way it was supposed to, and America was leaderless in most meaningful senses for the entire duration of the most stunning homeland attack in history.

Eventually, a leader finally did emerge, a forceful figure giving orders and making the tough calls from the nerve center of the American government. Unfortunately, that leader did not happen to be the constitutionally elected President of the United States.

The following minute-by-minute chronology is not filled with controversial half-truths. All of the facts below are firmly established, with only two serious exceptions, both of which are specifically highlighted in the text.

The main body of the story is largely drawn from numerous staff reports by the 9/11 Commission, which are by far the primary source. A handful of juicy details were drawn from "A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies" by James Bamford and "Against All Enemies" by Richard A. Clarke. A few additional details came from timelines published by the New York Times, the Washington Post and CNN, as well as official White House records of the day.

The tale that unfolds here is long and painful, but important. Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. The list of mistakes made on September 11, 2001, is daunting. But we can't afford to repeat them.

When Ignorance Is Understandable

The result? While ground-level workers in every branch of government did their best to address the situation, key middle managers sat frozen in indecision and effectively stopped the movement of vital information both up and down the chain of command.

When Ignorance Is Not Understandable

While NORAD did send orders DOWN the chain of command, virtually no information about what was happening traveled UP the chain of command. Between NORAD and the FAA, middle managers and bureaucrats were making ALL the decisions about how to handle what was quickly evolving into a wartime crisis.

Meanwhile, a full half-hour into the crisis, the White House and the nation's top intelligence officials were getting ALL of their information from television news, and even that information was not being distributed efficiently.

So the president of the United States shrugged off a full-scale assault on his country in favor of listening to elementary school students read, while the director of the CIA ate breakfast, the acting commander of the combined armed forces schmoozed with a congressman for 45 minutes, the director of the NSA conducted a routine staff meeting and the vice president only found out what was going on when he plopped down in front of a TV.

8:34	Mohammed Atta: "Nobody move please. We are going back to the airport. Don't try to make any stupid moves."
8:34	Boston controllers take it on themselves to call the military.
8:37	United Airlines Flight 175 tells Boston controllers that it saw American 11 fly past.
8:38	Boston controllers reach the Northeast Air Defense Sector of NORAD. NORAD is conducting a security training exercise at the time, and the call is initially believed to be part of the drill.
8:40	Someone at the FAA thinks to call Northeast Air Defense Sector of NORAD. The following exchange takes place: FAA: Hi. Boston Center TMU, we have a problem here. We have a hijacked aircraft headed towards New York, and we need you guys to, we need someone to scramble some F-16s or something up there, help us out. NORAD: Is this real-world or exercise? FAA: No, this is not an exercise, not a test.

8:51	New York air traffic controllers realize United 175's transponder code is screwed up.
8:52	Four companies of NYC firemen arrive at WTC Tower 1.
8:52	Two F-15s lift off from Otis Air Base in Massachusetts, but they don't know where they're going once they get into the air.
8:52	New York air traffic controllers hail United 175 and get no response.
~8:53	George W Bush is informed than an airplane has crashed into the WTC.
8:54	American 77 breaks from its flight path.
8:55	New York controllers realize United 175 has been hijacked.
8:55	Condoleezza Rice tells Bush that the plane which hit the WTC was a twin-engine commercial jet.
8:56	NY controllers try to inform their managers that another plane has been hijacked, but they're in a meeting to talk about the first one and refuse to take the call.
8:56	American 77 turns off its transponder. Air traffic controllers in Indianapolis realize they've lost track of the flight. The controllers are not, however, aware that any airplanes have been hijacked this fine morning.
8:58	New York police department declares the highest possible level of emergency, sending hundreds more police officers to the scene.
8:59	Fire chiefs decide to evacuate WTC Tower 1.

9:03	Exactly too late to do anything about it, NORAD is informed that a second plane has been hijacked.
9:03	Before beginning a photo-op with elementary school students in Florida, George W. Bush says that he saw "an airplane hit the tower" on TV.
9:04	Having seen the second plane crash on TV, Cheney and aides in the White House suddenly realize through the power of deductive reasoning that the first crash wasn't an accident... despite having received no information through official channels a full 40 minutes after Mohammed Atta first announced on an open mike that American 11 had been hijacked.
9:04	Using the power of deductive reasoning, Bush determines he should go hang out with the elementary school students. Bush later claims the crash he saw on TV one minute earlier was the FIRST plane, but the video of the first crash did not air until much later in the day.
9:04	Using the power of deductive reasoning, Boston air traffic controllers decide to ground all scheduled takeoffs from this point forward.
9:04	Around this time, Lt. General Michael Hayden, chief of the National Security Agency, learns of the attacks. The leader of America's early warning intelligence system gets the information from an aide who saw it on CNN, according to Bamford.
9:04	Bush enters the elementary school classroom to expound on the joys of reading.

When Ignorance Is 'Projecting Calm'

9:05	Boston tells FAA Command Center that Atta's broadcast said the hijackers had "planes. Plural."
9:05	New York controllers ground all scheduled takeoffs and landings, and ban all commercial aircraft from entering central New York airspace.
9:06	White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispers into the President's ear: "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack." Bush told the 9/11 commission "his instinct was to project calm, not to have the country see an excited reaction at a moment of crisis." You can watch the unedited video of the president "projecting calm." (Link to video) The clip starts with Card's whisper and runs five minutes. Discuss amongst yourselves.
9:06-9:10	Boston controllers ordered to inform all pilots in the air to heighten cockpit security. Boston suggests to the FAA that this instruction be given nationwide, but the FAA simply ignores this very good suggestion.
9:10	Around this time, the head of the National Security Agency - the primary early-warning intelligence service for the U.S. - learns that a second airplane has hit the World Trade Centers and that America is under attack... not from a fancy satellite monitor, or a secure COM-SIG-INT intercept, but from watching CNN.
9:07-9:12	George W. Bush sits quietly in that Florida classroom listening to the children demonstrate reading aloud for five full minutes after being officially informed that America is under attack. "Woo! These are great readers! Very impressive!" are the first words he speaks after being informed of the attack.
9:08	NORAD learns that the second plane has crashed into the WTC. The commander on duty says "We need to talk to FAA. We need to tell 'em if this stuff is gonna keep on going, we need to take those fighters, put 'em over Manhattan. That's best thing, that's the best play right now. So coordinate with the FAA. Tell 'em if there's more out there, which we don't know, let's get 'em over Manhattan. At least we got some kind of play."
9:08-9:13	Despite the grand intentions in the preceding quote, the F-15s spend the next several minutes circling off of Long Island, not receiving any orders to actually do anything.
9:08	Indianapolis air traffic controllers contact Air Force Search and Rescue at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, to report American 77 as having crashed (their best guess as to what had happened).
9:09	Indianapolis controllers report the missing American 77 to the FAA regional center.
9:15	While leaderless Air Force pilots continue to fly around pointlessly, Bush FINALLY gets out of his chair and works his way to the door. There are conflicting accounts about how long this takes. In an adjoining room, he is briefed by his staff, which is getting its information off the TV. Bush decides to return to Washington. (More on this decision below.)

9:17	FAA shuts down all New York City airports.
9:20	Indianapolis controllers learn that other planes have been hijacked. They wonder if they might have missed something here.
9:20	FAA initiates a cross-agency teleconference on the hijackings.
9:21	Port Authority closes all bridges and tunnels in the New York area.
9:21	The following exchange takes place between the FAA and NORAD, referring to American Flight 11 which crashed into the WTC more than half an hour earlier. FAA: Military, Boston Center. I just had a report that American 11 is still in the air, and it's on its way towards - heading towards Washington. NORAD: Okay. American 11 is still in the air? FAA: Yes. NORAD: On its way towards Washington? FAA: That was another - it was evidently another aircraft that hit the tower. That's the latest report we have.
9:23	NORAD scrambles fighters from Langley Air Force Base to Washington on a mission to shoot down American 11. Which is, as previously noted, has already crashed into the World Trade Center.
9:25	Regional FAA officials tell FAA headquarters about the missing American 77, fully sixteen minutes after they first got the call from Indianapolis.

'Everybody Just Left The Room'

Bear in mind that there are still more than 4,000 planes in the air. Only two of these will end up being hijacked. Having an Air Force doesn't count for much when the pilots don't know what to shoot at.

9:30	Around this time, CIA Director Tenet has his breakfast interrupted, a full hour after Mohammed Atta announced his hijacking over an open mike. "I wonder if it has anything to do with this guy taking pilot training," he says on hearing the news.
9:32	Cleveland controllers hear a broadcast on United 93's frequency: "Ladies and gentlemen, here it's the captain. Please sit down. Keep remaining sitting down. We have a bomb on board."
9:32	Air traffic controllers at Dulles airport "observed a primary radar target tracking eastbound at a high rate of speed." The FAA notifies the Secret Service.
9:34	While telling NORAD to watch out for the still-crashed American 11, the FAA mentions to NORAD that American 77 is also missing. This is the very first time NORAD has heard about American 77.
9:34	FAA headquarters is notified that United 93 has been hijacked.
9:35	The lobby of WTC Tower 2 is flooded with wounded people attempting to evacuate.
9:35	Bush's motorcade leaves the Florida school and heads for the Sarasota airport.
9:36	A different FAA center calls NORAD and informs them that radar is tracking an aircraft speeding toward Washington, and heading toward the White House.
9:36	When Cleveland air traffic controllers ask if they should inform the military, the FAA Command Center tells them the FAA will handle it.

9:37	Secret Service agents physically seize Cheney from his desk and carry him down into a bunker underneath the White House.
9:37	NORAD discovers that the planes it thought were over Baltimore are actually out over the ocean, due to the fact that no one gave the pilots clear orders about where to go.
9:37	Defense Department starts an "Air Threat" teleconference, which continues for the next eight hours and includes the president and vice president, secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and all the top military brass. The FAA - the lead federal agency actually DEALING with the crisis - is not included in this conference for the next 40 minutes because it can't get its shit together and get on a secure phone line.
9:38	A National Guard aircraft, ordered to track the incoming radar bogey, reports that the target is a Boeing 757, and then... "(It) looks like that aircraft crashed into the Pentagon, sir."
9:38	American 77 crashes into the Pentagon. Rumsfeld is in a teleconference with Richard Clarke when the plane hits, according to Richard Clarke in Against All Enemies. The fact that Rumsfeld was still on camera was the only way Clarke knew the Pentagon hadn't been completely obliterated.
9:39	United 93 radios Cleveland controllers, yet again proving that the intercom system is the most confusing part of an airplane: "Uh, is the captain. Would like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb on board and are going back to the airport, and to have our demands (unintelligible). Please remain quiet."

At 9:39, NORAD could not produce an accurate summary of what was going on, despite the fact that news reports clearly proved that two airplanes had crashed into the World Trade Centers. NORAD's latest information was "of a possible hijacked aircraft taking off out of JFK en route to Washington D.C." This was not a reference to United 93, at least not one based on the information they had formally received so far.

9:42	FAA orders all air traffic in the United States to immediately land at the nearest facility. At this moment, that amounts to about 4,500 airplanes.
9:45	Noticing smoke coming from the Pentagon, members of Congress panic and begin a disorderly evacuation on their own initiative. No one tells them what's going on, or where they should go.
9:45	Eight minutes after deciding it's too dangerous for Cheney to be in the White House, the Secret Service decides it's too dangerous for everyone else and evacuates the building.
9:45	The Secret Service decides it's too dangerous for the president to return to Washington. For posterity, the 9/11 commission found that "All witnesses agreed that the President strongly wanted to return to Washington and only grudgingly agreed to go elsewhere." OK, man. Keep your dignity.
9:45	Bush calls Cheney from Air Force One on the ground. Bush says: "Sounds like we have a minor war going on here, I heard about the Pentagon. We're at war... somebody's going to pay." Cheney urges Bush not to return to Washington. (All witnesses agreed that every cell in Bush's virile, courageous, sweaty body screamed out against this advice and that he yearned instead to throw himself personally into the fray, even volunteering to fly the fighter planes himself.)
9:45	United 93 passenger Todd Beamer calls a phone company supervisor from the plane. He describes the hijacking and hears about the other attacks.

Shoot To Kill!

Two hours into the attack, there was still no coordinated response from the American government. In fact, as the hours passed, it became agonizingly clear that the U.S. government barely even knew which planes had crashed where.

In fact, the only possible order which could have made a difference -- the order to shoot down planes which refused to divert from attack routes -- was given 10 minutes after the last hijacked plane had already crashed.

While the order was probably right and sensible, the sad fact is that the horse was long, long gone by the time the barn door was locked.

9:53	First media reports that a plane has hit the Pentagon.
9:53	FAA bureaucrats continue to discuss whether to request that fighters intercept United 93.
9:54	FAA command center loses radar contact with United 93.
9:54	United 93 passenger Thomas Burnett tells his wife he thinks the hijackers are planning to crash the plane. He tells her, "There's three of us who are going to do something about it."
9:55	Cheney advises Bush over the phone that three planes were missing and one had hit the Pentagon.
9:55	Partial evacuation of the Pentagon ordered.
9:55	Elderly, handicapped and other slower-moving people are still evacuating Towers One and Two of the WTC complex.
9:55	Air Force One takes off, with no destination recorded at takeoff.
9:58	United 93 passenger Todd Beamer is heard over an open phone line announcing, "Let's roll," as the passengers began an attempt to take back the cockpit.
9:59	The Deputy National Security adviser requests could someone, somewhere, please start working on ensuring the continuity of government, that someone produce fighters to escort Air Force One to where ever it's going, and that a fighter combat air patrol be put into place over Washington, DC.

10:26	Tower Two of the World Trade Center collapses in a cloud of dust.
10:30	Faced with a report of another hijacked plane coming in fast, Cheney for the third time orders the military to shoot down any incoming aircraft. The incoming target is later determined to be a Medevac helicopter. It is not shot down.
10:30	Deciding to take a break from rescuing people in a burning building, Donald Rumsfeld begins to acquaint himself with what exactly the hell has been going on in this country.
10:31	Nearly half an hour after the last hijacked airplane has crashed, NORAD is finally informed that it has authorization to shoot down hijacked airplanes. An internal NORAD text message reads: "Vice president has cleared to us to intercept tracks of interest and shoot them down if they do not respond." Most NORAD operators are confused by the message, so it is never actually sent to the pilots of the fighters in Washington D.C. and New York City airspace.
10:32	Media reports a car bomb exploding at the State Department, but these reports are wrong.
10:33	Two hours and 20 minutes since the first hijacking began, the federal government has failed to execute a single action that in any measurable way prevented or contained any aspect of the biggest terrorist attack in the history of America.
10:34	A second chance to go back in time and do something, ANYTHING, to prevent or contain the attack fails to materialize.

That's 'President' Cheney To You...

It is perhaps worth noting at this point the mere technicality that the vice president has no statutory power to give orders during a moment of crisis in which the president is NOT incapacitated.

Technically, Bush was not incapacitated at this moment, except perhaps for being rendered insensate by his overwhelming desire to get back to Washington and face danger like a man. Technically, the next person after Bush who is authorized to give the "shoot to kill" order, is Donald Rumsfeld and not Dick Cheney. The President cannot delegate his commander-in-chief authority outside the chain of command. That's why they have a chain in the first place.

Though tempting, it's hard to fault Cheney in this situation. Frankly, if you yourself happened to be walking through the White House bunker on that day, and someone ran up to you and asked "should we shoot down a hijacked aircraft headed right for us," you would have felt justified in saying "shoot first and ask about the appropriate constitutional delegation of authority later."

The more pertinent question is: Why wasn't the President running things?

There are military bases in Florida with everything Bush could have needed to take charge of the situation, while a more secure facility was prepared. And there were multiple facilities suitable for housing the president in this sort of crisis.

Instead, as the entries above and below illustrate, Bush was content to let Cheney call the shots -- literally -- on what was indisputably the most important day of his presidency.

CHENEY: There's been at least three instances here where we've had reports of aircraft approaching Washington—a couple were confirmed hijack. And, pursuant to the President's instructions I gave authorization for them to be taken out. Hello?

RUMSFELD: Yes, I understand. Who did you give that direction to?

CHENEY: It was passed from here through the operations center at the White House, from the (shelter).

RUMSFELD: OK, let me ask the question here. Has that directive been transmitted to the aircraft?

CHENEY: Yes, it has.

RUMSFELD: So we've got a couple of aircraft up there that have those instructions at the present time?

CHENEY: That is correct. And it's my understanding they've already taken a couple of aircraft out.

RUMSFELD: We can't confirm that. We're told that one aircraft is down but we do not have a pilot report that they did it.

As far as anyone credibly knows, no one actually "took a couple of aircraft out." Also, as previously noted, none of the pilots had been informed of their shootdown authorization.

Why Even Have An Air Force One?

The presidential jet was an easy flight from at least three different facilities designed exactly for this sort of national emergency, including NORAD's underground Operations Center, FEMA's Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center in Virginia, and "Site R," a supersecret military command post near the Maryland border (described in detail by James Bamford in "A Pretext for War"). Every one of these facilities was just as effective as the White House bunker for running a war. Every one of these facilities was effectively immune to bomb and kamikaze jet attacks.

But while the Vice President was issuing extra-constitutional orders that made Alexander Haig look like a rank amateur, the President was nowhere to be found. To explore the reason for this, we must add the following entry to our chronology but qualify it extensively:

On September 12, the claim was first made by presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer. "We have specific and credible information that the White House and Air Force One were also intended targets of these attacks."

Specific and credible? The Washington Post gave the following colorful account of the threat in a January 2002 article:

Cheney called Bush on Air Force One, on its way from Florida to Washington, to say the White House had just received a threat against the plane. The caller had used its code word, "Angel," suggesting terrorists had inside information. Card was told it would take between 40 minutes and 90 minutes to get a protective fighter escort up to Air Force One.

Bush told an aide that Air Force One "is next." He was in an angry mood. "We're going to find out who did this," he said to Cheney, "and we're going to kick their asses."

Air Force One was still en route to Washington when Cheney called again at 10:41 a.m. This time, he urged Bush not to return. "There's still a threat to Washington," the vice president said. Rice agreed, and had told the president the same thing.

There was little debate or discussion. Cheney was worried the terrorists might be trying to decapitate the government, to kill its leaders. Bush agreed.

Within minutes, those on board the president's plane could feel it bank suddenly and sharply to the left, its course now westerly toward Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. It was within easy range, and once there food and fuel could be loaded and the president could have access to its more sophisticated communications systems.

The threat to the plane turned out to be false. Someone inside the White House had heard a threat to Air Force One, perhaps in a phoned-in call, and passed it up the line using the code word "Angel." Others thought the threatening caller had used the code word. It took days for the incident to be sorted out and weeks before the White House publicly acknowledged it.

Whatever the rationale, Bush was not coming back to Washington for several hours.

The Aftermath

The President spent these hours contemplating the attack. By his own account, his first reaction was a desire to get even, and just as soon as he dared set foot back in Washington, he would, by God! The nation went into lockdown, as the false alarms continued to trickle in, and shellshocked Americans would eventually fall asleep with the TV on. And that TV is still on today...

8:30	Bush addresses the country for seven minutes. He articulates the fateful Bush Doctrine for the very first (but far from the last) time: Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government's emergency response plans. Our military is powerful, and it's prepared. Our emergency teams are working in New York City and Washington, D.C. to help with local rescue efforts. Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured, and to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks. The functions of our government continue without interruption. Federal agencies in Washington which had to be evacuated today are reopening for essential personnel tonight, and will be open for business tomorrow. Our financial institutions remain strong, and the American economy will be open for business, as well. The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.
9:00	Bush meets with his National Security Council.
11:08	Awakened from sleep, George and Laura Bush rushed to underground bunker beneath the White House, after a report of an unidentified plane in the area. It was a false alarm.
11:59	"Good night, George." "Good night, Laura. I sure hope tomorrow goes better than today did." "Me too, George. Me too."