 "I do not know, with what kind of weapons the Third World War will be led,
Albert Einstein MG Ivany would like everyone to see the following message from the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Army: "On the morning of 11 September, our nation sustained a horrifying attack against our people, our property, and our sovereignty. In its assault on our freedom and liberty, this brutal act of war is an attack against all who embrace the principles of peace, freedom and democracy. In New York, in Washington, in Pennsylvania, this terrorist attack on humanity has cost us the dearest of our friends and colleagues, our loved ones both military and civilian. We do not yet know the full extent of our losses, but we know already the strength of our resolve--the dedication of the thousands of our men and women who are working together to deal with this crisis; the unfaltering sense of duty, of honor, of sacrifice of those countless numbers who--in many cases--have risked their own lives to save the lives of others. Along with the rest of the nation and our sister services, the Army is still calling the roll, accounting for the missing, assessing the damage, and moving rapidly to full operational capability. But let us assure you: attacks of this nature--indeed any attack against our country and its people wherever they serve--may stun momentarily, but as history shows, this nation will prevail. It will absorb the blows of the threatened and paranoid who fear our principles of freedom and democracy and the fundamental dignity of each man, woman and child to enjoy peace and the right of self-determination. It is not the U.S. that threatens these terrorist agents; it is our way of life and our celebration of individual human dignity. We will emerge from this attack stronger--with greater resolve to prevail against the forces of hatred and darkness. Our nonnegotiable contract with the American people remains the cause of peace and the alleviation of suffering, but when called, we will fight and we will win our nation's wars as we have for over 226 years. And the legacy of our nation's most esteemed institution remains the American soldier--the centerpiece of our formations. We are strong; we are ready; and we will keep faith with our fallen comrades and their loved ones. And we will fulfill our contract. God bless you, God bless the Army, and God Bless America." |
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Chronology of terror
Posted: September 11, 2001 http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack/index.html
11:26 a.m.: United Airlines reports that United Flight 93, en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, has crashed in Pennsylvania. The airline also says that it is "deeply concerned" about United Flight 175 that departed from Washington's Dulles International Airport.
11:18 a.m.: American Airlines reports it has lost two aircraft. American Flight 11, a Boeing 767 flying from Boston to Los Angeles, had 81 passengers and 11 crew aboard. Flight 77, a Boeing 757 en route from Washington's Dulles Airport to Los Angeles, had 58 passengers and six crew members aboard.
11:16 a.m.: CNN reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing bioterrorism teams to respond to the incidents in a precautionary move. The preparation is not based on any known bioterrorism threat.
11:02 a.m.: New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani urges citizens to stay at home and orders an evacuation of the area south of Canal Street.
10:54 a.m.: Israel evacuates all diplomatic missions.
10:53 a.m.: New York's primary elections scheduled for today are postponed.
10.48 a.m.: Police confirm the crash of a large plane in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
10.46 a.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell cuts short his trip to Latin America to return to the United States.
10:45 a.m.: All federal office buildings in Washington are evacuated.
10:30 a.m.: The north tower of the World Trade Center collapses from the top down as if it were being peeled apart with a tremendous array of debris and smoke.
10:24 a.m.: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reports that all inbound transatlantic aircraft flying into the United States are being diverted to Canada.
10:22 a.m.: In Washington, the State and Justice departments are evacuated, along with the World Bank.
10:13 a.m.: The United Nations building evacuates, including 4,700 people from the headquarters building and 7,000 total from UNICEF and U.N. development programs.
10:10 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93 crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh.
10:08 a.m.: Secret Service agents armed with automatic rifles are deployed into Lafayette Park across from the White House.
10:05 a.m.: The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses, plummeting into the streets below. A massive cloud of dust and debris forms and slowly drifts away from the building.
9:51 a.m.: The FAA halts all flight operations at U.S. airports, the first time in U.S. history that air traffic nationwide has been halted.
9:45 a.m.: The White House evacuates.
9:43 a.m.: An aircraft crashes into the Pentagon, sending up a huge plume of smoke. Evacuation begins immediately.
President Bush is to convene a national security meeting immediately upon his return to Washington. The president has spoken with Vice President Dick Cheney and New York Gov. George Pataki.
New York City Port Authority orders all bridges and tunnels in the New York City area closed.
A second plane, apparently a passenger jet, crashes into the second World Trade Center tower and explodes. Both buildings are burning.
A large plane, possibly a hijacked airliner, crashes into one of the World Trade Center towers, tearing a gaping hole in the building and setting it afire.
09/12/2001 - Updated 09:10 AM ET
Bin Lade happy over attack, denies involvement
AP file Source
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden congratulated the people who carried out the deadly terrorist strikes in the United States, but denied Wednesday that he was involved, a Palestinian journalist said. "Osama bin Laden thanked Almighty Allah and bowed before him when he heard this news," Jamal Ismail, Abu Dhabi Television's bureau chief in Islamabad, said, quoting a close aide of bin Laden's. Ismail said the aide, whom he wouldn't identify by name, called him early Wednesday on a satellite telephone from a hide-out in Afghanistan. Bin Laden praised the people who carried out the attacks in Washington and New York, Ismail said, quoting the aide. "But he had no information or knowledge about the attack" ahead of time, Ismail said.
September 12, 2001
FINAL MOMENTS
Solicitor General Got 2 Calls From Wife on Doomed Plane
By NEIL A. LEWIS
Reuters
Theodore B. Olson said his wife told him, "We're being hijacked."
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/national/12OLSO.html
ASHINGTON, Sept. 11 — In the final moments before a hijacked American Airlines jetliner crashed into the Pentagon, Theodore B. Olson, the solicitor general of the United States, was sitting at his desk in the Justice Department this morning when an aide rushed in to tell him his wife, Barbara, was on the telephone.
Mrs. Olson, a well-known conservative television commentator, was in the rear of the airliner, telling her husband that the pilot and passengers of the plane had been herded into the back.
Mr. Olson said his wife had made two quick calls to him before the plane crashed killing her and everyone else on the plane. According to his account, Mrs. Olson said that there were at least two hijackers on the plane and that they were armed with knives and what she called a cardboard cutter.
In the first call, apparently at the beginning of the hijacking, she told him, "We're being hijacked," before the connection was abruptly ended. She called back minutes later to say that all the passengers and the pilot and cabin crew members had been herded into the back of the Boeing 757, which had taken off from Dulles Airport for Los Angeles.
"She asked me, `What should I tell the pilot?' " Mr. Olson said in a conversation with a reporter at his home in Great Falls, Va., outside Washington. "She was trying to do something."
From her description, Mr. Olson said he surmised that the pilot was alongside his wife in the aft section and that the hijackers were in control of the cockpit.
He said that Mrs. Olson only said of the hijackers that there was more than one by referring to them as "hijackers."
Mr. Olson, who is the nation's chief lawyer before the Supreme Court, was surrounded this afternoon by large numbers of friends, many of them prominent government figures, including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Virginia Lamp Thomas.
When his wife first called, Mr. Olson was aware that two other commercial jets had been hijacked and had been flown into the World Trade Center Towers in New York. After the call was suddenly disconnected, Mr. Olson informed the Justice Department command center by phone of the situation with the American Airlines jet.
Mr. Olson said that on the second call he told his wife of what had happened earlier at the World Trade Center to make clear the danger she and her fellow passengers were in. He said that he was unsure of whether to tell her, but that "we shared everything with each other."
Mr. Olson, who was moist-eyed but stolid, said that he and his wife exchanged other, more personal words in their final moments, which he said he would not share.
Mrs. Olson was on the way to a media and business conference in Los Angeles and had originally been scheduled to leave on a Monday flight. She had postponed her trip, friends said today, to spend the morning with her husband, whose 61st birthday was today.
9/12/2001 - Updated 10:44 AM ET
Military boosts security around the nation
By Sonja Barisic, The Associated Press
NORFOLK, Va. — Navy installations along the East Coast tightened security Tuesday to the highest levels after terrorist planes crashed into the World Trade Center and explosions rocked the Pentagon and State Department.
''We have been attacked like we haven't since Pearl Harbor,'' Adm. Robert J. Natter said at a news conference at the Norfolk Navy base.
Natter, commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, sent Navy ships to the New York and Washington, D.C., areas to assist with air defense and medical needs. He declined to identify the ships or specify how many are involved and wouldn't disclose details about the deployment.
September 12, 2001
THE OPERATION
Terrorism Carefully Planned and Synchronized, and Devastatingly Effective
By TIM GOLDEN Source
t was, in the annals of terrorism, an exquisitely choreographed operation.
In the minutes before and after 8 yesterday morning, four large passenger jets lifted off at major eastern airports, headed for California.
It was the time of the morning when airports are usually buzzing, when vacationers get an early start on long days of travel and business people leave the East Coast expecting to arrive in time for meetings in the afternoon.
The planes, two Boeing 767's and two 757's, were not especially full. Each had two pilots and none had a more than nine flight attendants on board. But all carried thousands of gallons of fuel, more than enough to make the cross-country flight.
And once aloft, they were remarkably effective flying bombs.
Just what happened onboard the flights may not be clear for weeks or months, if ever. In brief, panicked calls from cellular telephones, at least a few passengers told of hijackers, armed with knives, subduing crew members and seizing control. In one call, an official said, a flight attendant reported that two other flight attendants had been stabbed.
What is obvious, though, is that the attacks represented a new weapon in the terrorist arsenal, an ingenious marriage of old-school hijacking and the ever-more-familiar suicide bomb.
In each case, the authorities said, it appeared that terrorists — probably teams of terrorists — had managed to board the flights undetected, overcome the flight attendants, penetrate cockpits that are normally kept locked, and gain control of the aircraft. It was likely, experts said, that at least one attacker aboard each plane knew something about flying a jet.
As with the 1998 bombings of United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and a foiled plot to bomb a dozen American jetliners in East Asia over a period of a few days in January 1995, the synchronization of the attacks in New York and Washington appeared to be part of their symbolism.
But more than any previous terrorist action in the United States, the hijackings yesterday were astounding examples of planning and coordination.
"This was an incredibly complicated operation," said Daniel Benjamin, a terrorism expert who served until this year on the National Security Council. "It's hard to imagine the kind of work and preparation and coordination that went into something like this."
The four planes took off within minutes of each other. American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767, left Logan Airport in Boston for Los Angeles at 7:59 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175, another 767 from Logan to Los Angeles, departed from an adjoining terminal at 8:14 a.m.
At Dulles International Airport in Virginia, the main international gateway for Washington, American Flight 77, a Boeing 757, left for Los Angeles at 8:21 a.m. United Flight 93, left Newark International Airport for San Francisco at 8:43.
What the pilots and crews were able to communicate with air-traffic controllers has not been revealed.
One official involved in piecing together what happened said the attackers on at least one plane managed to turn off its transponder, the radio transmitter that communicates the plane's identity and altitude to ground controllers. Former federal law-enforcement officials familiar with airline security said that any such action should have immediately alerted air-traffic controllers that something was seriously wrong.
At 8:28, as American Flight 11 flew west over Amsterdam, N.Y., it made a sharp turn and headed south on a looping path toward New York City.
According to information from the Federal Aviation Administration, United Flight 175 did not deviate from its flight plan until it hit northern New Jersey. It then turned and flew almost due south before turning again and flying north to Manhattan.
On board one of the two American flights, an official said, a flight attendant made a desperate call to the airline's operations center, apparently using a cellular telephone.
Two other flight attendants had been stabbed, the attendant said.
A hijacker had broken into the cockpit. The flight attendant knew the seat number of one of the hijackers, but apparently was unable to clarify much of what was going on, including the number of attackers.
"We can only imagine what happened," the official said.
On board American Flight 77, Barbara Olson, a conservative television commentator, called her husband from a cellular telephone. Mrs. Olson said hijackers, armed with knives and a box cutter, had herded a pilot, flight attendants and most of the 58 passengers into the back of the plane.
In San Francisco, Alice Hoglan told KTVU-TV that her son, Mark Bingham, 31, had called her from aboard United Flight 93, The Associated Press reported. "We've been taken over," he said. "There are three men that say they have a bomb."
The indication that at least some of the pilots may not have been at the controls when the planes crashed led some terrorism experts to speculate that the hijackers had flight training. But two commercial pilots who train others said that turning a jet into a building would require some aviation skill, but not a great deal.
"You can just turn the yoke," said one pilot, referring to the plane's controls. "An airplane of this size doesn't require the same coordination used for a light airplane. It's not as though you have to have any particular knowledge of flight-control systems."
Aviation experts noted that the cockpits of the two Boeing aircraft, the 757 and the 767, are virtually the same. Some time in a flight simulator, or even with a computer software program, might have been training enough to accomplish the terrorists' goal, they said.
Another question that remains unanswered is how much the authorities knew about the hijackings as they unfolded. But in Pennsylvania, an emergency dispatcher reported receiving a cellular telephone call from United Flight 93 from a passenger locked in one of the bathrooms of the 757.
"We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!" the man was quoted as saying, according to The Associated Press. The airplane was "going down," the man said, shortly before it crashed in a field about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
While the authorities would say almost nothing about the apparent planning of the attacks, terrorism experts said it was likely that they had taken months or even years to prepare.
In order to overcome airport security, it is probable that the terrorists had teams of people in each of the cities where the planes took off. The history of terrorism suggests that they would have conducted careful surveillance to determine the nature of the security measures at the airports, the operations of the airlines and the reliability of their schedules.
"They had to be around airports a lot, they had to practice, and they couldn't stand out in a crowd," Mr. Benjamin said. "They did not just fly in for this."
Several terrorism experts said the attacks immediately recalled Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the man convicted in 1996 of leading terrorist cells that plotted attacks on American targets in the United States and abroad.
Because Mr. Yousef had managed to organize the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center with a loosely knit and poorly trained group of comrades, officials had tended to discount other plans he had: for complex, coordinated attacks, and blowing up commercial jetliners.
"The reaction of American law- enforcement officials and intelligence agencies was that this was pie- in-the-sky," said Vincent M. Cannistraro, a former counterterrorism official at the Central Intelligence Agency.
Attacks slow nation to near halt
Around the world, security is tightened
Source
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Air travel stopped, businesses closed and government facilities were evacuated Tuesday in the wake of apparent terrorist attacks that sent two hijacked airplanes into the World Trade Center, one aircraft into the Pentagon and one crashing to the ground in Pennsylvania.
The attacks slowed down travel, commerce and government operations and led to increased security worldwide. Below is a listing of how the attacks affected institutions that millions of people use and depend on to conduct their daily lives.
TRANSPORTATION
- For the first time in U.S. history, the Federal Aviation Administration shut down air traffic nationwide. The FAA said the ban would not be lifted until noon EDT Wednesday, at the earliest.
- Incoming trans-Atlantic flights were diverted to Canada. By day's end, British Columbia's Vancouver International Airport expected to receive at least 33 aircraft diverted from cities around the world, including Asia and the United States, carrying an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 passengers, according to an airport statement. Other planes were being diverted to Toronto International Airport.
- All tunnels and bridges into and out of New York City were shut down by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In Manhattan, subway service was shut down, but limited operations were later restored.
- Los Angeles International Airport was evacuated after the attacks. Three of the hijacked flights had been headed for the Los Angeles airport, including an American Airlines flight and a United Airlines flight, both from Boston, that crashed into the World Trade Center and an American Airlines flight that departed from Washington and later crashed into the Pentagon.
- United Airlines grounded all its flights worldwide.
Both the San Francisco International Airport and Boston's Logan International Airport were shut down and evacuated.
- Amtrak canceled all train service in the Northeast corridor from Boston to Washington, and the Greyhound bus company also canceled operations in the Northeast and in "select locations" around the country.
- There was heightened monitoring of all bridges and dams. The Grand Coulee Dam and powerhouse in central Washington state were locked down while its visitor center was closed. The Hoover Dam on the Nevada-Arizona line closed, including the highway that spans it, and officials in San Francisco tightened security at the Golden Gate Bridge.
- The U.S. section of the St. Lawrence Seaway was closed, and security for Great Lakes shipping was increased.
- Louisiana's Offshore Oil Port, which handles supertankers in the Gulf of Mexico, suspended operations.
- The Coast Guard inspected ships at St. Marys River, which links lakes Huron and Superior.
- Overseas, Great Britain and Belgium both banned commercial flights over their respective capitals, and Britain issued travel warnings to its citizens in the United States. Israel closed its airspace to international flights and evacuated staff from diplomatic missions and Jewish institutions around the world.
FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS INSTITUTIONS
- All major U.S. stock exchanges were closed and will remain closed Wednesday.
- The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, just three blocks from the World Trade Center, remained open throughout Tuesday's attacks, though it shifted its electronic funds transfer and security transfer system to backup computers at the Federal Reserve Regional Bank in Richmond, Virginia.
- The U.S. Federal Reserve system remained open, and its discount window provided liquidity to financial markets as needed.
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday it will announce when U.S. equities markets will reopen Wednesday.
- In Chicago, Illinois, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade were evacuated.
- Coca-Cola closed down its world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, sending personnel home.
- DaimlerChrysler and Ford Motor Co. all closed their headquarters in Michigan as well as closing many plants across the nation. General Motors allowed employees to go home if they so chose.
- Many other businesses around the country shut their doors or allowed employees to go home.
BUILDINGS
- The Sears Tower was shut down in Chicago.
- The upper floors of Louisiana's 34-story Capitol building closed in Baton Rouge.
- The 51-story IDS Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was closed, along with the Mall of America in suburban Bloomington and the World Trade Center in St. Paul.
- The United Nations in New York was evacuated as a precaution.
- Most universities and schools in the New York closed, including Columbia, New York University, Fordham and Pace. Six NYU dorms have been evacuated consistent with the evacuation of lower Manhattan.
GOVERNMENT
- All federal offices in Washington were closed. The city also declared a state of emergency.
- About a million federal workers across the country were sent home. The U.S. General Services Administration said all federal offices will reopen Wednesday, except those in New York. The majority of federal buildings were closed Tuesday.
- All federal and state buildings in Massachusetts were closed, including those in Boston, where two of the crashed planes originated.
- Security was increased at U.S. embassies around the world.
- Various state buildings were closed nationwide.
- Voting in the New York mayoral primary was halted and elections in Syracuse and Buffalo were delayed.
- The Southern Governors' Association canceled its annual fall meeting and the Democratic National Committee canceled meetings scheduled to begin Thursday in Miami, Florida.
MILITARY/POLICE
- U.S. military installations worldwide were placed on high alert. The Pentagon said the alert is known as Threatcon Delta. The alert means a terrorist attack has occurred or intelligence has been received that action against a specific location is likely.
- NASA administrator Daniel Goldin ordered seven NASA field centers closed, and technicians powered down and "safed" four space shuttle orbiters. The shuttles Discovery, Columbia and Endeavour are in their hangars known as Orbital Processing Facilities. Some 12,000 employees of Kennedy Space Center in Florida were sent home.
- Nonessential personnel from the Naval Weapons Station in Goose Creek, South Carolina, were evacuated and 1,700 workers at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center sent home.
- Oklahoma police created a one-block perimeter around the prison where bombing conspirator Terry Nichols is incarcerated.
- Japan ordered security increased outside U.S. military bases in Japan.
SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
- The 2001 Emmy Awards, scheduled for September 16 in New York, were postponed by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
- All Broadway shows were canceled Tuesday night, according to the League of American Theatres and Producers.
- In Seattle, Washington, the famous Space Needle was closed. The landmark also had been shut down during millennium celebrations in December 1999 amid fears of a terrorist attack.
- The Toronto International Film Festival canceled all activities Tuesday.
- New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art shut down.
- In Boston, tall buildings, including the Hancock and Prudential, were evacuated.
- In Philadelphia, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell were closed. National monuments in Boston also were closed.
- All major league baseball games scheduled for Tuesday night have been suspended.
- The NFL said the league is weighing what to do about this weekend's football games.
- Multiple collegiate athletics events were canceled.
- The PGA canceled Thursday's start of the World Golf Championship and two other tournaments.
- Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and all Disneyland parks in Anaheim, California, were closed, but resort hotels remain open for its guests.
- Universal Studios Hollywood closed.
- Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, Florida, shut down and offered refunds to guests.
- New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art shut down.
- Knott's Berry Farm in Orange County, California, was closed.
- In Los Angeles, the Museum of Tolerance and the 1,700-foot Library Tower were closed.
- The New Mexico State Fair was closed and horse races canceled.
- The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Tuesday’s diverted flights to take off
New security to be in place; all other flights grounded by FAA
MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Source
Sept. 12 — Airline flights diverted after Tuesday’s attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were authorized to finish their journeys Wednesday but all other planes remain grounded. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said that only passengers on the original flights could reboard and only after new security measures were put in place. Airlines also can move empty airplanes, Mineta said.
The reopened airports will have several new security procedures in place. According to transportation, airport and airline officials, they include:
- Thorough searches of all planes and airports
- No curbside check-ins, nor check-ins at hotels and other off-airport sites.
- Allowing only passengers to pass through security checkpoints to gates.
- A ban on all knives and other cutting instruments, including plastic.
- Uniformed police patrolling airports.
- Searches of flight crews, service personnel and vendors.
- Checks of passengers, using hand-held metal detectors.
- Armed sky marshals aboard airplanes.
AIRLINES REVIEWING PROCEDURES
Airports are reviewing their security procedures in light of the new requirements. Los Angeles International Airport, Atlanta Hartsfield Airport and Boston’s Logan International Airport have said they are not ready to reopen.
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Port Authority said that officials there had been instructed by Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift to go beyond the new FAA requirements and place state police at all security points at Logan. Two of the hijacked flights originated at Logan Airport.
One restriction requires all unauthorized vehicles within 300 feet of any terminal building to be removed. A spokesperson for Logan said that more than 9,000 vehicles are currently parked at Logan, and that removal of almost 2,500 cars from a garage near the airport’s B terminal has begun. This regulation may require the permanent closing of parking structures at numerous airports that are now considered too close to terminals.
The ban on knives includes knives used in concession areas and food and beverage stands as well as for sale, and affects both metal and plastic knives.
SAFETY REMAINS KEY
“I know all Americans want us to move as quickly and prudently as possible to return our transportation system to normal,” Mineta said, “and we will as soon as we can do so safely.”
The aviation shutdown ordered Tuesday was the first in the nation’s history.
Around the country, horrified would-be passengers watched Tuesday’s drama unfold on airport television screens.
“It’s absolutely stunning. I think it’s an act of war,” said June Locacio, 58, standing at a bar at Lambert Airport in St. Louis.
At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, long lines developed at pay phones to call friends and family.
“Someone is trying to make a serious statement, and I hope we do likewise,” said Scott Gilmore, 55, who had planned a trip to Washington before all flights were canceled.
VULNERABILITIES IN SYSTEM
The FAA also increased airport security after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 and the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996.
But a series of reports by Congress’ General Accounting Office and the Transportation Department’s inspector general found that plenty of holes remained in the aviation security net.
The GAO and inspector general found problems with low-paid airport security screeners, who must check passengers and carry-on baggage, and with equipment designed to detect bombs in luggage.
“Serious vulnerabilities in our aviation security system exist and must be adequately addressed,” the GAO warned in April 2000.
Inspector General Kenneth Mead reported in January that the FAA needed to improve training for airport security screeners and increase the use of bomb-detection machines. The inspector general’s office said last year that airport operators and airlines often did not conduct required background checks of employees.
Mary Schiavo, a former DOT inspector general who has been warning of lax airport security for a decade, told The Seattle Times that Tuesday’s coordinated attack of four flights scheduled to take off within 36 minutes of each other was “without a doubt an inside job” by terrorists who infiltrated airport security companies.
The inspector general’s office announced in August that it would assess what the Federal Aviation Administration was doing to make sure airlines were thoroughly screening passengers and their baggage.
FAA spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said the agency would be issuing new standards for training screeners.
SECURITY CONCERNS
Rep. John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation aviation subcommittee, said Tuesday he has been “concerned that we do not have in place the adequate emphasis on the right type of security nor the deployment of the right type of equipment.”
“We’ve seen that a determined terrorist isn’t going to be stopped by a metal detector and a couple of quick questions about who packed their luggage,” said Mica, R-Fla. “We’ve got to do things that have effective results.”
FAA officials said they would be reviewing security procedures, but they would not go into details.
The GAO also reported in June 2000 that airport screeners had missed as many as 20 percent of dangerous objects during tests. The agency blamed the problem on high turnover, low pay and inadequate training of staff.
There have been plenty of earlier warnings about problems with airline security. Two commissions, one formed after the terror attack on Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and one after the crash of TWA 800 off Long Island, N.Y., made a series of recommendations to improve airline security. Several suggestions never were followed.
2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
World Trade Center crumbles in terrorist attack
September 11, 2001 Posted: 1:45 p.m. EDT (1745 GMT) http://asia.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/new.york.terror/index.html
(CNN) -- Two airplanes crashed separately into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan shortly before and after 9 a.m. EDT in terrorist attacks that erased the 110-story towers from the Manhattan skyline.
The FBI was investigating reports that the first plane, a commercial flight from Boston, Massachusetts, may have been hijacked, The Associated Press reported. An eyewitness told CNN that about 8:35 a.m. he saw a 767 flying low down the center of Manhattan and veer left to fly directly into the south side of the north tower.
As witnesses gathered on the street observing the disaster in the north tower, a second, smaller plane crashed into the south tower. The towers can accommodate as many as 50,000 occupants, and witnesses reported that people panicked as smoke and fire swept through the structures.
" People were jumping out of the windows," an unidentified woman said through tears to a CNN reporter. "You can see them jumping out of the windows, if you go by there you can see them jumping out the windows right now!"
The Federal Aviation Administration closed all airports in the United States just before 10 a.m. EDT and routed all international flights bound for New York to Canada.
It was the second terrorist attack at the World Trade Center. Six people died
Bush : U.S. will hunt down terror culprits
September 11, 2001 Posted: 1:53 PM EDT (1753 GMT) http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/white.house/
BARKSDALE AFB, Louisiana (CNN) -- U.S. President George W. Bush, in a statement issued from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, said Tuesday afternoon that the United States would hunt down and punish those responsible for horrific, catastrophic terror attacks on New York and Washington.
"Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts," Bush said in a hastily arranged statement to White House pool reporters. The president said the U.S. military had been put on " high alert status " and said he had taken security precautions to ensure the functioning of the U.S. government.
" We have taken all appropriate security precautions to protect the American people, " he said.
Bush abandoned his education promotion trip in Florida on Tuesday after receiving word of the devastating series of presumed terrorist attacks in lower Manhattan and on the Pentagon, just outside of Washington, D. C.
Bush, before heading to a fueled and idling Air Force One on Tuesday morning, issued a brief statement in Sarasota, Florida, where he had spent the first portion of his morning reading to a gathering of elementary schoolchildren.
"Today we've had a national tragedy," Bush said, even as the situation continued to unfold, and the attacks continued. "Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country."
Bush boarded Air Force One shortly thereafter, and the plane departed.
The White House and the U.S. military, particularly the Air Force, have taken precautions to see that Air Force One was protected while in flight, presumably with fighter escorts.
CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King reported while Bush was in the air that the White House was evacuated, with many employees running away from the premises on orders from Secret Service agents. Vice President Dick Cheney remained there for a while longer, however, and received regular updates on the unfolding developments.
He was then taken to an undisclosed location.
The Secret Service instituted security checks on the streets near the White House, placed snipers atop nearby buildings, and a helicopter gunship was seen, at points, patrolling the airspace between the White House and Pentagon -- an area that includes Washington's National Mall.
The Pentagon, home of the Department of Defense and center of coordination between all the armed services, was struck by an airliner midmorning Tuesday, collapsing the portion of the building that houses offices of the U.S. Army, setting off a massive fire, and sending vast clouds of black smoke over Arlington, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
That attack followed the catastrophic destruction of lower Manhattan's World Trade Center towers, both of which were struck by what were believed to have been hijacked commercial aircraft. The buildings, symbols of the American commercial power and influence, folded in upon each other and disappeared in billowing clouds of dust, smoke and office paper.
Many were feared dead in both locations.
First lady Laura Bush, meanwhile, had been scheduled to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Tuesday morning, offering her husband an assist as he promoted his education agenda through the week.
The hearing was canceled when word reached the committee room of the first attacks in New York. An ashen Laura Bush, accompanied by committee Chairman Ted Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, approached a microphone and offered some words of comfort.
"Parents need to reassure their children everywhere in our country that they're safe," Mrs. Bush said. "Our hearts and our prayers go out to the victims of this act of terrorism," she said.
Mrs. Bush was later taken to an undisclosed location.
Evacuations were also ordered at the Capitol, the Justice Department and the State Department soon after the Pentagon was hit. The buildings of the Smithsonian Museum were also ordered closed, as well as the Supreme Court. There were no immediate reports of damage at those sites. Later, all federal office buildings in the city were closed and workers were told to go home.
Secretary of State Colin Powell was returning to Washington from Lima, Peru, cutting short his attendance at an international gathering.
Middle East, Asia condemn attacks
September 11, 2001 Posted: 1:35 PM EDT (1735 GMT) http://asia.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/09/11/terror.reax/index.html
By Alex Frew McMillan
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Governments around the world condemned Tuesday's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the United States.
The response was particularly strong in the Middle East, an area accustomed to dealing with terrorist attacks on its own soil.
Further east in Asia, nations expressed their official condolences and increased security around U.S. interests and sought word on their own citizens and staff in the United States.
In the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan expressed grief over the attack.
"We want to tell the American children that Afghanistan feels your pain and we hope that the courts find justice," Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef said.
The Islamic Taliban is the controlling power in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, called the assault " brutal and horrible. "
He expressed the sentiments of many leaders and countries around the world.
"The people and government of Pakistan deeply mourn the enormous and unprecedented loss of innocent lives," Musharraf said. "We share the grief of the American people in this grave national tragedy."
It is undoubtedly the worst peacetime attack, ever, on a single nation.
It is unclear how many people have died in the attacks, which involved hijacked commercial airlines crashing into some of the most important and symbolic buildings in the United States.
But the death toll is certain to be horrific.
One U.S. politician likened it to a second Pearl Harbor, referring to the Japanese attack on U.S. ships during World War II.
Japan PM called to official residence
On Tuesday, Japan's government and many Japanese companies were left searching desperately for their own citizens. Around 20 Japanese companies had offices in the World Trade Center.
Japan's Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, was called back to the official residence to huddle with cabinet members.
A spokesman for Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said she was monitoring the events.
"She condemns what is obviously the worst terrorist attack on a leader of civilized society,"" the spokesman said, according to Reuters.
South Korea's government ordered its diplomats in New York and Washington to ensure the safety of Koreans overseas, Yonhap news agency reported.
Foreign Minister Han Seung-soo is visiting New York with a South Korean delegation.
South Korea's Yonhap also reported that the ministry of defense had ordered "heightened vigilance" in the wake of the attacks on U.S. targets.
The U.S. State Department in the past week issued a warning to U.S. citizens in South Korea and Japan after getting information about a possible threat to U.S. military facilities and staff in the two Asian countries.
Hong Kong and Taiwan wait for news
In Hong Kong and Taiwan, authorities were trying to confirm how many of their companies were working in the World Trade Center.
Hong Kong's chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, expressed "shock and concern" over the tragedy.
Air authorities in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, joined many nations in canceling all flights to the United States.
China also condemned the attacks, which it called horrific.
Malaysia's Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, cancelled a planned trip to London because of the disaster. Malaysia's national carrier canceled flights and its markets will be closed.
Jordan's King Abdullah II cancelled a visit to the United States.
Arafat sends condolences
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and top aides were glued to events via television, watching from a seaside office in Gaza City.
"I send my condolences to the president, the government and the people for this terrible incident," said Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. "We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable."
Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri of Lebanon was also quick in offering condolences to U.S. President George W. Bush.
"These tragic actions contradict all human and religious values," Hariri said in a statement.
There were reports of gunfire in celebration of the attacks in Lebanon, home to some 360,000 Palestinian refugees.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the American people, calling the attacks " terrible tragedies," the Kremlin press service said.
As news of the largest-scale terrorist attack in history spread through the world, the U.S. State Department ordered diplomatic posts to take necessary precautions.
Some observers said they were scared as they awaited possible U.S. retribution for the attacks.
About The Pentagon http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pentagon/about.html
The Pentagon, headquarters of the Department of Defense, is one of the world's largest office buildings. It is twice the size of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and has three times the floor space of the Empire State Building in New York. The National Capitol could fit into any one of the five wedge-shaped sections. There are very few people throughout the United States who do not have some knowledge of the Pentagon. Many have followed news stories emanating from the defense establishment housed in this building. However, relatively few people have had the opportunity to visit with us.
The Pentagon is virtually a city in itself. Approximately 23,000 employees, both military and civilian, contribute to the planning and execution of the defense of our country. These people arrive daily from Washington, D.C. and its suburbs over approximately 30 miles of access highways, including express bus lanes and one of the newest subway systems in our country. They ride past 200 acres of lawn to park approximately 8,770 cars in 16 parking lots; climb 131 stairways or ride 19 escalators to reach offices that occupy 3,705,793 square feet. While in the building, they tell time by 4,200 clocks, drink from 691 water fountains, utilize 284 rest rooms, consume 4,500 cups of coffee, 1,700 pints of milk and 6,800 soft drinks prepared or served by a restaurant staff of 230 persons and dispensed in 1 dining room, 2 cafeterias, 6 snack bars, and an outdoor snack bar. The restaurant service is a privately run civilian operation under contract to the Pentagon.
Over 200,000 telephone calls are made daily through phones connected by 100,000 miles of telephone cable. The Defense Post Office handles about 1,200,000 pieces of mail monthly. Various libraries support our personnel in research and completion of their work. The Army Library alone provides 300,000 publications and 1,700 periodicals in various languages.
Stripped of its occupants, furniture and various decorations, the building alone is an extraordinary structure. Built during the early years of World War II, it is still thought of as one of the most efficient office buildings in the world. Despite 17.5 miles of corridors it takes only seven minutes to walk between any two points in the building.
The original site was nothing more than wasteland, swamps and dumps. 5.5 million cubic yards of earth, and 41,492 concrete piles contributed to the foundation of the building. Additionally, 680,000 tons of sand and gravel, dredged from the nearby Potomac River, were processed into 435,000 cubic yards of concrete and molded into the Pentagon form. The building was constructed in the remarkably short time of 16 months and completed on January 15, 1943 at an approximate cost of $83 million. It consolidated 17 buildings of the War Department and returned its investment within seven years.
We hope this information will serve to eliminate some of the myths surrounding the Pentagon and give an appreciation of the size of the building.
updated: 16-Jan-2001
Updates: Mayor Guiliani says: ''I have a sense it's a horrendous number of lives lost.'' United Airlines and American Airlines confirm two plane crashes. More plane info.
Apparent Terrorist Attack Hits NYC, D.C.
.c The Associated Press
NEW YORK (Sept. 11) - In a horrific sequence of destruction, terrorists hijacked two airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in a coordinated series of attacks Tuesday morning that brought down the twin 110-story towers. A plane also slammed into the Pentagon, raising fears that the seat of government itself was under attack.
''I have a sense it's a horrendous number of lives lost,'' Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said. ''Right now we have to focus on saving as many lives as possible.''
Authorities had been trying to evacuate those who work in the twin towers, but many were thought to have been trapped. About 50,000 people work at the Trade Center. American Airlines said its two aircraft were carrying a total of 156 people.
''This is perhaps the most audacious terrorist attack that's ever taken place in the world,'' said Chris Yates, an aviation expert at Jane's Transport in London. ''It takes a logistics operation from the terror group involved that is second to none. Only a very small handful of terror groups is on that list. ... I would name at the top of the list Osama bin Laden.''
President Bush ordered a full-scale investigation to ''hunt down the folks who committed this act.''
Within the hour, the Pentagon took a direct, devastating hit from an aircraft. The fiery crash collapsed one side of the five-sided structure.
The White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol were evacuated along with other federal buildings in Washington and New York.
Authorities in Washington immediately began deploying troops, including an infantry regiment. The Situation Room at the White House was in full operation. And authorities went on alert from coast to coast, halting all air traffic and tightening security at strategic installations.
''This is the second Pearl Harbor. I don't think that I overstate it,'' said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.
American Airlines identified the planes that crashed into the Trade Center as Flight 11, a Los Angeles-bound jet hijacked after takeoff from Boston with 92 people aboard, and Flight 77, which was seized while carrying 64 people from Washington to Los Angeles.
In Pennsylvania, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh with 45 people aboard. The fate of those aboard was not immediately known and it was not clear if the crash was related to the disasters elsewhere. In a statement, United said another of its planes, Flight 175, a Boeing 767 bound from Boston to Los Angeles with 65 people on board, also crashed, but it did not say where.
Evacuations were ordered at the United Nations in New York and at the Sears Tower in Chicago. Los Angeles mobilized its anti-terrorism division, and security was intensified around the naval installations in Hampton Roads, Va. Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., was evacuated.
At the World Trade Center, ''everyone was screaming, crying, running, cops, people, firefighters, everyone,'' said Mike Smith, a fire marshal. ''It's like a war zone.''
''I just saw the building I work in come down,'' said businessman Gabriel Ioan, shaking in shock outside City Hall, a cloud of smoke and ash from the World Trade Center behind him.
Nearby a crowd mobbed a man on a pay phone, screaming at him to get off the phone so that they could call relatives. Dust and dirt flew everywhere. Ash was 2 to 3 inches deep in places. People wandered dazed and terrified.
The planes blasted fiery, gaping holes in the upper floors of the twin towers. A witness said he saw bodies falling and people jumping out. About an hour later, the southern tower collapsed with a roar and a huge cloud of smoke; the other tower fell about a half-hour after that, covering lower Manhattan in heaps of gray rubble and broken glass. Firefighters trapped in the rubble radioed for help.
''Today we've had a national tragedy,'' Bush said in Sarasota, Fla. ''Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country.'' He said he would be returning immediately to Washington.
The crashes at the World Trade Center happened minutes apart, beginning just before 9 a.m.
Heavy black smoke billowed into the sky above one of New York City's most famous landmarks, and debris rained down on the street, one of the city's busiest work areas. When the second plane hit, a fireball of flame and smoke erupted, leaving a huge hole in the glass and steel tower.
John Axisa, who was getting off a commuter train to the World Trade Center, said he saw ''bodies falling out'' of the building. He said he ran outside, and watched people jump out of the first building. Then there was a second explosion, and he felt heat on the back of neck.
WCBS-TV, citing an FBI agent, said five or six people jumped out of the windows. Witnesses on the street screamed every time another person leaped.
People ran down the stairs in panic and fled the building. Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper drifted over Brooklyn, about three miles away.
Several subway lines were immediately shut down. Trading on Wall Street was suspended. New York's mayoral primary election Tuesday was postponed. All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan were closed.
David Reck was handing out literature for a candidate for public advocate a few blocks away when he saw a jet come in ''very low, and then it made a slight twist and dove into the building.''
Terrorist bombers struck the World Trade Center in February 1993, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.
''It's just sick. It just shows how vulnerable we really are,'' Keith Meyers, 39, said in Columbus, Ohio. ''It kind of makes you want to go home and spend time with your family. It puts everything in perspective,'' Meyers said. He said he called to check in with his wife. They have two young children.
In New York, ''we heard a large boom and then we saw all this debris just falling,'' said Harriet Grimm, who was inside a bookstore on the World Trade Center's first floor when the first explosion rocked the building.
''The plane was coming in low and ... it looked like it hit at a slight angle,'' said Sean Murtagh, a CNN vice president, the network reported.
In 1945, an Army Air Corps B-25, a twin-engine bomber, crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in dense fog.
In Florida, Bush was reading to children in a classroom at 9:05 a.m. when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his ear. The president briefly turned somber before he resumed reading. He addressed the tragedy about a half-hour later.
AP-NY-09-11-01 1215EDT
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
Recent terrorist attacks [Source: ]
Americans and U.S. institutions have long been favorite targets for terrorists. Some notable attacks since 1983:
Yemen, October 2000.
Kenya and Tanzania, August 1998.
Lebanon, June 1998.
Saudi Arabia, June 1996.
Scotland, December 1988.
Greece, April 1986.
Germany, April 1986.
Rome and Vienna, December 1985.
Mediterranean Sea, October 1985.
Germany, August 1985.
El Salvador, June 1985.
Spain, April 1985.
Lebanon, October 1983.
Lebanon, April 1983.
Terrorism: 'Face of War in 21st Century'
History: 1960s attacks prompted counter-measures, inspiring extremists to be more ingenious, more deadly.
By ROBIN WRIGHT, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- Terrorism as a tactic of warfare became a serious problem in the 1960s, when Latin American leftists and then Palestinian extremists seized hostages and hijacked planes to squeeze concessions from local governments. In the years since, terrorist acts have grown ever more lethal. Their goals have grown international in scope, and terrorism has become the leading threat to U.S. national security.
"This kind of terrorism is the face of war in the 21st century," said Bruce Hoffman, terrorism specialist and director of the Rand Corp.'s Washington office.
Ironically, the success of counter-terrorism efforts, particularly by the United States, has forced extremist groups to become more ingenious. "Tragically, what happened in New York and Washington is a reflection of the progress we've made against terrorists," Hoffman said. "With new protective security, we've forced them to act in increasingly sophisticated ways. They could no longer get a truck into the Pentagon or the World Trade Center, so they had to find another way. And they did."
Many of the turning points in terrorism over the last four decades were marked by attacks on American facilities and personnel, causing damage that still shapes U.S. foreign policy.
The first mass hijacking occurred in 1970, when the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine seized control of two American planes and one Swiss airliner, all bound from Europe to the United States, to punish the United States for supporting Israel. The Pan Am, TWA and Swissair planes were blown up on the ground in Jordan and Egypt.
After taking over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, Iranian revolutionaries carried out the first prolonged mass seizure of hostages--an event that still shapes relations more than two decades later. The 52 American hostages were held 444 days during a national drama that introduced the yellow ribbon as a symbol, as American as apple pie and baseball.
In 1983, terrorists bombed the U.S. Marine compound in Beirut, causing the largest loss of U.S. military personnel in a single event since the Vietnam War. The blast, which killed 241, was carried out by Muslim militias after U.S. warships intervened in Lebanon's civil war. It still serves as a rallying point for Americans who oppose using U.S. forces as international peacekeepers.
In 1983 and 1984, Islamic extremists in Lebanon masterminded the bombing of U.S. embassies in Lebanon and Kuwait, killing dozens and prompting the United States to fortify American diplomatic missions, effectively converting them into fortresses.
But again, it wasn't enough. In 1998, terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden bombed embassies in Kenya and Tanzania simultaneously, killing 224 and wounding thousands.
The most sensational act of airline terrorism came in 1988 with the midair bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The blast claimed 259 people aboard the Boeing 747 and 11 on the ground. It led to stepped-up security measures at U.S. airports, but they apparently were not stringent enough to prevent Tuesday's acts.
Terrorism came to U.S. soil for the first time in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, which killed six and injured 1,000. The mastermind was Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, a Pakistani militant trained in Afghanistan. Yousef was captured in 1995 in Pakistan. When he was brought to New York for trial, he bragged to FBI agents that he could have destroyed the complex if he'd had sufficient funds and equipment.
The largest terrorism plot concerning aviation was Yousef's scheme to blow up 11 American airliners over the Pacific in 1995. Code-named Bojinka, or "the explosion," it was uncovered on a computer disk in Yousef's Manila apartment.
Abroad, terrorism turned ever nastier. In 1995, terrorists used chemical weapons for the first time when Aum Shinrikyo, also known as the Aum Supreme Truth, simultaneously released the chemical nerve agent sarin on several Tokyo subway trains. Twelve people were killed and up to 6,000 injured.
Last year, a suicide attack on the guided-missile destroyer Cole killed 17 sailors and wounded 39 as the Navy vessel was docked in Yemen.
Despite the long and bloody history of terrorism against the United States, America is more vulnerable today than ever, U.S. counter-terrorism experts argue.
"As we learned today, the battlefield for America is now everywhere," Hoffman said.