Thread by @AriFleischer

The President entered the room where he was scheduled to read to the 2nd grade children. The teacher was named Kaye Daniels. Here's the scene (I was standing pretty close to the photographer who took this picture):

9:03am: United Airlines flight 175 is flown into the South Tower.

Brian Bravo sent me another page, telling me the second tower was hit. I knew right away it had to be terrorism. Here's a picture of me receiving that page. I didn't know this picutre existed until a few years ago. That's Mike Heath from WH advance next to me.

9:05 Chief of Staff Andy Card does something I have never seen before or since. He walked into a live event and interrputed the President, whispering in his ear: "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack."

POTUS remained in the schoolroom for some 5 minutes. Filmmaker Michael Moore and others criticized Bush for not leaving immediately. Bush later said he didn't want to alarm the children, or the nation, by bolting out of his chair. He also wanted to collect his thoughts.

President Bush returned to the holding room. He and the staff worked the phones trying to get more information about what was happening in NYC. Bush spoke with the VP, Condi, NY @GovernorPataki and FBI Director Bob Mueller.

Someone brought in a TV and we were able to watch what the rest of the nation was watching. That's Dan Barlett, Deputy Communications Director, pointing at the TV. Bush is on a secure phone.

9:31 am: The President wanted to address the nation. The Secret Service (USSS) was anxious to get him out of the school and onto AirForce One. A speech was previously scheduled to take place in the gym after the reading event. Bush went to the gym and addressed the nation.

9:30 Bush addressed the nation for roughly one and a half minutes. Many commentators criticized the speech for being unsteady and because he used the word "folks" referring to the terrorists. Here's the speech:

9:35: The motorcade departs the Emma Booker Elementary School for the Sarasota Bradenton Airport to board AirForce One.

9:37am: Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. The President in the motorcade enrout the airport is informed by either Condi or the head of his USSS detail. I don't remember who.

I later learned that two of my parents' friends lost their son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren on that flight. Charles Falkenberg, his wife Leslie Whittington, and their two little girls, Zoe (8) and Dana (3) were lost.

9:45: We boarded AirForce One. Instead of going to my usual seat in my cabin, I spent much of the day in the President's office, taking notes on what he did and said.

As we boarded, he told the USSS to be sure to get the First Lady and his daughters protected.

Then he called VP Cheney: "Sounds like we have a minor war going on here. I heard about the Pentagon."

"We're at war" Bush said. He wouldn't say those words publicly until 9/12 because he wanted to focus on those who lost lives. But that's what he was thinking.

After hanging up with Cheney, he turned to several of us in his office and said,"That's what we're paid for boys. We're going to take care of this. When we find out who did this, they're not going to like me as President. Somebody's going to pay."

9:54: AirForce One takes off, ostensibly for Washington, DC. There was a debate underway aboard the plane involving the USSS, the military and Andrew Card about where we could or should go.

We took off at an exceptionally sharp, upward angle. Years later, AirForce One pilot, Colonel Mark Tillman, told me he was warned there was a possible sniper at the end of the runway. It turned out to be a USSS counter-sniper. It was the 1st of many false reports we would receive

9:59am: The South Tower collapses.

10:07 Passengers aboard flight 93, having heard about the other hijackings, try to retake the plane from the hijackers. The plane crashes into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

I was going in and out of POTUS' cabin. At 10:20am, I was back.

POTUS complained about the communications equipment, as his many of his calls kept getting dropped. He said he had authorized the shootdown of airplanes if necessary.

The 9/11 commission was not able to reach a conclusion, but they believe flight 93 was destined to destroy either the Capitol Building or the White House. They don't know which, but they believe it was one or the other.

Imagine if those heores had not taken down that plane.

AirForce One is supposed to have the best comms equipment. None of it worked well. We were barely able to watch TV. Reception came and went as we flew above broadcast towers. Even military circuits for the phones were overloaded.

10:28: The North Tower collapses.

10:32: POTUS is on the phone with the VP and he turns to his milaide, saying, "A call came into the switchboard saying, 'Angel is next'." Angel was the codeword for AirForce One. Very few people are supposed to know that name.

When Col. Tillman (AFOne pilot) heard about the call, he posted an armed AirForce Security officer at the steps to the cockpit. I must have walked past him a dozen times without realizing why he was there. Years later, Tillman told me no one was going to be allowed upstairs.

It amazes me to think that he was so worried, he thought this could be an inside job and took steps to protect against it.

A month or so later, we learned no such call came into the switchboard - at least not one using the word "Angel".

A call did come into the Situation Room, where an intelligence officer used the word "Angel" when he transmitted news of the call to the VP. The VP also used the word "Angel" when he told POTUS.

One of the lessons of 9/11 is how much bad information made its way to the top. Normal filters that would stop info from flowing upward were ignored. No one wanted to fail to report a threat. The news reported a car bomb at State &that the Mall was on fire. None of that was true.

The President called SecDef Donald Rumsfeld and said, "We're at war Dick and we're going to find out who did this and we're going to kick their ass."

Here's a scence of what it was like in the President's cabin:

Reporter @vermontgmg wrote a superb account of what took place on 9/11 by interviewing scores of people who told him their first-hand accounts. If you want to learn more, it's superb: politico.com/magazine/story…

When we boarded AFOne, we thought we could return to DC. But that was the last place the USSS wanted POTUS. After the Pentagon was hit, we were told there were six aircraft that didn't respond to the order to land.

That meant six missiles in the air. When flight 93 went down in PA, we thought there were now five. A debate ensued about where to go. POTUS wanted to get back to DC. The VP and others said not to. The decision was made to got to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

At around noon eastern, we landed at Barksdale AirForce Base. I remember telling the press where we were going and asking them not to report it. The USSS did not want POTUS' location to be known. We had a small crew of agents with us and they of course wanted maximum safety.

But as we were arriving, a local TV crew showed our arrival - on live TV. Barksdale was in the middle of a major drill and the local press was there to report it. You can't hide AFOne, and there we were on live TV, which we saw on the plane's TV.

I think I then told the press they were free to report our location.

General Tom Keck led the President into his office where POTUS made calls and he prepared again to address the nation. He called Cheney: "I think it's important for people to see the government is functioning because the TV shows our nation has been blasted and bombed."

Bush continued: "Government is not chaotic. It's functioning smoothly. We're going to get the bastards."

Here's what my notes that I took that day looked like:

POTUS also told the VP: "It's the new war. It's the faceless coward that attacks."

12:40: It's not clear from my notes whom he said it to, but Bush said, "I can't wait to find out who did it. It's going to take a while and we're not going to have a little slap on the wrist crap."

12:55 Bush called Senator Chuck Schumer of NY: "It's a sad day for America. Condolences go to everyone in New York. The government is functioning. We'll come together. God Bless."

Here's the scene in General Keck's office:

Bush called Rumsfeld: "It's a day of national tragedy and we'll clean up the mess and then the ball will be in your court and [Incoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs] Dick Myers court to respond."

Minutes later, the base commander told Bush that intelligence had just come in saying a high speed object was heading for his ranch. Bush ordered its evacuation. This too turned out to be a false report. It was a crop duster.

At some point while we were at Barksdale, I slipped out of the General's office to call my parents to be sure they were ok. They lived in a suburb of NYC. They were fine and as far as they knew, we lost no relatives. They later learned about their friends, the Falkenbergs.

They asked how I was and as I recall, I told them that since I was travelling with the President, I was in the safest spot on earth. It really never occurred to me to think about any dangers. When you travel with the USSS, you simply don't think about it.

Before we left Barksdale, Bush addressed the nation, but the speech wasn't live because there was no technology to go live from the base. It was taped and the tapes were then run to local TV outlets to be broadcast. Here's the address:

Here's the scene as we headed back to AFOne on the tarmac. That wasn't usual - in fact, I never before and never again saw the military with their weapons out, protecting the plane.

As we got ready to go, Andy Card decided we need to reduce the number of people on board. We didn't have the usual army of USSS, advance people and military people who fly ahead of POTUS, typically days ahead. All we had was the crew on the plane. Andy didn't want extra people.

We dropped about half the WH staff. Members of Congress were told they'd have to stay behind. I was told to reduce the travelling press pool from 13 to 3. I told Andy we needed 5. He said fine, do it.

That meant I had to tell 8 type-A personalities that they could no longer travel with the President on the most newsworthy day of their careers. Some understood. Some didn't.

One reporter, then with Time Magazine, screamed as we boarded the plane, "Who's in charge?! The military or civilians!?" He wasn't happy.

The five reporters who stayed represented the largest media organizations in the country and they covered all fields of journalism: @sonyagal of AP. @AnnCompton of ABC. @dougmillsnyt a NYT photographer. One camera man and one sound man. I wish I could recall their names...

Those who stayed behind were later flown back to Washington on a military aircraft.

Six years ago, CSpan did an eight minute segment on what happened on base that day. Apparently, base officials had no idea AFOne was about to land - until we were about to land. It's worth watching. c-span.org/video/?304642-…

1:15 We took off from Barksdale, loaded with food and other supplies in case we were gone for days, enroute Offut Air Force Base in Nebraska where Bush could convene a meeting of the National Security Counsel, via secure links.