Thread by @vermontgmg

THREAD: Today marks the 22nd anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Throughout the day, I’ll be chronologically tweeting quotes from my book THE ONLY PLANE IN THE SKY: An Oral History of 9/11, following Americans as they experience that day.... amazon.com/Only-Plane-Sky…

Sunny Mindel, Communications Director for the Mayor of the City of New York, Rudy Giuliani: "On September 11th, I was facing what I thought would be an easy day."

.@katiecouric, anchor, @TODAYshow: It was the perfect fall day, a little touch of autumn in the air. It was one of those back-to-school September days, full of possibilities, and, in its own way, a new beginning.

Sen. Tom Daschle, Majority Leader, U.S. Senate: One of the most beautiful days of the year.

Jeannine Ali, controller, Morgan Stanley, South Tower: There has never been as brilliant of a blue sky as there was that day.

.@MichaelJMorell, presidential briefer, @CIA: I walked into his suite for the president’s morning intelligence briefing…. There was nothing in the briefing about terrorism. It was very routine.

@MichaelJMorell @CIA Andy Card, chief of staff, White House: I remember literally telling him, “It should be an easy day.” Those were the words. “It should be an easy day.”

@MichaelJMorell @CIA The final routine transmission from American Airlines Flight 11 came at 8:09 a.m.: “Boston Center, good morning, American 11 with you passing through one-niner-zero for two-three-zero.”

@MichaelJMorell @CIA AA Flight 11 attendant Betty Ong called its reservation office at 8:19 with the first report of trouble: “Um, the cockpit’s not answering. Somebody’s stabbed in business class, and, um, I think there is Mace—that we can’t breathe. I don’t know, I think we’re getting hijacked.”

Hijacked Mohamed Atta accidentally calls air traffic control at 8:24 a.m. and announces, “We have some planes. Just stay quiet and we’ll be ok. We are returning to the airport.”

Boston air traffic controller Colin Scoggins: Someone came to me and said that there was a hijack going on. We’d worked hijacks in the past, and they were usually uneventful.

Boston air traffic control at 8:37 a.m. calls Otis Air Force Base for fighter support: “We have, ah, a problem here, we have a hijacked aircraft headed toward New York and we need you guys to, we need someone to scramble some F-16s or something up there to help us out.”

American Airlines Flight 11 attendant Madeline “Amy” Sweeney called a colleague in Boston. At 8:44 a.m., she said, “It is a rapid descent. Something is wrong. I don’t think the captain is in control. I see water. I see buildings. We’re flying low. We’re flying very, very low.”

William Jimeno, officer, PAPD, at the Port Authority Bus Terminal: A shadow come over 42nd and Eighth Avenue. It completely covered the street for a split second.

(Will Jimeno, by the way, is the most amazing story I've ever found in the rubble of 9/11 — read about him, his incredible story of survival, and the hope he offers, here: ) politico.com/news/magazine/…

Cathy Pavelec, administrator, Port Authority, North Tower: I glanced out the window and I saw the plane…. As I watched, the plane got closer and closer and closer. I was in complete disbelief.

.@FDNY Chief Joseph Pfeifer: “I picked up the department radio and told them a plane hit the World Trade Center, and to transmit a second alarm. That was done immediately. That was the first official report.”

@FDNY Lt. Mickey Kross, Engine 16, @FDNY: Our computer went off, and we got the ticket: “Respond to Manhattan, Box 8-0-8-7, One World Trade Center. Signal 3:3.” That’s a third alarm.... It’s Incident 103—one hundred and third incident in Manhattan of that date.

@FDNY Sal Cassano, assistant chief, @FDNY: On the morning of September 11th, I was at headquarters in Brooklyn. Sitting with me was Chief of Department Peter Ganci, Chief of Operations Dan Nigro, Donald Burns, Jerry Barbara. Jerry was killed. Donald was killed. Peter was killed.

@FDNY .@RudyGiuliani, Mayor, New York City: My staffer Denny Young came over and said, “A twin-engine plane had hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center.” I went to the men’s room because I thought I’d be at the crash site a long time.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani .@CondoleezzaRice, National Security Advisor, White House: I thought, ‘Well, that’s a strange accident.’ I called the president. We talked about how odd it was. Then I went down for my staff meeting.”

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice Capt. Jay Jonas, @FDNY: The sky was so blue and the sun was glistening off the metal of the exterior of the World Trade Center. You saw an airplane-shaped hole in the North Tower with fire and smoke coming out of the building, under pressure. It was boiling out.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice Det. David Brink, Emergency Service Squad 3, @NYPDNews: We started making our way down to the Trade Center. I saw the building burning. I looked over to my colleague Mike Garcia and I go, “I guess we’re going to get a lot of work in today.”

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews 9:03 a.m., United Flight 175 crashes: @KatieCouric: We were talking, we were getting eyewitness accounts, and then of course the really chilling, and shocking, visual was when that second plane was flying toward the building. It felt like it was in suspended animation.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric David Norman, Emergency Service Officer, ESU Truck 1, @NYPDNews: One of the landing wheels from the aircraft fell, burning, right in front of us. It was almost like the size of a Volkswagen landing in the street.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric Dan Nigro, Chief of Operations, @FDNY: The horror of the day had just multiplied exponentially.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric Ben Sliney, @FAANews Command Center: When United 175 struck the building, I told them to ground-stop every plane in the country, regardless. No one could take off.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews Andy Card, Chief of Staff, White House: I knew I was delivering a message that no president would want to hear…. I whispered in his ear, “A second plane hit the second Tower. America is under attack.” I took a couple steps back so he couldn’t ask any questions.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews .@KarlRove: [Secret Service agent] Eddie Marinzel came up to the president … and said, “We need to get you to Air Force One and get you airborne.” They’d determined this might be an effort to decapitate the government.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove Vice President Dick Cheney: My Secret Service agent said, “Sir, we have to leave now.” He grabbed me and propelled me out of my office, down the hall, and into the underground shelter in the White House.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove Capt. Jay Jonas, Ladder 6, @FDNY:You had a row of firemen going up the stairs, and you had a row of civilians coming down the stairs.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove Shortly before 9:30, United Airlines Flight 93 was attacked by hijackers. First Officer LeRoy Homer transmitted a brief radio call at 9:28 a.m., "Mayday, Mayday. Get out!"

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove Bruno Dellinger, consultant, North Tower: The heat was quite intense in the stairwell.... The intensity of the warning signs—the fire alarms were in full force—like stroboscopic lamps and the sound of the alarms. The fire alarms’ sound was pounding you all the time.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove 9:37 a.m. — AA Flight 77 hits the Pentagon. Dennis Smith, maintenance inspector, Pentagon Building Manager’s Office: There was a big, giant ball of fire, red and black. The heat hit us like from a barn fire. Then parts started flying out of the sky.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense: We were sitting in my office when the plane hit the building. The building shook and the tables jumped. I assumed it was a bomb.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove Gary Walters, Chief Usher, White House: I heard a loud muffled thud. I looked over the tree canopy to my right in the direction of the Pentagon, and I could see the big plume of black smoke with flames in the middle of it.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove Sen. Tom Daschle, Majority Leader, U.S. Senate: And there began the chaos. … There was a mad scramble, literally running out of the Capitol building.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove Rep. @PorterGoss: There we were, standing at the bottom of the steps of the Capitol wondering if the building would be there the next time we came back.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss .@mikewaltercgtn: I remember the soundtrack of that day, it was this siren. It was as if it was looped—it was sirens, sirens, sirens.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn Lisa Jefferson, Verizon Airfone Supervisor, ended up fielding a call from a passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 93: I asked the caller his name, and he told me, “Todd Beamer, from Cranbury, New Jersey.”

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn Dan Potter, Ladder 10, @FDNY: I didn’t think that these towers were going to collapse. This was the massive, biggest fire I’ve ever seen, but as you’re calculating, you don’t really know the extent of the damage. I was convinced that we’ll get up there and put it out.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn 9:59 a.m., the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses. Dan Nigro, Chief of Operations, @FDNY: No one has heard a high-rise building collapse before, but as soon as I heard it, I knew what it was.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn Constance LaBetti, Aon Corporation, South Tower: We really thought that the end of the world was upon us.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn Bruno Dellinger, consultant, North Tower: In about five seconds, darkness fell upon us with an unbelievable violence. Even more striking: There was no more sound. Sound didn’t carry anymore because the air was so thick.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn Philip Bradshaw, husband of Sandra Bradshaw, flight attendant, United Flight 93: We talked about how much we loved each other and our children. Then she said: “Everyone is running to first class, I’ve got to go. Bye.” Those were the last words I heard from her.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn Douglas Miller, coal truck driver, James F. Barron Trucking, outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania: I happened to look up in the sky and there was this giant aircraft, coming straight down.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn 10:03 a.m., United Flight 93 crashes.

Alan Baumgardner, Somerset County, Penn., 911 Coordinator: It seemed like immediately every phone line in the Center was lit up. Everybody grabbed for a phone and they were all the same call: A plane has gone down out near Lambertsville.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn Keith Custer, firefighter, Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company: It was total silence in that truck the whole way out there. I don’t think we said but five words to each other.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn .@prezfotog, aboard Air Force One: Soon after we got on board, I see the president pop out of the cabin, he’s heading down the aisle. He says, “OK boys, this is what they pay us for.”

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn @prezfotog Capt. Paul Larson, @ArlingtonVaPD: There was probably a wall of 2000 or 3000 military personnel coming out of the building, and as soon as they heard the screams for help, all of them immediately turned around and went right back into the building to help whoever needed help.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn @prezfotog @ArlingtonVaPD 10:28 a.m. — The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses. Stephen Blihar, Emergency Service Officer, Emergency Service Unit Truck 10, @NYPDNews: I heard this sick cracking noise. I looked up and Tower One was curling over my head like a wave.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn @prezfotog @ArlingtonVaPD .@andrewkirtzman, reporter, @NY1: There was this massive, massive boom, and a huge plume of smoke. As the building fell like a pancake, that smoke and soot and fire, it went north. It started to chase us, and we went running for our lives.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn @prezfotog @ArlingtonVaPD @andrewkirtzman @NY1 James Luongo, Inspector, @NYPDNews: It was like that hush afterwards—I don’t know what the explanation for it was—but there’s that hush that comes over the city with a major snow fall.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn @prezfotog @ArlingtonVaPD @andrewkirtzman @NY1 Lt. Michael Day, @USCG: We decided to make the call on the radio. “All available boats, this is the @USCG .... Anyone available to help with the evacuation of lower Manhattan, report to Governor’s Island.” About 15, 20 minutes later, there were boats all across the horizon.

@FDNY @RudyGiuliani @CondoleezzaRice @NYPDnews @katiecouric @FAANews @KarlRove @PorterGoss @mikewaltercgtn @prezfotog @ArlingtonVaPD @andrewkirtzman @NY1 @USCG The maritime evacuation of NYC on 9/11, by the way, would rank on any other day as one of the most significant and fascinating episodes of 21st Century US history and yet on that day took place with almost no wider attention. Read the amazing story here: nymag.com/intelligencer/…

.@richardclarke, Counterterrorism Advisor, White House: Many of us thought that we might not leave the White House alive.

@richardclarke Betsy Gotbaum, candidate for @nycpa: At one point, I went outside. It was a beautiful day, and I was terribly upset…. It was completely silent. You couldn’t hear anything. It was so eerie. I’ve never experienced anything like that in NYC in my entire life. The silence.

@richardclarke @nycpa .@mattwaxman1, National Security Council, White House: I remember at one point somebody estimating that 50,000 people had been killed as the towers collapsed. There was a ton of information coming in—some of it accurate, some of it inaccurate.

@richardclarke @nycpa @mattwaxman1 Scott Strauss, Emergency Service Officer, @NYPDNews: We came around the corner from City Hall Park, and we saw one of our Emergency Service vehicles on fire. It was like a movie. It’s like, “No! This is Lower Manhattan—this doesn’t happen in Lower Manhattan."

@richardclarke @nycpa @mattwaxman1 @NYPDnews .@CondoleezzaRice: There were times that day that it felt like an out-of-body experience. But you keep functioning, even though you don’t really believe it’s happening.

@richardclarke @nycpa @mattwaxman1 @NYPDnews @CondoleezzaRice Ileana Mayorga, Volunteer Arlington: At 1:00 the phone started ringing, people who want to come and help…. I had a man who said, “I am 80 years old. I still fit in my pilot uniform from WWII.... Tell whoever you can tell that I’m ready to report for duty.” That broke my heart.

@richardclarke @nycpa @mattwaxman1 @NYPDnews @CondoleezzaRice Lt. Gen. Tom Keck, commander, Barksdale Air Force Base: As [Air Force One] takes off, two F-16s pulled up on his wing.… Kurt Bedke, one of the other officers, told me later that as we watched them fly away, I said to him, “Do you feel like you’re in a Tom Clancy novel?”