Did he actually have the authority to give the order? And did he and President Bush connect before or after Cheney ordered the fighters into battle? The scramble to safety One particular moment of that first hour in the bunker would prove among the day’s most controversial moments: that order from Cheney authorizing fighter jets to shoot down hijacked airliners. officials who were with the president and vice president that day-as well as culled official oral histories conducted by the Pentagon and other institutions in the wake of 9/11-to create one of the most detailed pictures yet of the national decision-making that unfolded that morning. The most immediate questions revolved around how many planes remained in the sky, how many had been commandeered by hostile forces-and what to do about it.Īs part of the research for my book, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11, I interviewed dozens of top U.S. During the first hour there, confusion reigned as the team watched the news unfold on TV and struggled to gather reliable information about the unprecedented attack from the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon. With word that radar had spotted a plane heading straight for the White House, the executive mansion was evacuated and Secret Service agents quickly hustled Cheney and a handful of other high-ranking administration officials down the basement corridors to a Cold War-era underground bunker. Moments after the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center’s South Tower at 9:03 a.m., it became clear America was under attack. That left Vice President Cheney, positioned in a bunker beneath the White House, in the decision-making hot seat.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, meanwhile, became unreachable after the Pentagon itself had been struck. Bush, who began the day at an education event in Florida, was sequestered in the skies on Air Force One, frustrated by scant information, spotty communication and handlers determined to keep him safely away from the capital. But in the first hour following the attacks of September 11, 2001, when it was unclear how many passenger jets had been weaponized by terrorists-and then aimed at America’s seats of power-that’s exactly what happened.Īccording to what historic record exists from that chaotic morning, however, it’s unclear that the decision came directly from someone in the operational chain of command, which runs from the President to the Secretary of Defense down to military commanders. It’s hard to imagine an American leader authorizing the shoot-down of civilian aircraft.

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