Rumsfeld Pentagon briefing on the day of the September 11 attacks: transcript

Key points

• Rumsfeld calls it a tragic day, says measures are being taken to prevent further attacks, and says the Pentagon will be open for business the next day.
• General Shelton says the armed forces are ready, and Senators Levin and Warner pledge unity and support for the President.
• Rumsfeld declines to discuss intelligence or name suspects, and says the US government was not connected to reported explosions in Kabul.
• He says the attack was vicious, well coordinated and massive, and that no guarantees of security are possible against every technique.
• He says force protection condition Delta, the highest alert, was declared almost immediately and remains in force.
• The Secretary of the Army says the Pentagon fire is contained and the FBI will supervise entry into the damaged section.

Chapters

1. 0:00Rumsfeld's opening statement and who is present
2. 3:00Remarks from General Shelton and the senators
3. 6:10Questions on intelligence, suspects and Kabul reports
4. 8:03Casualties, act of war and building security
5. 9:43Rumsfeld's account of the scene at the crash site
6. 11:25Threat level Delta and the Pennsylvania crash rumors
7. 12:47Defense spending and homeland defense questions
8. 14:48Firefighting, search efforts and closing announcements

Full transcript

0:00This is a, first of all, good evening. This is a tragic day for our country. Our hearts and prayers go to the injured, their families and friends. We have taken a series of measures to prevent further attacks and to determine who is responsible. We're making every effort to take care of the injured and the casualties in the building. I'm deeply grateful for the many volunteers from the defense establishment and from the excellent units from all throughout this region.

0:36They have our deep appreciation. We have been working closely throughout the day with President Bush, Vice President Cheney, CIA Director George Tenet, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dix Myers, who who is currently participating in a meeting elsewhere in the building and a great many other officials from throughout the government. I should say we've received calls from across the world offering their sympathy and indeed their I'm very pleased to be joined here by Chairman Carl Levin and Senator John Warner.

1:23Senator Warner called earlier today and offered his support and was kind enough to come down and has been with us. We've very recently had a discussion with the President of the United States. Chairman Hugh Shelton has just landed from Europe. Secretary of the Army, Tom White, who has a responsibility for incidents like this as executive agent for the Department of Defense is also joining me. It's an indication that the United States government is functioning in the face of this terrible act against our country.

2:11I should add that the briefing here is taking place in the Pentagon, the Pentagon's functioning, it'll be in business tomorrow. I know the interest in casualty figures, and all I can say is it's not possible to have solid casualty figures at this time, and the various Components are doing roster checks and we'll have information at some point in the future and as quickly as it's possible to have it, it will certainly be made available to each of you. I'll be happy to take a few questions after asking First General Shelton if he would like to say anything and then we will allow the others to make a remark or two.

3:00Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Ladies and gentlemen, as the Secretary just said, today we have watched the tragedy of an outrageous act of barbaric terrorism carried out by fanatics against both civilians and military people, acts that have killed and maimed many innocent and decent citizens of our country. I extend my condolences to the entire Department of Defense families, military and civilian, and to the families of all those throughout our nation who lost loved ones.

3:33I think this is indeed a reminder of the tragedy and the tragic dangers that we face day in and day out, both here at home as well as abroad. I would tell you up front I have no intentions of discussing today what comes next, but make no mistake about it. Your armed forces are ready. Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin. Our intense focus on recovery and helping the injured and the families of those who were killed is matched only by our determination to prevent more attacks, and matched only by our unity to track down root out and relentlessly pursue terrorists states that support them and harbor them they are the common enemy of

4:34the civilized world our institutions are strong and our unity is palpable Senator John Warner. Thank you. As a past chairman preceding Carl Levin, I can assure you that the Congress stands behind our president and the president speaks with one voice for this entire nation. This is indeed the most tragic hour in America's history. And yet I think it can be its finest hour. As our president and those with him, most notably our secretary of defense, our chairman, and the men and women of the arms forces all over this world, stand ready not only to defend this nation and our allies against further attack, but to take such actions as are directed in the future

5:37in retaliation for this terrorist act, a series of terrorist acts unprecedented in world history. We call upon the entire world to step up and help, because terrorism is a common enemy to all. And we're in this together. The United States has borne the brunt, but who can be next? Step forward and let us hold accountable and punish those that have perpetrated this attack.

6:10Again, I commend the secretary, the chairman, and how proud we are. We spoke with our president here moments ago. He's got a firm grip on this situation. And the secretary ending. General have a firm grip on our armed forces and in communication of the world over. Thank you very much. We'll take a few questions and then we'll adjourn. Charlie. Mr. Secretary, did you have any inkling at all in any way that something of this nature and something of the scope might be planned?

6:45Charlie, we don't discuss intelligence matters. I see. And how would you respond if you find out who did this? Obviously, the President of the United States has spoken on that subject, and those are issues that he will address in good time. Mr. Secretary, we are getting reports from CNN and others that there are bombs exploding in Kabul, Afghanistan. Are we at the moment striking back? And if so, is the target Osama bin Laden and his organization?

7:15I've seen those reports. In no way is the United States government connected to those explosions. What about Osama bin Laden? Do you suspect him as the prime suspect in this? It's not the time for discussions like that. Mr. Secretary, you said you could not be specific about casualties. Can you give us some characterization of whether it's dozens or hundreds in the building? Well, we know there were large number, many dozens in the aircraft that flew at full power steering directly into the between I think the first and second floor of the Opposite the helipad. You've seen it. There cannot be any survivors. It just would be beyond comprehension.

8:03There are a number of people that they've not identified by name but identified as being dead and there are a number of casualties. But the FBI has secured the site, and the information takes time to come. People have been lifted out and taken away in ambulances, and the numbers will be calculated, and it will not be a few.

8:36Mr. Secretary, do you consider what happened today, both in New York and here, an act of war? There is no question but that the attack against the United States of America today was a vicious, well-coordinated, massive attack against the United States of America. What words the lawyers will use to characterize it. Does that mean that the U.S. is at war then?

9:10What kind of assurances can you give the people who work here at the building that the building will be safe? A terrorist can attack at any time, at any place, using any technique. It is physically impossible to defend at every time, in every place, against every technique. It is not possible to give guarantees. The people who work in this building do so voluntarily.

9:43They're brave people and they do their jobs well. Mr. Secretary, can you give a sense of what happened, what did you see when you left your office, ran down to the site and apparently helped people on stretchers and then returned to the command center? I felt the shock of the airplane hitting the building, went through the building and then out into the area and they were bringing bodies out that had been injured, most of which were alive and moving but seriously injured.

10:20And a lot of volunteers were doing a terrific job helping to bring them out of the buildings and get them into stretchers and into ambulances and into airlifts. Secretary, can you tell us how many of the dead were soldiers and how many were civilians have you been able to determine that? Absolutely not. Yes. Mr. Secretary, today we saw military planes both in New York and in Washington. How much more of a military presence will we see now that this incident has occurred for the next week? Those kinds of decisions are made day to day.

10:50It is correct that we had aircraft flying protective missions at various places in the United States today, and they will do that as appropriate. Mr. Secretary, what do you say to the American people who may have questions on how something so coordinated has been carried out against this nation, what do you say to them who might might not have confidence that our intelligence and our security are what they should be. I say to them that the President of the United States will be making some remarks to them this evening that will address those subjects.

11:25Mr. Secretary, you've declared, the Pentagon has declared threat con delta forces around the world. Could you tell me why? Have you received any threats or has anyone claimed credit for this? We have, in fact, declared force protection condition delta and a condition of high alert, indeed the highest alert. We did so almost immediately upon the attacks, and it is still in force.

11:57Mr. Secretary, were there threats issued against other U.S. facilities elsewhere in the world today? The – I don't know that there's a day that's gone by since I've been in this job that there haven't been threats somewhere in the world to some facility somewhere. it's a it's one of the complexities of the intelligence business that you have to sort through those kinds of things but we don't get into the specifics yes yes so mr. second there were rumors earlier in the day that the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania had been brought down by the United States I was shot down or brought down in some other manner we have absolutely no information that any U.S. aircraft shot down any other aircraft today.

12:47I wonder if we could just ask Senator Levin one thing. Senator Levin, you and other Democrats in Congress have voiced fears that you simply don't have enough money for the large increase in defense the Pentagon is seeking, especially for missile defense, and you fear that you'll have to dip into the Social Security funds to pay for it. Does this kind of thing convince you that an emergency exists in this country to increase defense spending, to defend the social security if necessary. One thing where the committee was unanimous on, among many, many other things, was that we authorized the full request of the president, including the $18 billion. So I would say that Democrats and Republicans have seen the need for the request.

13:36Mr. Secretary, could you describe what steps are being taken, defensive measures beyond non-force protection and whether there's been any operational planning for homeland defense? Those aren't the kinds of things that one discusses. Sir, the perpetrators of the Cobart Towers bombing were never found, the Cole bombing as well. What assurances or what confidence do you have that the perpetrators of this act will be found? All one can offer by way of assurance is a seriousness of purpose.

14:10We're still taking bodies out of this building, so I would say that that's a little premature. Mr. Secretary, you've talked about, and others at the podium have talked about being ready the military is ready as General Shelton said. And we understand the Navy has dispatched two carriers and some guided missile cruisers and destroyers and a couple of main core helicopter amphibious ships such as the Baton, if not the baton here and to new york can you tell us that that's true and also any other things you can share with us about how the united states military Is preparing to take on whatever in the next few days.

14:48And we don't make announcements about ship deployments. Yes. Can you describe the firefighting efforts that are going on right now in that corridor and search and rescue efforts that are beginning? Can I describe them? Yeah. Why don't we let the Secretary of the Army, who was out there with me a few minutes ago and has been talking to the incident commander on the site. I think it's fair to say at this point that the fire is contained and will shortly, if not already, be sufficiently controlled to allow entry into the building.

15:26That entry will be supervised by the FBI, who are in charge of the site, assisted by the fire departments that are present. we on the Army side will support them as they go in the building and search for casualties and bring them out, then we will support them in dealing with that. That's what's going on in the ground. We'll take one last question. Is the government operating under the assumption that this attack is done, or is it poised or bracing for more action?

16:01The government is certainly aware that it's difficult to know when attacks are concluded. And, um, I want to thank Senator Chairman Levin and Senator Warner and certainly Secretary of the Army White and General Shelton for being here with me. And we'll excuse ourselves. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, a housekeeping issue, please.

16:36The president is about to come on and address the nation. So for those of you who wish to watch that, we'll see if we can bring that up here in the press room. Second, we're going to put up some 800 numbers. These are now all of the service's 800 numbers for family members, for those individuals who were just simply not at work today to call in and we'll try to get a muster. And last, for all of you, we will probably plan on heading back over to the gas station something like 30 minutes from now. We'll be reasonable on that for as many stand-ups and what-nots and phone calls as you need to make in the interim.

17:14We ask you to please stick around the correspondence corridor. Many of you are not credentialed, so please stick around the correspondence corridor. Thanks. Tonight we're on a briefing schedule for information for a schedule for down-down, but there'd be a duty on this issue. Yeah, we're going to work up with the congressional bill in the United States. In the meantime, back to you in New York, Shep.

Source and licence

Recording: File:9 11 Terror Attacks Historical Pentagon Briefing.webm by https://www.dvidshub.net/video/154917/9-11-terror-attacks-historical-pentagon-briefing (Taken on 11 September 2001), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The transcript is machine speech-to-text by the TidyTools Audio & video transcriber; the summary, key points and chapters were written by Claude from that transcript. Both may contain errors: check the recording before quoting it.