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All right.

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So where were you
on September 11th?

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I was in Mayfield Heights on
the job working at a computer.

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All right that answers
what were you doing part.

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So, what did 9/11 mean to you?

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It was definitely scary.

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It meant that we
needed to be prepared

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and that security should
be forefront in our minds.

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Okay. Go Where were you on 9/11?

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I was on active duty working my
shift on the USS Constellation

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when me and my crew
members were watching

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on the Armed Forces
Network the news reports

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of airplanes crashing
into the buildings.

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We were on our way from
Hawaii to San Diego

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and the captain came
over the 1MC and told us

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that we'd be delayed
getting home.

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We were sent to patrol
the coast, the west coast,

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to ensure that no other
flights were attempting

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to enter US air space.

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So what were you doing
when you first heard?

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I think I was eating
breakfast at my desk.

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I was checking email
and checking the logs

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on the exchange server,
I was the mail admin,

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and the television
was just to my right

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and the first plane had already
crashed into the one tower

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and we had the images up and
watched the second plane crash.

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It was very heart breaking.

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So what did 9/11 mean to you?

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Nine eleven to me meant
that you're not as prepared

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as you think you are and you can
never have too much planning,

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too much contingency planning
in place, too much training

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in first response and
also there's circumstances

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that no one can control.

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There's always going
to be disasters

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that we might not be
able to fully prevent.

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We just have to be prepared
mentally and physically

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to respond to those disasters.

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Okay, where were you on 9/11?

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I was down at Marshall
Space Flight Center;

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that's where we work detail.

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I had just got down there on
Sunday and then I believe it was

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that Tuesday was 9/11, it might
have been a Monday or a Tuesday

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that 9/11 happened, so I spent
the remainder of the three weeks

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down there away from my family

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and home during this 9/11
aftermath.What were you doing

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when you heard it happened?

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We were watching the TV,
the link TV down there

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at Marshall waiting for
our meeting to start

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and we were watching the news

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and we just saw the
first plane hit the tower

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and then we kept
going on from there.

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So what did 9/11 mean to you?

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It meant an attack
on our country.

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It meant that our way of
life was being threatened

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by an enemy.

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On September 11th,
2001, I was at home.

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I was recovering from surgery

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and when I saw what had happened
my, the first thing that came

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to my mind was safety
of my family.

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My wife got our children out of
school so we had everybody home

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and my father had passed
away earlier in the year

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so I checked on my mom.

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We were very concerned
about what might happen next

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and so I just wanted to make
sure that my family was safe.

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It was a very tough time.

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You can talk anytime.

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When I first heard about it,
I was still at home and at

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that time they thought it
was just a horrible accident.

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By the time I got to work first
thing I did was find a radio

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and turn it on to see
what else was happening.

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By then they knew that it
was not an accident by then.

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I think the second
plane had already hit

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and I remember I just
knew at that moment

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that our world would
never be the same.

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Okay, recording.

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One of the things
that I can remember

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about 9/11 I can remember it

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like it was yesterday was I
had came into work and coming

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into Building 142 at that
time we had a monitor

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on which CNN was on, and I had
looked up at the monitor and one

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of the Twin Towers was burning

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and I didn't think
anything of it at that time.

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I was like, hmm, it was burning

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and something might
have happened,

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a fire might have
gotten, was set.

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And so I go down to my
office and I tell my roommate

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that you look on CNN one of
the Twin Towers was burning,

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I think we should turn it on.

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So, we turned it on and
we watched it burn and not

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within a minute a plane
hit the other building.

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So, in my mind, I was thinking,
uh-oh, that's not right,

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something is not right.

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They had mentioned that one
plane had hit the building

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so I thought, well, maybe
the pilot got mixed up

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but two planes hitting
both buildings?

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And so my instinct was I got up
and looked out in the hallway

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to see if anybody else had seen
anything or was there any type

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of commotion and we looked
at it and my office mate

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and I thought like, wow,

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something is not right,
what has happened.

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Eventually we had to go
home and we went home.

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My first gut feeling
was I need to go

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to the daycare and
pickup my son.

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On my way home my wife had
called me because she was

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in Building 500 at the
time and they had mentioned

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that there was a plane
that had been taken

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over by some terrorists
and it was

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at Cleveland Hopkins Airspace

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and they wouldn't
allow her to leave.

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And so she started crying
and I told her, you know,

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don't worry about it, they'll
let you leave and when I got

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to the daycare everyone was in
a panic and people were getting

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out of their cars
crying and stuff.

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So, I went into the daycare and
my son, I think he was maybe 4

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or 5 years old and he
asked me he's like,

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daddy, daddy, what happened?

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What's going on?

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I had told him that some bad
men had did some terrible things

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to the country and I was coming
to get you out of daycare.

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That evening eventually my wife
had gotten home and we sat down

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and we watched pretty much CNN
all night and just thinking

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about it and I stayed up
until wee hours of the morning

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and I begin to get teary
eyed because in my mind

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who would do something
this terrible?

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Who would do something
like that?

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But I can remember it
pretty much plain as day

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and that's pretty much
my memories of 9/11.

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Nine eleven was my
first day at work

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and it was also my wife's first
day in Cleveland by herself

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to do an interview at the
Federal Building, and I remember

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when this first started and
I saw it on TV it was a lot

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of shock and disbelief
but I also remember

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when the second plane hit the
building, you began to realize

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that it was an attack, it
wasn't an accident and one

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of the first thoughts that came
to mind was what else was going

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to get hit and what else
was going to happen.

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You immediately thought
about my wife being

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in the Federal Building and
it was kind of like, wow,

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and a little bit later we
heard there was a plane flying

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over Cleveland and I guess
at that point, you know,

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it became very evident that
there was a lot happening,

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going to happen that day, and
I remember trying to get a hold

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of her, the phones were all,

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you couldn't get
through on anything.

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All the cell phones were down.

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It was quite an event
for me personally.

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When the airplane
hit the Pentagon,

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that was really a defining
moment because I had a lot

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of people that I worked with
in the past that I knew were

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in the Pentagon and I didn't
know exactly the extent

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of the damage.

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I knew that it was significant,
but we didn't know how much

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and so I immediately
thought about them.

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As I reflect back 10
years ago, you know,

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it was a very defining
moment for our country

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and it was certainly something
that changed all of our lives.

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Every time you go to an airport
you realize how much it really

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changed the way we do business
and the freedoms that we lost

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that day from that day forward.

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So it's quite an event.

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It's a shame to have lost
all those innocent lives

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of the people that were
killed during that event.

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None of them had anything to do
with some of the anger that was

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out there that we were being
attacked for in the first place.

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So, it was a horrible loss of
life, it was certainly something

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to be remembered and
it's quite an event.

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My name is Randy Humphries.

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On September 11th, 2001,

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I was at Michoud
Assembly Facility outside

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of New Orleans, Louisiana.

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We were in meetings when
I went into adjacent room

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and saw a replay of the first
plane hitting the first tower.

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Of course we all congregated
and watched TV for a little bit

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and we saw the second
plane hit the second tower.

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We were all in horror; we
were all scared for our lives.

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We immediately terminated the
meeting, shut down the plant,

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and everybody went home.

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Of course, I couldn't
go home I was on travel,

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and I went to my hotel
in downtown New Orleans.

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I was scared because I was in a
major metropolis, I was staying

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on the 21st floor of a tall
building and so I hurriedly went

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up to my room, put my stuff
away and came back downstairs.

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I watched on TV as all of us did
as the horrible events unfolded.

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I called my family,
I called my friends.

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We all watched that
day in terrible horror.

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It had been years since
American soil had been attacked.

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As much as I was afraid,
as much as I was scared,

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I was also in the
days to follow proud,

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proud of how we recovered,
proud of how we came together,

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proud of how we helped
each other,

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and proud of how eventually
we became the strong America

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that we are again.

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The morning of Sept 11th I
recall very vividly it will be

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in my mind forever.

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I was ready early for work that
morning so I decided to listen

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00:12:45,616 --> 00:12:49,966
in on NPR for the idea
stream and I listened

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00:12:49,966 --> 00:12:53,366
to the broadcast on NBC.

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00:12:54,106 --> 00:12:57,516
Toward the end of that
broadcast on NBC they alerted

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00:12:57,556 --> 00:13:00,736
that something had happened
in New York and, of course,

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00:13:00,736 --> 00:13:04,556
later before the end of the
hour they had some video

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00:13:04,556 --> 00:13:11,876
in showing a plane running
into the first Trade Center.

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00:13:12,116 --> 00:13:14,146
I was shocked but I
immediately thought

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00:13:14,146 --> 00:13:16,276
that it was a terrorist
act, but I, you know,

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00:13:16,276 --> 00:13:17,596
I didn't want to overreact.

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00:13:18,306 --> 00:13:21,046
I came up with a
quick concoction

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00:13:21,046 --> 00:13:24,996
that maybe they had gotten
into the aviation ILS at one

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00:13:25,086 --> 00:13:27,986
of the airports and
directed the plane

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00:13:27,986 --> 00:13:34,206
into the building
on automatic pilot.

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00:13:34,456 --> 00:13:38,636
The hour ended and, of course,
I was collecting my thought

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00:13:38,636 --> 00:13:41,096
but I didn't want to be
incredible and call here

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00:13:41,096 --> 00:13:47,856
at Glenn to Glenn and
send out a false alert.

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00:13:49,396 --> 00:13:54,696
When the next hour of NBC news
started they were still talking

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00:13:54,696 --> 00:14:00,116
about the topic and, again, they
showed the videos of the crash

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00:14:00,116 --> 00:14:04,216
into the tower and later they
showed a plane going directly

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00:14:04,216 --> 00:14:05,736
down one of the New York streets

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00:14:06,636 --> 00:14:14,696
and then while they were showing
the tower in its demised state

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00:14:14,786 --> 00:14:21,376
after the plane had struck I
saw on the horizon another plane

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00:14:21,696 --> 00:14:26,536
up here and it made a steep
maneuver bank if you want

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00:14:26,536 --> 00:14:32,066
to call it into the tower and
it ran directly into the tower.

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00:14:32,066 --> 00:14:34,446
I saw an engine, I
suppose it was an engine,

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00:14:34,446 --> 00:14:36,746
come out the other
side of the building

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00:14:36,746 --> 00:14:39,496
and went down the street.

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00:14:40,516 --> 00:14:44,586
At that point I knew it was a
terrorist activity and I thought

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00:14:44,586 --> 00:14:45,946
that the nation was
under attack.

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00:14:46,566 --> 00:14:48,686
So I tried figuring
out what I could do.

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00:14:50,366 --> 00:14:53,186
I didn't know if Glenn was aware
of it or not so what I decided

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00:14:53,186 --> 00:14:54,856
to do was call Mr. Bill Wessel,

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00:14:54,856 --> 00:15:00,896
which he was the
head senior manager

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00:15:00,896 --> 00:15:03,946
for security here at that time.

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I was able to get
in touch with him.

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00:15:06,346 --> 00:15:08,626
I called, we talked
very briefly.

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I told him I thought the
nation was under attack

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and he said he would
take it from there.

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00:15:14,936 --> 00:15:18,836
I watched the rest of the
news for that half hour

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00:15:18,836 --> 00:15:21,056
and then maybe into
the next half hour.

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I decided to drag in late.

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When I got in, of course,
everyone was attracted to the TV

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00:15:28,806 --> 00:15:34,286
if they had one near them
and later we saw the collapse

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00:15:34,286 --> 00:15:36,126
of the first tower
and, of course,

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then there was a collapse
of the second tower.

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At that point I knew
things were out of hand.

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I guess one of my big
concerns about calling Bill is

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that it's easy for 100 or 200
people to be stationed out

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and create havoc
around the nation.

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The attack on 9/11 was a
little more controlled.

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It looks like it was about
four planes involved only

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and how has this affected me?

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For the first month or so
I was walking around in a,

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I just have to admit a
little paranoia, you know,

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I wanted to do my best

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to prevent anyone else
from getting hurt.

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Certainly now if
you get on a plane

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and you see the effect you have
to get screened very heavily

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for security and that's it.

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I'm George Crawford, the NASA
Counter Intelligence Counter

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Terrorism Special Agent assigned
in Glenn Research Center.

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00:16:50,766 --> 00:16:52,586
On September 11th, 2001,

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I was an Air Force officer
assigned to the Pentagon.

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00:16:55,796 --> 00:16:58,106
I remember seeing the attacks
on the World Trade Center

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and felt sick to my
stomach, but I knew we were

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under attack and
had a job to do.

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00:17:04,376 --> 00:17:06,166
Shortly thereafter
we were under attack

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at the Pentagon and
had to evacuate.

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Some of our best military

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and civilian employees
did not make it.

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As a member of the
Air Force Office

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of Special Investigations,
we worked with the FBI

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and the Department of Defense to
identify any additional threats

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and investigate the
attack on the Pentagon.

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The following days
we worked 24/7

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from the Pentagon while
it was still burning

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to gather intelligence to
respond to the horrific attacks.

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I will never forget that day.

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My heart goes out to the
families who lost loved ones.

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On September 11th, 2001,
I was coming into work.

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I had just taken my boys
who were in the first grade

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to daycare or to school,
I can't remember which,

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in Poquoson, Virginia.

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After heading into work I heard

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on the radio this terrible
event had occurred.

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00:18:10,726 --> 00:18:12,556
I went on in to Langley
Research Center

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where I was the Emergency
Preparedness Officer

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00:18:14,936 --> 00:18:20,196
at the time, cut on the TV
in my office, watched it

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00:18:20,706 --> 00:18:25,276
and was immediately struck
that this was not an accident

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but was a deliberate act by
terrorist or people that wanted

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to hsarm the United
States of America.

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I immediately went over and
met with the center director

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00:18:38,676 --> 00:18:42,446
at Langley then Jerry Creden,
who happened to be visiting

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00:18:42,446 --> 00:18:45,356
with Sam Baneri, the chief
technologist for the agency.

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We had an orderly
shutdown of the center

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and then had some telecons
with NASA Headquarters.

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I remember that the phone
system was jammed and we had

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00:18:58,466 --> 00:19:01,866
to use some special emergency
communications capability

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00:19:02,526 --> 00:19:07,976
in order to talk with NASA
Headquarters in Washington.

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00:19:08,056 --> 00:19:11,056
What it meant for me was
that this was the first time

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00:19:11,056 --> 00:19:14,986
in my lifetime that the United
States proper had been attacked

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00:19:15,316 --> 00:19:18,006
on our soil by an enemy.

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00:19:19,416 --> 00:19:27,976
I was very shocked, I was angry
and wanted us to get back.

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00:19:28,346 --> 00:19:30,696
On 9/11, I was at the Office

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of Government Ethics Annual
Conference in Norfolk, Virginia.

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00:19:35,946 --> 00:19:39,126
Attorney General Alberto
Gonzalez was speaking.

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00:19:39,186 --> 00:19:41,386
He was our welcome speaker.

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00:19:42,356 --> 00:19:43,576
He began at 8:00.

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00:19:43,736 --> 00:19:47,676
He did announce to our group
that the one tower was hit.

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00:19:48,566 --> 00:19:51,596
He continued to welcome
us with his comments.

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00:19:52,316 --> 00:19:55,646
As he spoke, the
second tower was hit.

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00:19:56,606 --> 00:19:58,696
At that point he told
us he had to leave,

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00:19:58,876 --> 00:20:00,316
he had to go back to Washington.

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He left by helicopter.

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00:20:05,016 --> 00:20:08,096
As I can remember it, we
were all told the conference

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00:20:08,166 --> 00:20:08,916
was cancelled.

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00:20:08,916 --> 00:20:11,476
This was quite early
in the morning yet.

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00:20:12,516 --> 00:20:14,366
We all went back
to our hotel rooms.

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00:20:14,436 --> 00:20:17,116
We were told that the
tunnels were closed,

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00:20:17,176 --> 00:20:19,936
the highways were closed,
the air space was closed,

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00:20:20,796 --> 00:20:22,646
our flights were cancelled.

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00:20:23,186 --> 00:20:24,966
So we stayed in the hotel.

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00:20:25,096 --> 00:20:31,106
From my window viewpoint I got
to see the Mid Atlantic fleet.

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00:20:31,486 --> 00:20:34,186
The Navy brought out
the fleet into the bay.

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00:20:34,186 --> 00:20:38,106
It was quite dynamic
to see the destroyers.

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00:20:38,146 --> 00:20:42,416
I had never seen anything
that large before in my life.

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00:20:42,756 --> 00:20:45,746
It was quite powerful,
it was very frightening,

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00:20:46,046 --> 00:20:49,036
when we figured out that
this wasn't initially just

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00:20:49,086 --> 00:20:50,106
an accident.

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00:20:51,086 --> 00:20:56,036
I was very proud of the United
States, I felt safe somewhat

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00:20:56,556 --> 00:21:01,096
over the power from the Navy and
seeing all the powerful ships,

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00:21:02,076 --> 00:21:04,846
but I began to realize
how vulnerable we are.

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00:21:05,316 --> 00:21:08,566
At one point in my life I always
felt safe in the United States

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00:21:08,686 --> 00:21:11,136
and now I feel that
we must be careful.