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GSA B115 RDOD03012843 Fdr- Entire Contents- Intvw- 2002-04-19 Wolfowitz Paul 054

GSA B115 RDOD03012843 Fdr- Entire Contents- Intvw- 2002-04-19 Wolfowitz Paul 054

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09/28/2013

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Pentagon AttackInterview with Paul
Wolfowitz
April
19,
2002
Cameron:
This is an oral history interview with Deputy Secretary of Defense PaulWolfowitz. It is taking place at his office in the Pentagon on April19,2002. Theinterviewers are Drs. Alfred Goldberg and Rebecca Cameron.Goldberg:You may know that we are conducting a large-scale project to document andrecord thehistoryof theattackon thePentagon.All of themilitary servicesare
involved.
We have been conducting a large number of interviews throughout theDepartment of Defense with people who were involved in some way with the attack,including civil agencies throughout the area. There are well in excess of one thousandinterviews at this point. The Army has done most of them thus far, using historicaldetachments they have brought in from the
field.
There
will
be a publication of somethree or four hundred pages, probably some time next year, on the complete story of the
attack.
At the same time we are collecting a great many documents that
will
bearchived, and also artifacts. Congress has given the Smithsonian $5
million
to dosomething of the same sort, to collect artifacts and find some way to preserve the
memory
in the museum. There are others involved, too. We are doing it strictly fromthe DoDstandpoint.We thought it important to have an interview with you and with Secretary
Rumsfeld.
Youwere herein theBuildingand hadsomethingto dowith what happenedduring the course of the day. We can start by asking where you were on September 11,what youwere doing,andwhatwasyour
first
reactionto theattack?
NCT0051519
 
Wolfowitz:
I
will
back
up an
hour.
We had
breakfast that morning with
a
group
of
congressmen,
who I
think were selected because they were
DoD
supporters.
I
can'tremember
the
selection.
We got on the
subject
of
missile defense
and I
made
the
pointthatitseemedto methattheoppositiontomissile defensewasplacinga bet on the
wrong
side of history, because there was bound to be some ugly surprise that would
make
opposition
to
missile defense look pretty mindless. They asked what
I had in
mind. My two examples were an Iranian nuclear test or North Korean test of a long-
range
missile.
I had no
idea
it
would
be a
missile
attacking
the
Pentagon. Thatconversationwas an illustration that some people would say missile defense is unique
and
some people would say they were warning us all along about terrorism. But inreality
I
think people were saying that
the
world
was a
safer place
and we
could stop
worrying.
Afterward
I came back here for a meeting. Someone said to turn on the TV andsomething about the World Trade Center. We saw the second tower hit, and Rumsfeld,
for
some reason, had the presence of mind to go out of his office. I sat here thinkingthat something terrible was going on in New York, but it was up there, not here. Wewent on with our meeting, and suddenly the whole Building shook. It
felt
like an
earthquake.
Cameron:
Did you hear anything, or did you just feel the concussion?Wolfowitz:
I
think
I
heard
it, a
dull
thud-like
noise.
My
recollection
is
that
it was
clear
something
had
happened,
but it
still
wasn't clear that there
was
anything
to do. I
didn't
put
two and two
together even then.
I
cannot remember,
but I
think that
not
untilsomeone said there had been a bomb at the other end of the Building did I get up and
NCT0051520
 
start moving out.
The
idea that therewould
have
been three,
or
much less
fourairplanesall atonce,
was—
Goldberg:Howlong afteryouheardthethuddid you getout?Wolfowitz:Pretty quickly. A few people came in and said to.
Cameron:
Didpeople first
tell
youthatit was abomb?Wolfowitz:
I
think
so. By
that time
the
alarm bells were going
off and
people werestreaming out into the parking lot. The Marine sergeant who works outside Rumsfeld's
office
was
very anxious
to get me
away.
I
thought that something terrible
had
happened, but that it was all over. She was probably right that it was a dangerous place
for
acoupleofthousand peopletocongregateatthat point,buttherewewere.Goldberg: You were outside the Building?
Wolfowitz:
Yes,
on the
parade ground, moving away from
the
Building. Then
I got
wordtocome backin,whichI waseagerto do.Goldberg: From whom?Wolfowitz:
I
think, again, someone from Rumsfeld's office.
I had my car and
driver
out
there, we drove up here and walked into the Building. We went into the NMCC, wherethe Secretary was, and General Myers. General Shelton was in Europe. Weproceeded with discussions by secure video conference. One issue was what to do
about
the plane over Pennsylvania, getting orders to get fighters up to intercept it, andtheSecretary getting approval from
the
President
to
shoot
it
down.
I
think
we
werethere when we were first told that it had been shot down. That was the first report, and
they are
usually wrong.
NCT0051521

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