"Chief of Security of the World Trade Center."
It's got a pretty nice ring to it.
John O'Neill. You will be missed.
The Bureau didn't deserve you. We were the lucky ones.
Cheers.
- ALL: Cheers. - My man!
DIANE: It appears we've lost our two Saudis, al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi.
I thought responsible eyes were on them.
I thought so, too.
These guys are obviously craftier than we thought.
TONI-ANN: I-49 just sent over a list of Arabs
who attended or are enrolled in US flight schools.
And what does I-49 want us to do with this list?
People inside Langley know about Mihdhar.
You need to understand something.
If you reveal that intelligence to anyone outside this Station,
I will see to it that you are handcuffed,
that you are escorted from this building,
that you are imprisoned,
- and tried for theft and treason. - (ALL SPEAKING ARABIC)
QAMISH: (IN ENGLISH) Is there something you need from me?
SOUFAN: I need to speak with Abu Jandal.
I know Jandal knows something about the Cole attack.
George Tenet, please.
(PHONE RINGING)
Yes?
George.
We must speak.
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
(CAMERAS CLICKING)
RICHARD: I have only a very brief opening statement.
I welcome these hearings because of the opportunity
that they provide to the American people
to better understand why the tragedy of 9/11 happened,
and what we must do to prevent a reoccurrence.
I also welcome the hearings because it is finally a forum where
I can apologize
to the loved ones of the victims of 9/11.
To them who are here in the room,
to those who are watching on television,
your government failed you.
Those entrusted with protecting you failed you,
and I failed you.
We tried hard,
but that doesn't matter, because we failed.
And for that failure,
I would ask, once all the facts are out,
for your understanding,
and for your forgiveness.
Have a good one.
MAN 1: You do the same. Thanks, bro.
- Next? - MAN 2: Coffee, light.
And, a Danish, please.
- Morning, fellas. - Hey, morning, John.
- Another day in paradise. - It's one word for it.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
(PLANE WHOOSHING)
- (CRASHING) - (BUILDING RUMBLES)
(PEOPLE EXCLAIMING)
MAN: Is that an earthquake?
(CAR HORN HONKING)
(TIRES SCREECHING)
REPORTER 1: (ON RADIO) The blaze,
with thick smoke coming out of two sides of the building,
the result of a plane crash
by what's thought to be a jet plane, possibly a 73...
Single file! Follow me! Follow me!
All right.
LEAD SOLDIER: I want this plane in the air, now!
No one's heard from John O'Neill?
I'm still trying to reach my mom. New York's cell towers are jammed up.
- He was there, you know? - I know, I know.
South Tower of the World Trade Center's just been hit. Another plane.
Let's go, people! I need everyone on the plane, now!
Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go!
Go, go, go, go! Let's go, people! Come on!
(BRAKES SCREECHING)
Soufan! Agent Soufan!
- Soufan! - Soufan!
Yeah?
Chihoyne called. You need to return to the embassy.
- Why? - He didn't say!
REPORTER 2: A tremendous amount of smoke pouring out.
It's the result of what appears to have been a deliberate terrorist attack.
Around 9:00 this morning,
two large passenger planes flew into each of the towers,
the North and South Towers of the World...
(ALL CLAMORING)
- What are they saying out there? - I don't know.
DAN RATHER: (ON TV) ...confirm these reports,
which have been growing in intensity,
that a section of the World Trade Center
has collapsed onto the street below.
Do you see any confirmation of that?
DOW: It's true, Dan. That's what we were all running from.
We heard the building coming down, and that's what we were running from.
Literally, people ran out of their shoes,
trying to get out of the way of this thing.
RATHER: Well, one can certainly understand that.
So, Harold Dow, our man...
Chihoyne... Where is he?
...reports that he can confirm
that a section, we do not know how large a section,
a section of one of...
- What? - ...the World Trade Center towers...
- Why am I not on that flight? - ...has collapsed into the street below.
- Now, for those who got to view... - (TURNS OFF TV)
I need to show you something.
What is this?
This is the meeting in Malaysia.
And the pay phone.
The number I've been asking about for months.
Langley sent it this morning,
and Washington needs to know immediately if this was an al-Qaeda attack.
They need confirmation, and you're the best man to get it.
I asked you repeatedly about the meeting in Malaysia.
Did you company men have any idea
what we could have done with this if you had shared it?
John O'Neill was there, this morning!
(VOMITING)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(GROANING)
REPORTER 1: (ON RADIO) And the most chilling moment for me, Chris,
as I walked the streets downtown, was a fighterjet flying overtop,
and literally thousands of people looking up into the sky, watching...
- CHRIS: The Air... - ...a fighterjet fly across...
CHRIS: Yeah, that's something you don't see.
The Air Force, obviously, has been mobilized,
and is in the air, now, looking for any other aircraft.
You know, we had reports earlier,
- both from ABC and... - REPORTER: Chris...
CHRIS: Wait, hold on. One second, one second.
- Yes, John? - JOHN: The other
World Trade Center building just collapsed.
CHRIS: Oh, my God, it did.
That is the... Ladies and gentlemen,
the World Trade Center in New York is no more.
Both of the towers have absolutely collapsed.
Let me go back up to New York.
- (NEWS ANCHOR SPEAKING ARABIC) - (ALL SPEAKING ARABIC)
(IN ENGLISH) I want Abu Jandal. Now.
No, no reason for talk.
You must leave here.
I'm not asking. I'm telling you!
(ALL CLAMORING)
(ALL ARGUING IN ARABIC)
NEWS ANCHOR 1: A commercial jet liner crashed into the Pentagon earlier
this morning.
An approximately 60-foot section of this building,
which is, of course, the headquarters
of all the military for the United States,
was on fire as a result of this crash, and then collapsed.
NEWS ANCHOR 2: All over Washington, federal buildings are being evacuated.
The Capitol, Department of Justice, the White House.
Mr. Clarke, we need to leave right away.
Have you reached John O'Neill?
I have called repeatedly, sir.
I just can't get through. Please, we need to get out.
- I'm not going anywhere. - Please, sir, they're telling us...
Arthur, go. I'm staying.
Sir, if you don't leave, then I don't leave.
You have a child at home and a wife. I don't have either.
I'm ordering you to walk out of here with the rest of them, now.
All right, sir.
NEWS ANCHOR: We've been watching this, here, in the Washington...
This is going to be a very hard day for US-Saudi relations.
I... Do you mind if we turn that down, please?
NEWS ANCHOR: We are all, every one,
I'm sure, on their minds, is God rest the souls...
You've given me flight manifests for four domestic flights.
- Yes. - How do these tell me
that we have a Saudi problem?
I'm looking at names, not nationalities.
We cross-referenced all passenger names
against an Agency database for known al-Qaeda.
We came up with two. Both of them were Saudi.
Now, there seems to have been a number
of other Saudis on the four planes, possibly as many as 15.
And do we know that these two, or these 15,
are responsible for what's happening today?
That is the leading assumption, yes,
but the immediate issue for the administration
is going to be getting our Saudi friends out of the country.
That includes the royal family, the ambassador, all associates.
They're going to be in danger once this leaks out in the press.
Dick, we have to preserve our relationship
with Saudi Arabia for many reasons.
In the short-term, to help form a coalition,
and to host a staging ground for when we do retaliate in the region.
We agree on that, George.
But, if I may,
did you know that these two, or these 15,
but let's just concentrate on the two right now...
Did you know that they were in the country?
Dick, you know as well as I do that my hair has been on fire
for the entire year over al-Qaeda,
going back to when 43 was first in office.
Before that. This has consumed me.
Four of these flights were domestic,
so, these men had to enter the country at some point prior to this morning.
How long had they been in the country?
I don't have the answer.
But I'll look into it, and I'll get back to you.
You do that. You look into it and get back to me.
I'll go to Condi and discuss getting the Saudis out,
but this conversation is not over.
- (FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING) - (KEYS JANGLING)
(DOOR UNLOCKING)
What have you done, Soufan?
I need to talk to Abu Jandal.
- Amin is our top man. - He needs to let me talk to him.
I'm sure he would, if for a reason.
Then you give me Abu Jandal.
- I'm tired of asking. - This is not the way to ask.
I think Brother John is dead.
Today? In the attack?
- How do you know of this news? - I don't,
but he was there.
In the building?
I can't reach him.
(PRAYING SOFTLY IN ARABIC)
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
(IN ENGLISH) Come. Come with me.
(DOOR UNLOCKS)
Copy.
Right this way, ma'am.
Please have a seat.
In the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001,
you were placed undercover. Is that correct?
That is correct.
The reason provided to us
is that a decision was made to shift you from intelligence to operations.
- Is that correct? - That is correct.
And that's the reason you're now being shielded
from public view, and the view of this commission.
It has nothing to do with protecting you from public questioning.
Ma'am?
Did you ask me a question? Because I didn't hear one.
Now, let's move on.
The, uh...
The CIA's intelligence files on Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi,
two of the hijackers on September 11, 2001.
It's our understanding that Alec Station
knew of the presence of
these two al-Qaeda members in the United States,
at least as early as March 2000.
Yet no one alerted the FBI for 17 months,
and when the FBI was finally given the files on the two hijackers,
those files were mixed in with a host of other files,
and never highlighted. Is that your recollection?
No.
Well, what is your recollection?
I walked those two files over to the FBI myself.
Yes, this was your response to our investigators in preliminary session.
But there are physical sign-in logs at every FBI office in the country,
including Washington, D.C., and New York City.
Your name does not appear in any of those logs.
I walked them over myself.
Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward,
and freedom will be defended.
I want to reassure the American people
that the full resources of the federal government
are working to assist local authorities to save lives,
and to help the victims of these attacks.
Make no mistake,
the United States
will hunt down and punish
those responsible for these cowardly acts.
(BEEPS)
- (SIGHS) Leonard. - Martin.
Terrible, unforeseeable tragedy.
- The Pentagon's in... - "Unforeseeable"?
Some of us have been warning about
the seriousness of this threat for a long time,
and begging the military to take action.
If you saw these events coming, Martin, you should have spoken up.
I didn't hear you say a word about a bunch of goddamn planes
slamming into our skyscrapers, plunging into the Pentagon.
Or perhaps, I was just out that day?
So, why did you summon me, Leonard? Surely, not for this.
You need to come back.
- "Back"? Where? - Alec Station.
In what capacity?
Four planes were hijacked this morning.
Can we not get hung up on titles right now?
All right, we'll discuss it later,
- but I'll need more funding. - I understand.
And I want to double the station's size.
- Is that a yes? - Yes.
And I want recognition within the Agency, and I hope this administration,
that we're at war. The gloves are off.
No more squeamishness about the use of force.
I understand.
Say it. We're at war.
We're at war.
I accept your offer.
(SIGHS DEEPLY)
(COUGHING)
WORKER: Back up, back up!
If we're agreed about the Saudi royal family,
and the intelligence community clears the names,
please ask the President for a limited lifting of the flight ban
to allow one or two 747s in the air in the next day or so.
And both CIA and FBI have agents on the ground,
trying to nail down concrete evidence
linking these attacks to bin Laden and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
I've heard from Yemen that we've finally been given access
to certain individuals close to UBL.
We hope to, very soon,
be able to give the Taliban an ultimatum.
"Give up bin Laden,
"or face the wrath of the United States military."
Rumsfeld wants the attacks linked to Saddam Hussein and Iraq.
What did you say?
(ELEVATOR BELL DINGS)
WOODRUFF: (ON TV)...near Shanksville, a small town in Somerset County...
How did this happen, Martin?
South of Pittsburgh,
this is the site of one of the two United Airlines aircraft...
(CRYING) How did this happen?
...left Newark, New Jersey, this morning,
on its way to San Francisco.
This is the plane that we know crashed,
and you just, with David Mattingly's report,
looking at the site
where this plane came down, and we don't know where...
(SHUSHING) We're gonna fix things. We're gonna make it all right.
...what their target was...
(CAR DOORS OPEN)
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
(CELL PHONE RINGING)
Heather.
Hello?
Ali, it's Vince.
I'm calling, I...
I haven't been able to get ahold of John.
Ali, have you heard from John?
No.
The station chief handed me surveillance photos from Malaysia.
I've been asking Alec Station about Malaysia for a year now, Vince.
Did you know about any of this?
Oh, God. Oh, man, uh...
I didn't know what I knew.
I...
(CLEARS THROAT)
Look, they were threatening me.
They control all the information. They're...
Ali?
(CLEARS THROAT)
Okay, now.
General.
I don't trust myself.
(SIRENS WAILING)
LIZ: Hello?
Liz, it's Bobby. Bob Ches...
(DOOR BUZZING)
- Thank you. - Of course.
Are you okay?
I don't know.
Liz,
I've been trying to reach John all day.
I never could.
I mean, I gave up after the second tower.
When it...
(ROBERT SIGHS)
Nobody's seen John.
Nobody's seen him.
Have you heard from him?
Come.
JOHN: Hey, baby, there's something going on down here.
An explosion, or something in Tower One.
There's just a massive hole up near the top.
I gotta go get people out.
Gosh, I keep thinking of you at 18, up there with your parents,
gazing out the window at New York Harbor.
Listen, as soon as they fix this thing, you and me are gonna go back up there.
We're gonna get ourselves a table, right next... Hey, Petey!
What are they telling you?
I gotta go, sweetheart. I'll call you later.
Pete! Let's try to...
(ANSWERING MACHINE BEEPS)
(CRYING)
(SIGHS)
(SNIFFLES)
- (KNOCKING ON DOOR) - (DOOR OPENS)
(ALL SPEAKING ARABIC)
(CHUCKLES)
(SIGHS)
- (MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYING) - (POLICE RADIO CHATTER)
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
(SIRENS WAILING)