The Associated Press
Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001; 3:10 p.m. EDTWASHINGTON –– The White House and Air Force One were targets of Tuesday's terrorist strikes, an administration spokesman said Wednesday.
"We had specific credible information that both were intended terrorist targets, and that the plane that hit the Pentagon may have been headed for the White House," said Sean McCormack, spokesman for President Bush's National Security Council.
The White House confirmed reports that the executive mansion and presidential jet had been threatened.
That helped to explain why Bush did not immediately return to Washington from Florida on Tuesday morning and take charge of crisis operations run from the Situation Room in the White House basement.
Bush, who had been in Sarasota, Fla., for an education speech, first flew to an Air Force base in Louisiana and then to one in Nebraska before returning to the White House at dusk.
His Boeing 747, operating as a kind of airborne White House, was escorted by military fighter jets.
Bob's Note: Peter Jennings, NBC's news anchorman, criticized President Bush for not flying directly back to the White House immediately after leaving Florida. Air Force One flew first to Louisiana then on to Nebraska and other stops before coming back to Washington, D.C. Jennings never would have said the same thing about AlGore had he become president. For that matter, it was just fine with him when BJ Clinton held up all air traffic at LA International Airport for 2 hours while Christophe cut his hair onboard Air Force One in 1992 just after his election.
© Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
Threat to Bush plane included code words
Thu Sep 13 2001 10:25:31 ET
Washington (dpa) - Shortly after a hijacked airliner crashed into the Pentagon early Tuesday, the Secret Service in Washington received a chilling message about the president's official plane.
``Air Force One is next,'' said the caller. The message included code words indicating that the caller knew of White House security procedures for protecting the president during a crisis.
The call, which also came after two other hijacked jetliners smashed into New York's World Trade Centre, was reported Thursday in The New York Times, quoting an unnamed senior U.S. official. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Wednesday that there was ``specific and credible'' information that the terrorists were targeting the White House and Air Force One, the presidential plane.
The warning and the White House's decision to publicize the threat help highlight why President George W. Bush waited 10 hours before returning to Washington following the first attack.
Bush has been criticized for following a zigzag path from Florida to Louisiana and then to a secure air base in Nebraska before returning to the nation's capital.
His response has been compared unfavorably to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who rushed to the trade centre immediately after the first attack and was caught in a neighbouring building during a tower collapse, and to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who remained at the Pentagon throughout the day and even helped guide people out of the damaged building in the immediate aftermath of the crash.
The official who spoke to the Times said that Vice President Richard Cheney urged Bush not to return immediately to Washington but to proceed to Offut Air Force Base in Nebraska, which has secure communications facilities set up for crises.
The unnamed official cited the possibility that aircraft other than the four hijacked airliners may have posed a threat to Bush's plane. Bush's detour to Louisiana was meant to throw off any attackers, since it would not be expected.
``It would have been irresponsible of him to come back, pounding his chest, when hostile aircraft may be headed our way,'' the official said. ``Any suggestion that he do so was ludicrous.''
Yet at least twice in the flight, Bush argued that he should do just that, said Karl Rove, a top Bush adviser who was with him on Air Force One.
The threat against Bush's life, and the attacker's apparent knowledge of White House code words and procedures, highlight the sophistication of the coordinated terror campaign unleashed Tuesday against the preeminent symbols of U.S. wealth and power.
``It's very sophisticated, very well-planned attacks by very educated people at the top, and dedicated people that are carrying them out,'' said Senator Richard Shelby, ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
