Gen. Richard Myers, USAF, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 9/11

In September 2001, U.S. Air Force General Richard Myers was Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. President George W. Bush had recently nominated him to be the next chairman. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Gen. Myers was on Capitol Hill meeting with a key senator when news came that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center. Moments later, after Al Qaeda terrorists flew a second plane into the towers, Myers and the rest of the world knew we were under attack.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Gen. Myers walks us through his day on 9/11, including his reaction to seeing the smoke pouring out of the Pentagon as he returned from Capitol Hill, the debate over whether to shoot down a civilian airliner if it was deemed a threat to lives on the ground, and event at the Pentagon after Pres. Bush’s speech that evening.

Gen. Myers also takes us inside the national security meetings the day after 9/11 and the following weekend at Camp David and the hasty effort to assemble a military response to the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks.

Finally, Myers shares why he’s so proud of the initial U.S. military response and what he hopes Americans think about as we mark 25 years since that horrific day.

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Veterans Chronicles