After 9:45 a.m. September 11, 2001: White House Situation Room Requests Gas Masks, but Receives Too Few of Them

Personnel in the White House Situation Room request protective gear, in case there is a chemical or biological attack, but when someone arrives with gas masks for them, they find there are too few to go around. [Clarke, 2004, pp. 8-9; McClatchy Newspapers, 8/29/2011] While most people in the White House evacuate, beginning at around 9:45 a.m. (see (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001), those in the Situation Room stay where they are (see (Shortly After 9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke and about a dozen others remain at work there, keeping information flowing to key government officials. [Daily Telegraph, 9/10/2010; McClatchy Newspapers, 8/29/2011] Beverley Roundtree, Clarke’s secretary, calls and tells Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, a member of Clarke’s counterterrorist staff, that she and the rest of Clarke’s staff in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, will also be staying where they are instead of evacuating. Gordon-Hagerty, realizing she will not be able to persuade Roundtree to leave, says to the secretary, “Okay, okay,” and adds, “then bring over the chem-bio gear.” Responding to Gordon-Hagerty’s request, Roundtree subsequently comes to the Situation Room with gas masks, which she distributes to the people there. [Clarke, 2004, pp. 8-9] However, Clarke and his colleagues face an “anxious moment” when they realize there are too few gas masks for the people in the Situation Room. “[S]ome questioned the apparent lottery, while others wondered what they didn’t know,” McClatchy Newspapers will later report. [McClatchy Newspapers, 8/29/2011]