Dan Downey

General Richard Myers, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is notified that the Pentagon has been attacked as he is leaving one of the Senate office buildings on Capitol Hill, on his way back there. [MSNBC, 9/11/2002; American Forces Press Service, 9/9/2011] Myers has been on Capitol Hill for a meeting with Senator Max Cleland (D-GA). He is aware of the crashes at the World Trade Center and realizes they were terrorist attacks (see Shortly Before 9:00 a.m. September 11, 2001 and (After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [MSNBC, 9/11/2002; Myers and McConnell, 2009, pp. 7-9] Colonel Matthew Klimow, his executive assistant, called him from the Pentagon and advised him to return to the Pentagon (see (Before 9:29 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Myers and McConnell, 2009, pp. 9; George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, 8/3/2012] He has also talked over the phone with General Ralph Eberhart, the commander of NORAD, and Eberhart, too, told him to “get back to the Pentagon” (see (Before 9:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 2/17/2004 ; 9/11 Commission, 3/1/2004] As Myers is heading back to the Pentagon, he learns about the attack there, which occurred at 9:37 a.m. (see 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). It is unclear who tells him what happened. He will later recall, in some accounts, being told about the attack by a man he will refer to as his “security guy” or his “security officer.” But he will tell one interviewer that he learns of it from his driver, Dan Downey. He is told: “Sir, just got a call from the office. The Pentagon’s been hit.” He is apparently provided with no details of what the attack involved. [Council on Foreign Relations, 6/29/2006; Myers and McConnell, 2009, pp. 9; Radio America, 4/14/2009] The exact time when this occurs is unclear. Myers will tell NBC News that he learns of the Pentagon attack “as we’re leaving the building” on Capitol Hill. [MSNBC, 9/11/2002] In a radio interview, he will say he learns of it “as I get ready to go to my car and leave Capitol Hill.” [Radio America, 4/14/2009] But he will tell the 9/11 Commission that he receives word of it “as he [is] getting into his car.” [9/11 Commission, 2/17/2004 ] And in his 2009 memoir, he will recall learning of it during the drive back to the Pentagon, “[a]s we raced away from Capitol Hill.” He will immediately call Klimow and receive confirmation from him that an attack occurred at the Pentagon (see (Before 9:58 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Myers and McConnell, 2009, pp. 9; George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, 8/3/2012]