Douglas Cochrane, Vice President Dick Cheney’s military aide, learns that a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center and subsequently heads to Cheney’s office to pass on to the vice president a phone number for President Bush. Cochrane is in his office on the fifth floor of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, when he learns a plane has hit the WTC (see 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001). He learns about the crash when someone in the White House Situation Room calls and tells him what has happened, according to the Florida Times-Union. However, he will tell the 9/11 Commission that he learns about it from the television coverage of the incident, at about 8:50 a.m.
Military Aide Heads to the Situation Room – Cochrane leaves his office and goes to the Situation Room, seeking information, but personnel there can tell him nothing more than what is being reported on CNN. Cochrane will tell the 9/11 Commission that a supervisor informs him that Cheney got cut off while talking on the phone with Bush. He therefore takes a piece of paper with a phone number for the president on it and heads to Cheney’s office, in the West Wing of the White House. When he reaches the office, he finds National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice there with the vice president, according to the Florida Times-Union. [Florida Times-Union, 9/10/2003; 9/11 Commission, 4/16/2004] However, according to other accounts, Rice will only go to Cheney’s office after 9:03 a.m., when the second hijacked plane hits the WTC (see (Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Meet the Press, 9/16/2001; Hayes, 2007, pp. 332; Gellman, 2008, pp. 114]
Military Aide Reportedly Sees Cheney on the Phone with Bush – Cochrane will tell the 9/11 Commission that while he is in Cheney’s office at this time, he sees the vice president picking up the phone and answering a call from Bush. Cheney says, “Yes, Mr. President,” he will recall. [Florida Times-Union, 9/10/2003; 9/11 Commission, 4/16/2004] However, according to other accounts, including the 9/11 Commission Report, Cheney will first talk with Bush about the crashes in New York sometime after the second plane hits the WTC, apparently around 9:15 a.m. (see (9:16 a.m.-9:29 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Meet the Press, 9/16/2001; Sammon, 2002, pp. 92-93; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 39; Hayes, 2007, pp. 332] Cochrane then shuts the door to Cheney’s office and heads back to the Situation Room. There, he will see the second crash at the WTC live on television (see 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Florida Times-Union, 9/10/2003; 9/11 Commission, 4/16/2004]
9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney’s Military Aide Sees the Second Crash on TV, Goes to Fetch the ‘Nuclear Football’ from His Office
Douglas Cochrane, Vice President Dick Cheney’s military aide, sees Flight 175 crashing into the World Trade Center live on television and, in response, goes to fetch a special briefcase that holds the codes necessary for the vice president to initiate a nuclear attack. Cochrane left his office on the fifth floor of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, and went to the White House after he learned a plane had crashed into the WTC (see (8:50 a.m.-9:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). He is in the White House Situation Room at 9:03 a.m. and sees the second hijacked plane, Flight 175, crashing into the WTC live on television (see 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001). In response, he runs back to his office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to get the “nuclear football” out of the safe. [Florida Times-Union, 9/10/2003; 9/11 Commission, 4/16/2004] The nuclear football is a briefcase that contains “a variety of secure phone capabilities and options for launching nuclear strikes that [the US president] may authorize,” according to journalist and author Ronald Kessler. As well as the nuclear football that is assigned to the president, a second, identical football is assigned to the vice president, in case the president becomes incapacitated or dies. This is presumably the briefcase Cochrane now fetches. Carrying the football is the responsibility of military aides, such as Cochrane, who accompany the president and the vice president wherever they go. [Associated Press, 5/5/2005; Kessler, 2014, pp. 7] Once he has the football, Cochrane will return to the White House and see Cheney being evacuated from his office by his Secret Service agents (see (9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001). He will subsequently join Cheney in the underground tunnel that leads to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House (see Shortly Before 9:58 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 4/16/2004]
Shortly Before 9:58 a.m. September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney’s Military Aide Joins Cheney in a Tunnel below the White House, Learns about the Pentagon Attack
Douglas Cochrane, Vice President Dick Cheney’s military aide, joins Cheney in an underground tunnel that leads to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House and is told that an aircraft hit the Pentagon. After Flight 175 crashed into the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m., Cochrane went from the White House to his office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, to fetch a special briefcase that holds the codes necessary to initiate a nuclear attack (see 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001). When he arrived back at the White House, he saw Cheney being evacuated from his office by his Secret Service agents (see (9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Cochrane tried to follow Cheney as he was being escorted to the underground tunnel that leads to the PEOC, but the door to the tunnel was shut behind the vice president. Cochrane said, “Open the door,” but agents there said they could not do this. He therefore had to take another route to get to the tunnel. Cochrane now joins Cheney. He finds that Lynne Cheney, the vice president’s wife, has joined Cheney in the tunnel (see (9:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001) and the group around the vice president is getting ready to head to the PEOC. While Cochrane is in the tunnel, a Secret Service agent tells him, “They just got the Pentagon.” Cochrane will later comment that before receiving this notification, he had been unaware that an aircraft was approaching Washington, DC. He will go with Cheney and the group accompanying the vice president into the PEOC (see (9:58 a.m.) September 11, 2001), and stay in the PEOC for the rest of the day. [9/11 Commission, 4/16/2004]
