Jesse De Vaughn

Pentagon security cameras facing the crash scene allegedly have been put out of order by the attack. [Murphy, 2002, pp. 245] John Jester, the chief of the Defense Protective Service (DPS), runs from his office at the Pentagon down to the DPS Communications Center and orders, “Get a camera up there!” [Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 152-153] As the Washington Times will later note, “The attack occurred close to the Pentagon’s heliport, an area that normally would be under 24-hour security surveillance, including video monitoring.” [Washington Times, 9/21/2001] However, some of the Communications Center’s eight wall-mounted monitor screens are blank, because the crash has destroyed the camera nearest the area of impact and cut connectivity to others. Furthermore, some of the security cameras at the Pentagon are currently inoperable because of construction work going on (see 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). Officer Jesse De Vaughn brings up an image from a camera at the Navy Annex, located a few hundred yards from the Pentagon, which is then focused onto the crash site. [Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 153 and 244] Two recently installed security cameras located north of the crash site in fact captured the moment the aircraft impacted the Pentagon (see 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 161] The poor quality footage from these will be officially released in 2006 (see May 16, 2006). [Associated Press, 5/17/2006] Whether the cameras that were destroyed or disconnected when the Pentagon was hit captured the approaching aircraft or the moment of impact is unstated.