Shortly Before 9:00 a.m. September 11, 2001: Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Myers Learns of the First Crash at the WTC from Television

General Richard Myers, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, learns of the first crash at the World Trade Center when he sees it reported on television while he is about to go into a meeting with Senator Max Cleland (D-GA). [Armed Forces Radio And Television Service, 10/17/2001] Myers has been nominated as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and is scheduled to hold a series of meetings today with senators on Capitol Hill in preparation for his Senate confirmation hearing. [Myers and McConnell, 2009, pp. 7; American Forces Press Service, 9/9/2011; George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, 8/3/2012] He is scheduled to meet Cleland at 9 o’clock in Cleland’s Capitol Hill office. [CNN, 11/20/2001; MSNBC, 9/11/2002] The two men are going to discuss the future of American defenses, particularly against global terrorism, Cleland will later recall. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/16/2003]
Myers Sees the Burning North Tower on Television – While Myers is waiting in Cleland’s outer office, he notices the television there showing a live shot of the New York skyline with black smoke coming out of one of the Twin Towers of the WTC. Text across the bottom of the screen reports that a plane hit the North Tower. [Myers and McConnell, 2009, pp. 7-8] Myers hears the commentator on television saying something like: “We think it was an airplane. We don’t know if it’s a big one or a little one.” [MSNBC, 9/11/2002] He thinks the plane that crashed “[m]ust have been a light aircraft… [m]aybe on a sightseeing flight.”
Myers Doesn’t Realize the Crash Was Terrorism – After he enters Cleland’s office, he and Cleland chat for a short while about the incident in New York. [Myers and McConnell, 2009, pp. 8] Being a pilot himself and noting that it is a beautiful, clear day, Myers says, “How could an airplane get off course and hit a building?” [MSNBC, 9/11/2002; American Forces Press Service, 9/9/2011] “How could a pilot be that stupid, to hit a tower?” he asks. However, he then thinks, “Well, whatever” and proceeds with the meeting. [Council on Foreign Relations, 6/29/2006] Myers and Cleland will learn about the second crash at the WTC, which occurs at 9:03 a.m. (see 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001), when a staffer comes in and tells them about it, according to most accounts. Only then will the two men realize that this is a terrorist attack (see (After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). “Maybe we should have known after the first one [that this was terrorism],” Myers will reflect. However, he will explain: “After the first [tower] was attacked, early on… people still couldn’t agree on what had actually happened. We didn’t have a good account at that point.” [MSNBC, 9/11/2002; Myers and McConnell, 2009, pp. 8-9]
Myers Is Currently the Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs – General Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is currently out of the country, flying across the Atlantic Ocean for a NATO meeting in Europe (see 7:15 a.m. September 11, 2001), and so, by law, Myers is the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in his place. [American Forces Press Service, 10/23/2001; Shelton, Levinson, and McConnell, 2010, pp. 430-432; George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, 8/3/2012] In this role he is the nation’s highest-ranking military officer and the principal military adviser to the president, the secretary of defense, and the National Security Council. [Office of the Federal Register, 6/1/1999, pp. 178-179 ; North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 11/7/2019] “Until I crossed back into United States airspace, all the decisions would be [Myers’s] to make, in conjunction with Secretary [of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld and the president,” Shelton will comment. [Shelton, Levinson, and McConnell, 2010, pp. 432] With Shelton away, it is “critical for Myers to get back to the Pentagon” to respond to the crashes, the American Forces Press Service will note. [American Forces Press Service, 10/23/2001] However, he will only start his journey back there sometime after 9:37 a.m., when the Pentagon is hit (see Shortly After 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). [MSNBC, 9/11/2002; Council on Foreign Relations, 6/29/2006]