It's not a coincidence that WTC 7 drops at the same time Bush is being briefed on a second round of attacks. WTC 7 was the beginning of a second wave of attacks.
(5:20 p.m.) September 11, 2001: CIA Briefer Tells President Bush about a Possible Second Wave of Attacks
Mike Morell, President Bush’s CIA briefer, passes on to Bush all the information the CIA currently has relating to today’s terrorist attacks, which includes a warning the agency received about the possibility that a group of al-Qaeda terrorists is in the United States, preparing for a second wave of attacks. [TENET, 2007, PP. 169; BUSH, 2010, PP. 136; POLITICO MAGAZINE, 9/9/2016] While he was at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, Bush conducted a meeting of the National Security Council in a secure video teleconference (see (3:15 p.m.) September 11, 2001). During the meeting, CIA Director George Tenet said the CIA had information linking al-Qaeda to today’s attacks. [WOODWARD, 2002, PP. 26-27; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 326; PRIESS, 2016, PP. 243] Before the meeting ended, Morell slipped out to phone Ted Gistaro, Tenet’s executive assistant, at the CIA’s operations center and asked to have the information Tenet provided to Bush sent to Air Force One. [TENET, 2007, PP. 169; MORELL AND HARLOW, 2015, PP. 57]
Fax Includes All of the CIA's Information on the Attacks - A few minutes after Air Force One took off from Offutt, heading for Washington, DC (see (4:33 p.m.) September 11, 2001), Morell received a six-page fax that included all the intelligence the CIA had relating to the attacks. It included the talking points Tenet used to brief Bush during the teleconference, along with a lot of information Tenet was unable to cover in the meeting. Morell read through the material several times and highlighted several passages.
Briefer Goes Over the CIA's Information with Bush - Now, about 30 minutes later, Andrew Card, Bush’s chief of staff, comes to the staff cabin and tells Morell that Bush will see him to go through the information. Morell therefore accompanies Card to the conference room on the plane and the two men meet with Bush there. Morell goes over the material he has been sent with the president, allowing Bush to read as much of it as he wants. [STUDIES IN INTELLIGENCE, 9/2006 pdf file; MORELL AND HARLOW, 2015, PP. 57; POLITICO MAGAZINE, 9/9/2016]
Briefer Reports the Possibility of a Second Wave of Attacks - The material includes information provided by French intelligence, explaining that it has detected signs that al-Qaeda has “sleeper cells” in the US that are planning a second wave of attacks. Bush is concerned when he learns this. He will later describe receiving the information as “one of the darkest moments of the day.” “I believed America could overcome the September 11 attacks without further panic,” he will write. “But,” he will add, “a follow-on strike would be very difficult to bear.” [TENET, 2007, PP. 169; BUSH, 2010, PP. 136; POLITICO MAGAZINE, 9/9/2016] After Morell has finished briefing the president, Bush thanks him and he returns to his seat in the staff cabin. This meeting apparently takes place at around 5:20 p.m., since Morell will comment that Building 7 of the World Trade Center collapses while he is briefing the president and this incident occurs at 5:20 p.m. (see (5:20 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [STUDIES IN INTELLIGENCE, 9/2006 pdf file; NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY, 11/2008, PP. 15]
Entity Tags: Andrew Card, Central Intelligence Agency, Al-Qaeda, George W. Bush, Michael J. Morell
Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline
Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, George Bush
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