Comments - Part 2

When I make a mistake, I try to admit it, rectify it, and then go on. Well, I made a mistake. In doing a bit of research, I found September11news.com that gives a time line of events of September 11 (a very good resource for September 11 news). I found that President Bush was told of the first plane (American Airlines Flight 11) striking the North Tower before he went in to meet with the children. The first plane struck at 8:46 am. The second plane (United Flight 175) struck the South Tower at 9:03 am. Andy Card whispered in his ear at 9:04 am. At 9:30 am he went before the cameras. A grand total of 44 minutes from the first strike to his first statement before the cameras.

Word of the tragedy first came to President Bush in the hallway of a school in Sarasota, Fla., moments after the first plane hit New York's World Trade Center. He went to a private room, where he spoke by phone with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice; it appeared then that the matter could be just a terrible accident.

Then, at 9:04 a.m., while Bush met with second-graders, staff chief Andrew H. Card Jr. whispered in his ear that a second plane had struck. Bush's sunny countenance went grim. After Card's whisper, Bush looked distracted and somber but continued to listen to the second-graders read and soon was smiling again. He joked that they read so well, they must be sixth-graders.

After huddling with advisers, Bush entered the school's media center for what was to have been an education speech. He looked stunned, but by the time he reached the podium, he was composed and at 9:30 a.m. delivered the chilling news of "an apparent terrorist attack on our country."

I either didn't know or forgot the order of events (most likely forgot). I'm now confused as to which seven minutes we're talking about. Was it seven minutes between hearing of the two Tower strikes. Or is it seven minutes after he knew of the second strike? It was probably the second since it's been said that he should have brushed the kids off to take care of presidential business. But, you know what? I really don't care. I still say we (meaning anyone and everyone up to and including the President) didn't know what was going on. Information had to be gathered before he could make any decisions. How could he make any decision at all without knowing what he needed to decide? Sure, he could have told the kids "I'm sorry. I have Presidential business that needs to be attended to" and left. He still couldn't have gotten information any sooner than he did. Why not give those kids and staff a few more minutes of his attention? Those kids will remember for years to come that he put aside seven minutes to listen to them read. What is seven minutes in the course of the world? What could he have done in those seven minutes that wasn't being done? I'm sure that Andy Card assured him, when telling him about the second strike, that everyone (and I do mean everyone who had any way whatsoever of finding out anything) was trying to find out what happened. While he was listening to the kids read, someone apparently linked the attack to terrorists. How? I don't know who or how, but someone connected the dots. Now is the time I expect President Bush to take action.

I expect leaders to get information in a very short period of time. While Bush listened to the kids read (and wouldn't you have loved to have been one of those kids when you were that age? It would have been the event of my lifetime to have the POTUS listen to me read), the FBI, the CIA, National Security, the Secret Service and every other alphabet agency I'm not thinking about was trying to find out what happened so they would know who and what to protect and how to do it. Orders did not have to be given by the President, it was already being done. I would be very concerned about the security of this country if it was left up to the President to issue orders so basic as to find out what happened, what was happening, was going to happen, who was behind it and what to expect.

I expect leaders to have people around them who can make decisions on their own and to be able to think about what my boss (in this case the POTUS) would want and need to know. I expect leaders to make decisions based on the information they have at the time. I expect leaders to take the information they are given and sort through the information and make the best decisions they can based on that information. He knew there were two strikes on the WTC. And that's about all any of us knew at that time. I even knew that much. Based on what I know of chain-of-command (and I've had more than 20 years experience with CoC), when he was told of the first strike, he gave orders to find out what happened, whether it was an unfortunate accident, or if not, find out what was behind it. When he was huddled in the hallway before going on camera, more orders were given to (these would be my words) find what the hell was happening and who was behind it. Anyone on his staff who didn't come up with some answers before he went on camera would be looking for another job very quickly. That's what they are there for and what they are paid to do. Again, this is based on 20 plus years of experience.

Within 30 minutes of being informed of the second strike President Bush was before the cameras telling us that it was "an apparent terrorist attack on our country." Then, he left for Air Force One. The rest, as they say, is history.