11 September 2001
Transcript: Briefing by Rumsfeld, Shelton on Terrorist Attacks
(Defense officials joined by Senators Warner, Levin) (2590)
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, briefing at the Pentagon
September 11 following the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the
World Trade Center in New York earlier in the day, said the United
States has taken steps to prevent further attacks and to determine
responsibility. He said the United States had no connection to
explosions reported to have occurred in Kabul, Afghanistan, late
September 11.
Asked whether he considers terrorist leader Osama bin Laden a prime
suspect in the attacks on the United States, Rumsfeld said: "It's not
the time for discussions like that."
Also participating in the briefing were Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff Hugh Shelton, Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate
Armed Services Committee, and Senator John Warner, ranking Republican
member on the committee.
Following is a transcript of the briefing:
(begin transcript)
SEC. RUMSFELD: First of all, good evening. This is a tragic day for
our country. Our hearts and prayers go to the injured, their families
and friends.
We have taken a series of measures to prevent further attacks and to
determine who is responsible. We're making every effort to take care
of the injured and the casualties in the building. I'm deeply grateful
for the many volunteers from the defense establishment and from the
excellent units from all throughout this region. They have our deep
appreciation.
We have been working closely throughout the day with President Bush,
Vice President Cheney, CIA Director George Tenet, the vice chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dick Myers, who is currently participating
in a meeting elsewhere in the building, and a great many other
officials from throughout the government.
I should say we've received calls from across the world offering their
sympathy and indeed their assistance in various ways.
I'm very pleased to be joined here by Chairman Carl Levin and Senator
John Warner. Senator Warner called earlier today and offered his
support and was kind enough to come down and has been with us. We've
very recently had a discussion with the president of the United
States. Chairman Hugh Shelton has just landed from Europe. Secretary
of the Army Tom White, who has a responsibility for incidents like
this as executive agent for the Department of Defense, is also joining
me.
It's an indication that the United States government is functioning in
the face of this terrible act against our country. I should add that
the briefing here is taking place in the Pentagon. The Pentagon is
functioning. It will be in business tomorrow.
I know the interest in casualty figures, and all I can say is it's not
possible to have solid casualty figures at this time. And the various
components are doing roster checks, and we'll have information at some
point in the future. And as quickly as it's possible to have it, it
will certainly be made available to each of you.
I'll be happy to take a few questions after asking first General
Shelton if he would like to say anything, and then we will allow the
others to make a remark or two.
GEN. SHELTON: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Ladies and gentlemen, as the
secretary just said, today, we have watched the tragedy of an
outrageous act of barbaric terrorism carried out by fanatics against
both civilians and military people, acts that have killed and maimed
many innocent and decent citizens of our country.
I extend my condolences to the entire Department of Defense families,
military and civilian, and to the families of all those throughout our
nation who lost loved ones. I think this is indeed a reminder of the
tragedy and the tragic dangers that we face day in and day out both
here at that home as well as abroad.
I will tell you up front, I have no intentions of discussing today
what comes next, but make no mistake about it, your armed forces are
ready.
SEN. WARNER: The chairman.
SEC. RUMSFELD: The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
Carl Levin.
SEN. LEVIN: Our intense focus on recovery and helping the injured and
the families of those who were killed is matched only by our
determination to prevent more attacks and matched only by our unity to
track down, root out and relentlessly pursue terrorists, states that
support them and harbor them. They are the common enemy of the
civilized world. Our institutions are strong, and our unity is
palpable.
Senator John Warner.
SEN. WARNER: Thank you.
As a past chairman, preceding Carl Levin, I can assure you that the
Congress stands behind our president, and the president speaks with
one voice for this entire nation. This is indeed the most tragic hour
in America's history, and yet I think it can be its finest hour, as
our president and those with him, most notably our secretary of
Defense, our chairman, and the men and women of the armed forces all
over this world stand ready not only to defend this nation and our
allies against further attack, but to take such actions as are
directed in the future in retaliation for this terrorist act -- a
series of terrorist acts -- unprecedented in world history.
We call upon the entire world to step up and help, because terrorism
is a common enemy to all, and we're in this together. The United
States has borne the brunt, but who can be next? Step forward and let
us hold accountable and punish those that have perpetrated this
attack.
Again, I commend the secretary, the chairman, and how proud we are. We
spoke with our president here moments ago. He's got a firm grip on
this situation, and the secretary and the general have a firm grip on
our armed forces and in communication the world over.
SEC. RUMSFELD: Thank you very much.
We'll take a few questions and then we'll adjourn.
Charlie.
Q: Mr. Secretary, did you have any inkling at all, in any way, that
something of this nature and something of this scope might be planned?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Charlie, we don't discuss intelligence matters.
Q: I see. And how -- how would you respond if you find out who did
this?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Obviously, the president of the United States has
spoken on that subject, and those are issues that he will address in
good time.
Yes?
Q: Mr. Secretary, we are getting reports from CNN and others that
there are bombs exploding in Kabul, Afghanistan. Are we, at the
moment, striking back? And if so, is the target Osama bin Laden and
his organization?
SEC. RUMSFELD: I've seen those reports. They -- in no way is the
United States government connected to those explosions.
Q: What about Osama bin Laden, do you suspect him as the prime suspect
in this?
SEC. RUMSFELD: It's not the time for discussions like that.
Q: Mr. Secretary, you said you could not be specific about casualties.
Can you give us some characterization, whether it's dozens, hundreds
in the building?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Well, we know there were large number, many dozens, in
the aircraft that flew at full power, steering directly into the --
between, I think, the first and second floor of the -- opposite the
helipad. You've seen it. There cannot be any survivors; it just would
be beyond comprehension.
There are a number of people that they've not identified by name, but
identified as being dead, and there are a number of causalities. But
the FBI has secured the site. And the -- information takes time to
come. People have been lifted out and taken away in ambulances. And
the numbers will be calculated, and it will not be a few.
Q: Mr. Secretary, could you tell us what you saw?
Q: Mr. Secretary?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Yeah?
Q: Mr. Secretary, do you consider what happened today, both in New
York and here, an act of war?
SEC. RUMSFELD: There is no question but that the attack against the
United States of America today was a vicious, well-coordinated,
massive attack against the United States of America. What words the
lawyers will use to characterize it is for them.
Q: Does that mean that the U.S. is at war then?
Q: Mr. Secretary, you said that the Pentagon would be open for
business tomorrow. What kind of assurances can you give the people who
work here at the building that the building will be safe?
SEC. RUMSFELD: A terrorist can attack at any time at any place using
any technique. It is physically impossible to defend at every time in
every place against every technique. It is not possible to give
guarantees. The people who work in this building do so voluntarily.
They're brave people, and they do their jobs well.
Q: Mr. Secretary, can you give a sense of what happened? What did you
see when you left your office, ran down to the site and apparently
helped people on stretchers and then returned to the command center?
SEC. RUMSFELD: I felt the shock of the airplane hitting the building,
went through the building and then out into the area, and they were
bringing bodies out that had been injured, most of which were alive
and moving, but seriously injured. And a lot of volunteers were doing
a terrific job helping to bring them out of the buildings and get them
into stretchers and into ambulances and into airlifts.
Q: Mr. Secretary, can you tell us how many of the dead were soldiers
and how many were civilians? Have you been able to determine that?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Absolutely not.
Yeah.
Q: Mr. Secretary, today we saw military planes both in New York and in
Washington. How much more of a military presence will we see, now that
this incident has occurred, for the next week?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Those kinds of decisions are made day to day. It is
correct that we had aircraft flying protective missions at various
places in the United States today. And they will do that as
appropriate.
Q: Mr. Secretary, what do you say to the American people who may have
questions on how something so coordinated has been carried out against
this nation? What do you say to them who might not have confidence
that our intelligence and security are what they should have been?
SEC. RUMSFELD: I say to them that the president of the United States
will be making some remarks to them this evening that will address
those subjects.
Q: Mr. Secretary, you've declared -- the Pentagon has declared
Threatcon Delta for forces around the world. Could you tell me why?
Have you received any threats? Or has anyone claimed credit for this?
SEC. RUMSFELD: We have in fact declared Force Protection Condition
Delta and a condition of high alert, indeed, the highest alert. We did
so almost immediately upon the attacks, and it is still in force.
Q: Mr. Secretary, were there threats issued against other U.S.
facilities elsewhere in the world today?
SEC. RUMSFELD: I don't know that there's a day that's gone by since
I've been in this job that there haven't been threats somewhere in the
world to some facility somewhere. It's a -- it's one of the
complexities of the intelligence business that you have to sort
through those kinds of things. But we don't get into the specifics.
Yes? You had your hand up? Yes?
Q: Mr. Secretary, there were rumors earlier in the day that the plane
which crashed in Pennsylvania had been brought down by the United
States, either shot down or in some other manner.
SEC. RUMSFELD: We have absolutely no information that any U.S.
aircraft shot down any other aircraft today.
Q: I wonder if we could just ask Senator Levin one thing, Senator, if
that's all right.
SEN. LEVIN: You bet.
SEC. RUMSFELD: Senator Levin, you and other Democrats in Congress have
voiced fear that you simply don't have enough money for the large
increase in defense that the Pentagon is seeking, especially for
missile defense, and you fear that you'll have to dip into the Social
Security funds to pay for it. Does this sort of thing convince you
that an emergency exists in this country to increase defense spending,
to dip into Social Security, if necessary, to pay for defense
spending, increase defense spending?
SEN. LEVIN: One thing where the committee was unanimous on, among
many, many other things, was that the -- we authorized the full
request of the president, including the $18 billion. So I would say
that Democrats and Republicans have seen the need for the request. Q:
Mr. Secretary, could you describe what steps are being taken,
defensive measures, beyond force protection, and whether there's been
any operational planning for homeland defense and as to --
SEC. RUMSFELD: Those aren't the kinds of things that one discusses.
Q: Sir, the perpetrators of the Khobar Towers bombing were never
found; the Cole bombing as well. What assurances or what confidence do
you have that the perpetrators of this act will be found?
SEC. RUMSFELD: All one can offer by way of assurance is a seriousness
of purpose. We're still taking bodies out of this building, so I would
say that that's a little premature.
Q: Mr. Secretary?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Yes?
Q: You've talked about, and others at the podium have talked about
being ready, the military is ready, General Shelton said. And we
understand the Navy has dispatched two carriers and some
guided-missile cruisers and destroyers and a couple of Marine Corps
helicopter amphibious ships, such as the Bataan -- it's not the Bataan
-- here and to New York. Can you tell us if that's true? And also any
other things you can share with us about how the United States
military is preparing to take on whatever in the next few days?
SEC. RUMSFELD: We don't make announcements about ship deployments.
Q: Mr. Secretary?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Yes?
Q: Can you describe the fire-fighting efforts that are going on right
now in that corridor and the search-and-rescue efforts that are
beginning?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Can I describe them?
Q: Yeah.
SEC. RUMSFELD: Why don't we let the secretary of the Army, who was out
there with me a few minutes ago and has been talking to the incident
commander on the site.
SEC. WHITE: I think it's fair to say at this point that the fire is
contained, and will shortly, if not already, be sufficiently
controlled to allow entry into the building. That entry will be
supervised by the FBI, who are in charge of the site, assisted by the
fire departments that are present. We, on the Army side, will support
them as they go in the building and search for casualties and bring
them out, then we will support them in dealing with that. That's
what's going on on the ground.
SEC. RUMSFELD: We'll take one last question.
Q: Is the government operating under the assumption that this attack
is done, or is it poised or bracing for more action?
SEC. RUMSFELD: The government is certainly aware that it's difficult
to know when attacks are concluded.
And I want to thank Senator -- Chairman -- Levin and Senator Warner,
and certainly Secretary of the Army White and General Shelton for
being here with me. And we'll excuse ourselves. Thank you.
Q: Thank you.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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