ABC News September 11, 2001 Tuesday (8:00 PM ET)
Special Report: America Under Attack
PETER JENNINGS, anchor:
It was great to see--it was really great to see the members of Congress gather and sing "God Bless America," to tell the country and the world that the country's hanging together. But there was a time earlier today when this--the capital city was just closing down as absolutely fast as they could get it closed down. Take a look at this report from ABC's Michele Norris.
MICHELE NORRIS reporting:
With the Pentagon burning in the distance, the nation's capital was evacuated.
Lt. DAN NICHOLS (Capitol Police Spokesman): This is the first time we had a mandatory evacuation of the Capitol and the House and Senate office buildings.
NORRIS: Bewildered employees got out as fast as they could, while key congressional leaders were carefully wisked away to safe and undisclosed locations. Top leaders from throughout the administration were immediately placed under special protection.
Senator JON KYL (Republican, Arizona): The leaders are in undisclosed locations for their own safety and to ensure that we can reconstitute a decision making when that's appropriate.
Ms. KAREN HUGHES (Counselor to the President): The United States Secret Service immediately secured the president, the vice president, and the speaker of the House, and they are all safe.
NORRIS: It's all part of official Washington's civil defense plan, to ensure that the federal government continues to function smoothly, even while the nation is under attack.
Mr. JOHN PIKE (Director Global Security.org): Well, they basically have a play book initially to assess how serious is this threat, do we need to have a lot of people move very far away from Washington, or do we just need to have a few key back-up people get outside of the immediate, downtown area.
NORRIS: During the Cold War, the federal government developed an elaborate evacuation plan to make sure top leaders would survive a nuclear attack by taking them to a series of secret bunkers just outside Washington. Today that wasn't necessary, but nonetheless the nation's top decision makers remain under very heavy protection.
Mr. PIKE: Making sure that the federal government continues to function, I think, is very important in a time of crisis, because it reassures the public that somebody is in charge and the situation is well in hand.
NORRIS: And in today's time of crisis, Americans, as well as many elsewhere in the world, will be looking for that reassurance. Michele Norris, ABC News, Washington.
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