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•rin--.

WHITEHOUSF

Office-

of

l.hr?

Pros:;

Secretary

Internal

Transcript

Auqust

'/,

200?.

RECEIVED

MAY

222003

NationalCommission on

TerroristAttacks

INTERVIEW OP

CHIEF

OF .STAFF

ANDRl-.'W

CARD

BY

RON

FOURN

IER

OI-

1

AP

Office

of t

lio

Chief

oi

.Staff

2

: 1

0

P.M.

liDT

0

I'd

kind

oi

liko

to st.art , you

-just

walk

mo

t.riroucjh

your

experience

of9/11,

and

t

hem

let.'.s

seuue.

MR.

CARD:

That'.';

a day

none

of

u.s

iv

i J I

evei

J

oj

get

,

a

I

I

houqb

my

more?

memorable

day is

act.ua.l

\y

.Sept

omboi

Mt-.li.

IHit.

Sept

ember

llt.h,

I

remoniber

cjert

i

IKJ

u}-),

f

co

I

i

nq

as

if

t

hoI'r

o:;

i

dont

was

cjoing

to

have

v;h,it

[

call

.1

;;<)ft

ciay

. Wo

woi

o

cjo.i

ncj

to do

n

read.iiKj,

and ho

-/;crit

for a run on

i

ho qo i f

coiir.sf

1

iluwn

at

whatever

t ho

tonni:;

nrjd

boric))

clul;

v,,i:;

/.•"

v;crc

••,t<r/iii(]

at .

Ami

t

horo

war:>

a

.st.rnnq

cji'lor

in

t!io

air.

1

don't

i

oincmbor

it

ycui

- t

hie

bc:<acli

r CM i J y

innollod

lic'c.uii'.o

thc-i-i-

v;

(.'!'•

a lot of

doar!

f i

sh

t.hat.

had

b«.'C?n

war.hc-d

up on

the

beach.

And

ho

came

back

from

hi

y

walk,

and I

r.av/

him, went

in

t'o

(jet

ehaiKjod

rind

wo

wi.'nt

ol

f t

i

•

the

1

r.cliool

. And I

l<dt

a:;

if

it

'

;-.

funny,

I

felt

as

L(

it

v,,n;

a

biqqor

d.r/

than

w<>

t

c;a

1 i /.

c-'d,

but

.1

had no

concept

of.

whai

:ha(

}>iqcior

day

.va.-:

.

(hit

1

krjew

it

wa;;

c/oincj

Lo

lie

a

soft

day.

I

way

lookinq

lojward

lo

<;pc'!iiiq

my

;;

jr, tor who had

come?

down

to

the

nchoo!

f

i

o.'ri

'1'al

1

aha:;:u?o.',

and

:;o

T

was

qoinc)

I.

o

see

my s i

;U

er at

the school

.

O

Can

!

st.op

you?

a

hi

CKJI

>r

day

Why

(Jjd

you

t))j;ik

it

was

cjoing

to

\_>c

^

l~S

j

•

J

\ .

V*It

f

V 4 J

V4

Y

V

-

l

*

lit*

boc

-

ti'i«;c? it

'was

?.-.neh

a so

MR.

CARD:

Yo:;,

bec-ausc?

it.

was

such

a soft day. I

reinembor beincj

struck

- 1

wakc

j

u})

early

anyway,

};ut

I

woko upoar 1 i

or' than

i

normal

Jy

do.

And

T

was;

kind of

charqed

and

ready

to uo, wondering

whore

t

he President

was,

and he was alrc?ady out

runniricj.

And so 1 was

kind

of

wait

i

ncj

for t

lie

d.»y

'

o

b(?y

i

n,

with

cint

i

ci

pa

t

ion,

C^VHJI

I

houcjh

I

knew it

was ,:

so

ft

day.

000027

r

And

1

remember

going

irit.o

the

holdlnej

room

before

he

went

into

the

1

c

1

assi'oom,

and it

w<is

J

ri

the

holding room

that

!">i

t

udt

i

e>n

was

trying

to

roach

us.

Cal (?)

got.

on

the-

phone-,

was

to!

el a

plane-

had hit

the

Wor

1 el

Traele

Center,

the

first

plane.

f

then

jumped on

the?

phone

and

we

t

a

.Iked

•• •

just,

before

the

President

went

into

the

room

wLth

the

school

kiels,

T

remember

we?

had

a

ve°j

ybrief

conversation,

but it was

what,

a

horrible

ace-jdent,

t

he

pi J

e^t

must have;

had a

heart attack.

And we

thought

that

it was a

twin-engine

prop

plane?

at that,

point.

Q

Those?were'

the-*

first

reports;

MK.

CARD:

A

twin-engine

prop plane,

horrible

accident,

pilot

must

have

had a

heart

attack.

And he

went

intotheclassroom. i

then

• we got a

television into

the holding

room

then,

so we did

some

logistics

things --

television

in,

get

the

television

ejn.

Ariel

then

word

carne?

that

a

secondplane

had hit

anel

that

the?

first

plane

was a

jetlinc?r

anel

the second

plane was a

jetliner.

And J

remember

t

funking

to

myself,

what

would

f

want

toknow

i I I

werf

t ho

President,

which

is k.inel

e>f

my

test

f

e~>r

a

day

And I

woulel

want

l

e)

know.

And se) 1

stood

- I

cracked

the

door

into

the

e:.l

assr

e>om

- t

lie

holdinrj

room

was;

liejht

ne>xl

to

the-

classroom.

Anel

I

cr.ae

-

keel

the

de>or

e>pen

and I i s

I

e-Mie^d,

and

!

could

heaj

students

talkinei

- J

ac't.ually

heare!

a t

oae'her

t

a i

k

i rig

rind

studc'iits

i

es3pune]

i

nei

. And 1

e]ec

-

ide'eJ

that

[

would

step

into t

ho

r

oe.nn

anel

listen

for a

time?

to

interrupt

.

.Sen

1

took

one

ste>p

inte;

the?

room,

stood

back

against

the

wa

I 1

t

lie'

door

was

shut

anel

I

looked

over

anelr saw the

pre-ss

poo]

. And J

think

it

was';

Ann

Compton

who

look

eel up at

rue.

she>

mouthed,

"wheat's;

up,

"

e^r

something.

And r

he?ld

up two

f

ingers,'

and

rne>utheel,

"second

plane.'."

Then

there

1

was a slight,

break

in themeet.

IJK.J

anel

that

when

F

wont

up to the

President,whisper

eel

into his

ear .

t.rjeeJ

to

be

ve

j

r.y,

very

ef f

J

ci

erjJ^--wT"frFr

my worejs,

ane

cemsc

i

OIM;!

y

(jJ^rrrfenTT

T

sa'fd,

"A

second plane

hit

the

t

eiv/ei^^—rcrTTei

ie

-

ais

unclear

.it'tack."

That's;

litc^ral

ly

what

I

i

in.

Q

Did

ye)ii

know

at the

time

-- it was

short

ly after thes;t'com1

plane

hit.we

he-are:

that,

the

FBI

suspected

that

the>se

planes

were

hijackc?d.

Did you

know

at

the

1

time

that

t

he;y

wore

h

i

jacked?

MK

.

CAKD:

f

eli

d

not

.

000028

Q

Al

1

you

kii(-~'w

was

twojpt

liners,

two

Ioweic.

MK.

(,'AKi):

I

knew

that

j

i

couldn't

have

been

a

coincidence.

So

rny

editor.ia.l

commentwas

"America

is

under

attack."

It

was a

factual statement

, a

second

piano

hit the

second

tower;

and the

editorial

comment

was

that.

"America

is

under attack."

And

thatwas my own

judgment

because

1just- it

couldn't

be a

coinci

denco.

And

1

stopped

bock,

and

then

---

stepped back

to the

doorway.

And

lie

waited,

i

don't

know, maybe

30

seconds,

notvery

long,

and

then

fie

excused

himself

from

the

classroom

and

came

into

the

holding

zoom.Q Let me stop you here for a minute. The phrase,

"America

.is

under

attack,

"

did

you do any

kind

of

internal

editing,

thinking

through

that

phrase,

thinking

through

exactly

what:

you

were-

goingto say

before

you

walked

up to

him,

or did

.it

literally

'just

HH

.

CAP.fi:

No, I '

houeiht

about

what

I

was

going

to

sayto

h

i

in

ticLotc

I

went

I

wanted

to

ho

very efficient

witli

my

words.

Q Why did you

think

Jl

was

important

to

tell

him

that,

that

America

was

undc-v.

attack?

One

course could have been

-just

tel

1

hi

in

wh.it

happened

and let him

make

his own

cone:

1

usi

on.

Why

did

you

decide

to

in,ike

th.it

editorial

comment,

as you

told

it?

MK.

f'AKiJ:

.1

CHIPS:-.

I

wanted

him

to

know

the

griivity

of

.it

.

.1

viewed

this

as ave.'y

grave situation,

so F

used

those

words.

But.

more

thanthat,J

wanted

it to be

very

succinct.

T did not

want to stand up in

Iront.

of the

cameras

and

have

a

conversation

with

him.

1

didn't

want

him to

turn

to me and

say,

what

are you

talking

about

.

.So

[ t r i <

•<

I

lo

pick

terms

that

would

not

invite

a

ronver

sat i

on.

y

And i t

worked.

MR.

C.'AKD:

1 don ' t

know

that I

knew

that

it

would work

be I r e I

did

it,

but

y

.'Jo

he

gels

th<'

message

"loud

and

clear

atthe

event,

arid

he

walks

out

.

000029

of 00

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