citing transmission to know the plane had been hijacked is all they are saying about it at this point. we ought to remind everyone this is an exceptional development. the faa has banned all takeoffs it all airports across america. this country in terms of air travel has been immobilized. the good portion of the nation's capital is, the most powerful center in the world has been immobilized as a result of these terror attacks. >> bob gave that description of that low-flying aircraft near the white house and one can only woned if that was something that ultimately was in the pentagon. >> let's look at a live picture of what seems to be a portion of the building falling away from the world trade center. if we can rerack that 20 seconds ago, you will see something dramatic happening and i don't know whether it's another explosion or a portion of the building falling away but something major just happened at that building. >> here is the tape.

watch what happens in the left hand tower. i don't know if this is the correct tape. there. something there is about to happen. it's falling away right there. >> it looks like a big chunk of it has just peeled away. >> one can only hope the area has been evacuated but, of course, you wonder about all of the emergency vehicles and the people who might have been injured early in the morning. >> you remember when the bomb went off in the basement of it in 1993 how much damage was done throughout that building, how much chaos there was at that time. these are two coordinated airplane attacks on the building on the upper reaches of it. that will have enormous structural effect. those buildings, i think it's fair to say, will probably have to be brought down. it's too early to speculate on that, but there has been that kind of damage. >> we have somebody actually on the scene. >> a reporter here in new york from wnbc. talk about the fact this plane was tag off from boston to los angeles.

the reports it was diverted to jfk and for people who aren't familiar with the geography of this area, the southern tip of manhattan would be very much near the flight the landing pattern for jfk airport. it could have been easy for a hijacker to pretend he was taking that plane to jfk and veer off at the last minute. >> i heard one eyewitness saying over washington square he saw a plane go over a thousand feet and apparently the american airlines flight and do what he described as a sharp right turn right toward the world trade center. he then lost sight of it. >> one eyewitness here in this ap report says he was getting off a path train to the world trade center and saw bodies falling out of the building as he approached it. police told him to get out of the building immediately. he ran outside and watched people jump out of the first building and then there was a second explosion. >> this footage we're seeing right now shows that the damage is so severe. i mean, we had seen what seemed to be two fairly self-contained impact craters before and now it

appears something much more dramatic has happened to at least one of those towers. >> these pictures are beyond belief. >> we have a report the second plane may have flown out of newark, new jersey. this is an official who was speaking on the commission of anonymity. again, no confirmation of that. we just know two planes went in and the first one apparently american airlines flight from boston to los angeles and now seeing it from the harbor view of this continuing damage and destruction of the world trade center. >> sdenel, tom, i want to interrupt you for two seconds. apparently jamie has more information for us. >> spoken again to u.s. officials with access to the highest intelligence and they are now confirming that it does appear that at the pentagon, it was a plane. again, they are saying they believe now a third plane was involved at the pentagon. >> of course, this has been the nightmare, katie, for national

security officials for a long time. we talk about nuclear bombs and those kind of exchanges or invasions but everyone is worried about the suitcase size bomb of some kind or an airplane or an attack on our subways in the large cities and this, obviously, no one had anticipated. three airplanes that were deliberately aimed at critical targets in america. we can only hope that it's open for -- over for today, but officials are taking no chances on all that. they are evacuating all critical buildings because as mr. johnson said earlier, this is an open society. james holstrom of the fbi pointing out that almost anyone can come in here. they have access to so many instruments that can be used as instruments of attack and terrorism and that certainly has been the case today. >> let's go to our state department correspondent andrea mitchell. andrea, what can you tell us? >> well, this from the fbi. the state department has been evacuated. there was a meeting going on in the operation center. other top officials were in the situation room at the white

house. colin powell is in bodata, colombia on a two-day trip. this is interesting from the fbi, they had been operating a massive exercise from their hostage rescue unit, all of their top teams, 50 personnel and helicopters and equipment in monterey, california scheduled to fly back today commercially. all of those people are out of place. fair to say that sources we talked to at nbc the rescue operations are in chaos right now because they can't reach their official in new york and all of their phone lines are down. now you have all of their special experts on this stuck in monts raymont ray california. they are seriously out of pocket and there is a real breakdown of the fbi and antiterror coordination team which is the principal team that would lead any effort and was to effective

under jim calstrom in new york city during the world trade center bombing and the twa bombinging. >> is the department taking this -- from the liberation of palestine seriously? are they giving any credence to that or dismiss it or how do he feel who might be responsible for this? >> i think it's far too early for them to figure this out. they have one reaction and it could be wrong but their immediate reaction in a case like this would be to look toward osama bin laden and the collateral groups connected to him simply because he has proved with the embassy bombings in af ka he is the africa he is the one capable leader of this attack. the bombings went off in tanzania and at the same time

and they proved their case to a jury effectively. and have managed to develop a great deal of information from sources from, in fact, turning former members of his network. they believe he is the most likely person but far too early to say anything. >> american airlines has confirmed american airlines flight number 11 from boston's logan airport scheduled to be to l-l.a.x. and diverted into the world trade center. it was the airline involved. we only assume on a popular flight like that that it probably had a capacity load of passengers and crew on board. there was a hijacking the first plane that was involved. we don't know about the second plane yet nor do we know the origins of a third plane that deliberately flew itself into the pentagon this morning near the tell la port heliport. jim miklaszewski has been asked to evacuate that building so

have to wait until we hear from him. >> we saw dramatic pictures from the pentagon moments ago. >> a few seconds ago, this is about an hour after the first impact. we saw some dramatic footage of a portion of one of the twin towers it apparently to fall away from the rest of the building. can we go to the tape now? look at it. when you look at it, the building has collapsed. that tower just came down. >> let's go to bob who is at st. vincent's hospital. what can you tell us there? >> this is one of the hospitals that is closest to the world trade center in the last few minutes. ambulances have been coming in one right after another. most of the people they are bringing in have second and third-degree burns and very serious burn victims. they say the smoke inhalation people are probably the most serious but they are not close to getting to them yet. a triage operation is going on in the area. ambulances dispatched to the entire new york city. the entire staff of this hospital have come in from where

they are and hospitals throughout new york city and standing there as soon as an ambulance pull in, dozens of medical workers rush up to it. the emergency service workers i spoke to have been down in the world trade center site say this is the tip of the iceberg and massive amounts of casualties. >> what are they telling you about people? were there many people inside the building or is it just too early to tell where the people were? >> there were certainly, you know, probably hundreds, even thousands of people in the building, even though it was before 9:00 which is the usual work period because it's such a large area. the number of casualties is just enormous and they are just beginning to sort it out and trying to get to the first few they can get to but the blans ambulances are just coming in. someone is standing in a cue and they go as soon as they can get a victim and bring them up here right eye way. >> we're looking at the lower end of manhattan as a result of a collapse of one world trade

center, that whole financial district is now engulfed in smoke and debris and there probably is going to be a lot more smoke inhalation problems as a result of this. >> almost certainly, tom. i was standing and saw that collapse. everybody here just gasped. each the medical workers and the ambulance attendants when they saw that people are used to tragedy grabbed each other and hugged each other and some started to cry. >> the triage unit. >> exactly we're close to the base of that building trying to evacuate people and when a building of that size falls, it does not fall on its own footprint. >> no, absolutely. i'm several blocks north of there so i don't know what that area looks like but one can only imagine. >> the consequences go on. not just to the world trade center and the poor people who are trapped and caught there but, of course, that is the heart of the world financial markets which have now been shut down effectively as well. so the ripple effect continues this morning as we all try to adjust psychologically and

intellectually so what we are witnessing here. it is difficult to comprehend but this country, the strongest country in the world, has been the target of a major coordinated terrorist attack and the end is not over yet. even if it's confined to just these three targets. the ripple effect goes on. all air traffic has been shut down. there will no financial markets in place today. businesses have been stopped across the country. >> and, of course, who knows the human toll that will be the result of this action. matt actually just pointed out to me on any given day, 50,000 people, tom, work at the world trade center. >> and at 8:45 in the morning if they are not in the building, they are around the building. that is a bee hive of activity down there. there is no more active area in terms of pedestrian traffic. >> i hate to keep going back to the collapse of that tower but if you consider that this plane hit at mid structure and it probably would have taken out the electrical in the building where elevators wouldn't work

and people struggling to get some way out of that tower and it takes a long time to come down over a hundred stories. to think about the possible loss of life that just occurred by the collapse of that southeastern tower is just amazing. minika is with the "today" show and apparently saw the collapse of one of those towers. tell me what you saw. >> we're on the corner of dwayne and west padre and walking toward the twin towers and it collapsed. looks like the building demolished and smoke and cloud. clouds of smoke everywhere. people running toward me. i was going towards the twin towers. people going away from the towers and it was just people running like i've never seen a scene like it. >> from where you were, mina, did you see many of the injured being treated? is there any indication as to the type of perimeter that the ems people were dealing with?

>> no, i haven't gotten that close yet. they were sort of blocking off the street and now what we are doing is totally clearing out the area and more and more emergency officials are coming in to help. >> can you just give me an idea of the reaction of people down there, mina, pedestrians? >> everyone. everyone in tears. people who were -- i've met some woman who was in the building to the right where the first thing happened and just all crying, wondering if the people they know in the building next door are okay. >> jamie. thank you very much, mina. jamie gangle is on the phone with more information. jamie? >> katie, as you will know, buildings around town are being evacuated. the state department has been evacuated. the white house has been evacuated. and the pentagon has been evacuated. intelligence officials tell me that they do believe at the pentagon that that was a third

plane going down. they have had -- the intelligence sources i talked to say they have not received any claim of responsibility get. >> jamie, have you gotten any information from reagan national airport as to air traffic in the area this morning or anybody who might have somehow traced this plane or figured out from where it came or where it was going? >> they still do not have any of those details yet. it is almost impossible. they were confused for a long time as to whether it's a bomb or a plane. they say now it appears to be a plane but they say that that is all the information that they have. as you know, the faa has shut down all airport now and they are now going back and trying to sort that out. but they do not have any information on that yet. >> do they know what type of plane it might have been some. >> there is no -- unfortunately,

they just don't have that yet. >> jamie, thank you very much. we will be talking with you. >> this is the most serious attack on the united states in more than a hundred years. not since the war of 181 and the damage we did to ourselves during the civil war has this country suffered this kind of damage within its interior. obviously, pearl harbor which triggered world war ii was a horrific event as well but there has never been an event to match the magnitude of this one in which everything has been shut down in terms of air traffic. the national kamtings is immobilized and state department and pentagon have been attacked and financial mashts shut down. there is untold loss of life here in manhattan. the nerve center of america to say nothing of what is going on at the pentagon. >> this is a shot of downtown manhattan that many people have never -- can't remember. without one tower. >> it looks like a movie, frankly, that is unfolding and it combines the hor of the twa

bombing and the murrah federal building. >> i would guess everyone is up across the time zones in america. 7:15 in the west. if you're just joining us at 8:42 eastern time today, american airlines flight 11 from boston to lax was crashed into one of the world trade center buildings. 15 minutes later, another plane hit the other one. that building has now collapsed. within an hour of those two attacks, the pentagon was hit, now we're told, by a plane. untold number of casualties there. president bush has been on the air and in florida at the time saying apparently this was a terrorist attack. everyone now believes that. carefully coordinated from the air and the consequences of it in terms of human loss and the effect on this country are still to be determined. >> we want to go to kathleen who is with nyu downtown hospital.

they've been treating some of the injured. can you hear me? >> yes, i can. >> can you tell me about the injuries you're seeing and the number of people you've been treating? >> we've seen a steady stream of patients for approximately an hour and a half. many appeared to be superficial injuries but can i tell you i've seen the most serious ones because i believe they are going in through the ambulance so we have a high level of activity here. our first priority is on the care of those patients and we do not have an exact tally at this time because of the activity of level at the hospital. we've also been responding to family members and friends who have come in seeking information to the hospital. >> how far is the hospital from the world trade center? >> the hospital is perhaps five-minute walk from the world trade center and we were the first responder when the trade center was attacked in '93, so, unfortunately, we have some prior experience. >> yeah.

what kind of medical support is there downtown? how many hospitals in the immediate area there that could help with the injured? >> we are the only hospital south of 13th street in new york city, so we serve a very large portion of the city. for that reason, our emergency room is a very high priority of this hospital. and the staff have been doing a heroic job in terms of responding to the patient. >> kathleen, what about the triage unit that is on the ground there? are they nyu, a team of nyu medical people on the scene as well? >> yes, they are. i cannot respond to that question because i am not on the scene and i don't have that information. >> but you do have medical people, your personnel there at the scene? >> that is my understanding, yes. >> katie, what we're worried about now the other building may come down. they, obviously, have evacuated that whole area as a result of the crash of one world trade center. now i'm told that there is concern about the second one

collapsing as well. it has enormous upper structure damage in all of the floors of that and it is more than a hundred stories high. it wouldn't take much to bring it down. >> kathleen, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> we're told now that spokesman for yasser arafat, the leader of the palestinian -- the leader of the pla, the palestinian liberation organization, that he has -- that arafat has condemned what has happened here in new york. he says that the plo has no role in it whatsoever and they are completely shocked and appalled what is happening. there was one earlier report that the radical democratic front for the liberation of palestine claimed responsibility, but that was later denied as well. we don't know yet who is, in fact, responsible for this, but it was very carefully planned and coordinated and fair to say it has been a devastatingly efficient and effective attack on the hard of this country.

>> pat dawson is on the ground near the world trade center. pat, are you there? pat dawson, can you hear me? he's having some audio problems. we'll get to pat in just a moment. >> just amazing. you have to stop and think about, you know, the hijacked plane and the terror of the passengers on board. >> oh! >> as it could have been up to an hour that they realized something was dramatically wrong with this flight and then thinking that perhaps they were going to john f. kennedy here in queens actually and the plane suddenly veering into the world trade center tower. >> you can only imagine -- >> what is striking to me we didn't have any early report of, you know, the hijacking. a lot of people monitor that air traffic talk that goes on and it wasn't until this happened. >> well, the plane left boston at 8:00 this morning so it was about 42 minutes later that this

occurred. >> and it flew right over lower manhattan. a lot of people saw it at a low altitude and take a sharp right turn and according to eyewitnesses what in the world was going on. moments later, of course, the world trade center was hit. an hour after that that jim miklaszewski told you that he told of an explosion at the pentagon and now we are learning a plane has been flown into the pentagon. there have been people who have been hurt there and we hope no one has been killed but it seems likely that there were probably casualties of a serious magnitude there as well. the white house has been evacuated. the state department is being evacuated. >> here is the pentagon. >> here is the pentagon now. >> pat dawson, apparently, let's take a quick look at the pentagon. smoke continues to billow out of that structure. it's unclear as tom mentioned people were hurt and if, in fact, there was a plane. there is speculation they believe it was a plane. let's go to pat dawson who is down by the world trade center. pat, can you hear me?

>> right down here, we cannot tell you much more in terms of specific information other than to say there are probably at this stage, i would say, hundreds, perhaps in the thousands of emergency workers who, in the last hour and a half, have managed to work their way down here to lower manhattan and basically try to get into this fray. we are standing here about 10 to 12 blocks north of the world trade center. these firemen that you can see, firefighters -- firefighters are walking down toward the site now and they literally have been arriving by the dozens over the past hour or so. as we say, probably in excess of a thousand or more emergency workers from new york city and surrounding areas converging on this site now to try to make some sense of it. as can you imagine, at this point, there is a certain level of chaos because they are just trying to sort out who is alive, who is not. we did speak to, as i said

before, some of the emergency workers. they are police officers from the port authority of new york and new jersey. that is the organization that has jurisdiction over those two buildings specifically as well as bridges and tunnels. i spoke to two of them who were actually down there when that building collapsed. they said that they speculate that the loss of life had to be horrific, that there were not that many people down there on the streets at that point, that most of them who had been evacuated, that is civilians, but on the other hand, they said literally hundreds of emergency workers who were down at that end. they have no idea of the level of loss of life at this point. when i asked one of them why he was going back in as he suited up, he said he could barely breathe, he said it was his job and there may be some of my brother officers in there, there may be other people in there. so those officers going in here, as you can see, all kinds of fire workers going in there literally in the thousands now converging on this site. we cannot give you much of an organizational sense beyond telling you probably what you

already know, which is that two separate aircraft have struck the two towers of the world trade center. if memory serves, i think each of those towers stands 110 stories. some of the dust as you probably can see now is blowing in our faces. it really depends on which way the wind blows as to whether or not we're enveloped in the dust and smoke. you can see from the pictures the amount of dust from the fire still burning, flames and ash is extraordinary at this point. and at least a few emergency workers have said that they really aren't so sure that other tower won't stay up now. they really didn't think the first one was capable of coming down but it did. they are basically saying keep back as far as you can. on the other hand, facing that danger as we have been telling you, many, many hundreds of these workers are heading over tos lines down towards that burning building to try to rescue those people who are in there, be they emergency

workers, be they civilians. the original crash took place just about quarter to 9:00 by my reckoning. i don't know the exact time but about quarter to 9:00 and when that took place, obviously, at that pour hour, the building would not be packed with people, but it's still late enough in the morning that there would be enough people. >> we were listening to pat dawson who is standing near the world trade center in lower manhattan. i was thinking while pat was talking, you both spent time out at oklahoma city at the murrah federal building after that explosion and it took more than a week to sift through that building of a -- rubble of a building so many stories? >> we have gotten a report a car bomb exploded outside the state department. an initial report i'm hearing from our producers in the control room. can we go to anyone for more information on that. apparently no more information on that. >> where is andrea mitchell?

is she at the state department? >> the date department and u.s. capital have been evacuated and, obviously, the pentagon has as well. mick, what is the latest from the pentagon? >> katie, security officials here at the pentagon have not only evacuated the building, but they are clearing the entire area. security forces have reported that they have received information of another plane hijacking, that it's about 20 to 25 miles out of washington, d.c. headed in this general direction. secretary of defense donald rumsfeld a few moments ago was refusing to leave the building. we ran into the chief naval officer, the top naval officer, admiral clark and they were loading him into -- alternative command site. they were taking -- they were taking admiral clark to alternative command site.

hello? do you hear me? >> yes, we can. >> i'm sorry. okay. no confirmation of this latest threat but security officials are taking it very seriously. we were standing with secretary rumsfeld detail who as soon as they got the report went running into the building and we were herded away. but they have set up an alternative command site somewhere in the area. the pentagon has set up a crisis team to deal with this situation. but, so far, latest reports are that another plane of some kind may have been hijacked and headed in this direction. katie? >> we also should tell you, mick, this is tom brokaw, the faa now says all international flights headed for the united states are being diverted to canada. this at a time when as jim miklaszewski is telling us there is an unconfirmed report there has been another hijacking. all takeoffs were stopped but planes in the air, obviously, at

the time of these first two attack on the tin towers and then the pentagon. >> andrea? >> the state department has been evacuate. secretary of state colin powell is en route home from lima, purr roux peru. he did not get to his destination today. that trip canceled and he and all other officials are heading back. state department and white house officials and nfc have been evacuated although condy rice was in the situation room and krarks director george tenet has been holding meetings in his office in langley, virginia. as we reported earlier, key fbi team members from the rescue efforts and antiterror koor naeding team were on a secret military exercise to this kind of event. >> andrea, can you tell us any more about reports of a car bomb has exploded outside the state department? >> i do not have confirmation of that but they did evacuate the

state department but we do not have confirmation at this moment about a car bomb outside the state department. >> andrea, thanks. sorry to interrupt but we were going back to jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. mick? >> i've got my eyes peeled here, katie. i don't see anything, but security forces in the area have just blaired out over their allow speakers to any pedestrians anywhere near the pentagon to take cover immediately. there was, as i said earlier, an indication that another plane may have been hijacked and headed in this general direction. so far, all we see are security helicopters circling the pentagon. again, the skies are crystal clear blue and i can't see the speck of an airplane, but security forces here, obviously, alarmed enough not only to tell people to keep some distance from the building, but to take immediate cover. >> can you tell me a little bit more -- well, actually, let's

look at the live pictures at the world trade center. the other tower of the world trade center has just collapsed. you are looking at live pictures of the second twin tower at the world trade center collapsing as a result of the crash of an airplane into its side. that, i believe, was the first tower that was struck this morning at 8:42 eastern time. it is now falling to the ground and collapsed. >> there has been a declaration of war by terrorists on the united states. >> pat dawson is down at the scene. pat? >> where is wing? where is wing? where is wing? >> pat, can you hear us? obviously, there is pandemonium downtown. pat is not far from the world trade center as you can hear from the 'ence 'residence and you can e -- sirens. you can only imagine the terror. the trade center towers have now

collapsed. >> more than a hundred stories of steel and concrete and electrical. there it is. that is a videotape replay. >> we are back at 10:30 time on this tuesday morning. this horrific and incredible not to be believed tuesday morning. you are looking at live pictures of the world trade center where just a few minutes ago, within the last minute, actually, the second twin tower collapsed. if you're just joining us around 8:42 eastern time this morning, here in new york city, a plane crashed into the right twin tower of the world trade center about two-thirds of the way up the building. had a huge gaping hole and tons

of fire and billowing of smoke. 25 minutes later, a second jet, believed to be a 727 or 737. >> or 757 even. >> then crashed into the second twin tower. the first plane was on route from boston, massachusetts, to los angeles. >> here is video of the second plane striking the tower. >> we are not sure of the origin of that second plane. the first plane was from boston to lax to los angeles and flight 11. american airlines. we have confirmed that that plane has hijacked. what happened following the hijacking is unclear. we should note that about an hour after the first collision at the pentagon, reportedly another plane crashed into the pentagon which is just outside washington, d.c. and northern virginia. all air traffic has been

stopped. >> government buildings have been evacuated as have other buildings across the country. the sears tower in chicago was evacuated and other buildings in major cities and small cities probably are being evacuated as well. >> unconfirmed report of a car bombing at the state department but not been able to pin that down. jim miklaszewski was told an unconfirmed report of another air hijacking. we share this with you not to exacerbate what is a terrible situation but so much has come true today based on earlier reports we want you to have as much information as we can possibly get at the pentagon, all people outside were told to take cover just moments ago but jim miklaszewski said the size were clear. >> there was an unconfirmed report of another hijacking with the plane headed towards washington. we don't want to sound alarmists but that is something mick heard while he was at the pentagon. we want to mention the president is en route from florida where he was there to visit an elementary school to talk about

literacy. his agenda has changed dramatically. he will convene a meeting of the national security council nns he gets home and colin powell is scheduled to be back from lima, peru. >> my guess is that air force one is in unusual situation to have a fighter plane escort on its way back from florida today is where we stand. >> think about the loss of life that we could have seen this morning, if you think about the fact that world trade centers hold about 50,000 people and no telling how many people were at work before 9:00 this morning and shortly after 9:00 in the other tower. if you look at this picket, lower manhattan it appears that terrorists have succeeded this time in doing what terrorists tried to do back in 1993. >> this is war. this is a declaration and an execution of an attack on the united states. two of our more conspicuous

symbols of the american system of capitalism. the pentagon which of course, is the haurs of the most mighty military in the world is attacked today. the financial markets have been immobilized. all flights taking off after these attacks were grounded. >> international flights have been sent to canada. >> transatlantic flights are going to canada now. there has been great chaos visited upon this country, to say nothing, as you pointed out, matt, so importantly, of a still untold loss of life and it's going to be horrendous. we don't know yet what the exact numbers are, but we can only tell you by looking at those pictures you can guess as well as we can that there are going to be a lot of people not able to escape that. >> in 1993 when the bomb blew up in the basement of the world trade center, so many survivors talked about how long it took them with no power in the evident elevators to walk down the smoke-filled elevators.

you think how many were trying to escape those buildings when first one, and then the second tower collapsed. >> area hospitals are all receiving victims. as matt said, 50,000 capacity when everybody is in the building but many people at 8:42 a.m. here in new york are at their desks working in their offices. one young man or one man was reached by phone and was asked what is happening there and he said," we are blanking dying here." there was screaming and yelling and chaos going on, understandably, in the background. >> there is lower manhattan, the most important city in the world in so many ways and it has now been attacked by terrorists at the world trade center. and the damage is beyond our ability to tell you in great detail. >> let me mention that -- >> here is what the president said. he canceled an education appearance in florida. here is what he said just a short time ago. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is a difficult moment for america.

i, unfortunately, will be going back to washington after my remarks. secretary rod pace and lieutenant governor will take the podium and discuss education. i do want to thank the folks here at booker elementary school for their hospitality. today, we've had a national tragedy. two airplanes have crashed into the world trade center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country. i have spoken to the vice president, to the governor of new york, to the director of the fbi, and have ordered that the full resources of federal government go to help the victims and their families and to conduct a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act. terrorism against our nation

will not stand and now, if you'd join me in a moment of silence. >> that was george w. bush about an hour ago speaking from long boat key, florida. he is enroued to washington, d.c. we are looking at some pictures on the ground or we were of apparently some of the victims. let's go to pat dawson, if he can hear us. he is on the ground. >> quite extraordinary that these are the emergency workers who are coming back who -- >> as it happened. we will return you to this broadcast but we do have breaking news. u.s. coast guard was conducting a training exercise in the potomac river this morning and going on moments before the president and his motorcade crossed a nearby bridge and caused some concern and apparently a tremendous amount of confusion but the coast guard is confirming no shots were fired as part of this training exercise. it was simply a training exercise and you're looking at live pictures there of a coast

guard boat there on the potomac river. the president was traveling through washington this morning and on his way to the pentagon where he spoke and took place in the region laying ceremony at the pentagon memorial but, again, coast guard and police in d.c. confirming that this was, in fact, a training exercise. pete williams joins us now from washington with more. pete, i also understanding that departures from reagan national were halted shortly after 10:00 am a recaution. did no one know about this? >> well, this was even less of -- than you would think as a conventional training exercise. you're looking at one of the coast guard patrol boats here in the area every day. and you would not have seen anything had you been there watching these boats. they were not even doing a training exercise in the sense of doing anything on the water. what we're told happened here is that there was a radio call, a

normal exercise involving the radio traffic, the people who man the radios. a radio call indicating that shots were fired. apparently this was just an exercise to challenge response times. apparently, according to a very senior coast guard official, a citizen overheard this radio transmission and passed that word to some news organizations who reported this morning that shots were fired. i just want to emphasize, not only were no shots fired, the exercise didn't involve anything on the water preparing to fire shots. there was no kind of offensive action taken. >> so the initial reports as well as a suspicious vessel out there, there is no vessel? >> correct. that was part of the radio call. now, i think that some questions are already being asked about the timing of the radio exercise, given, a, the date, september 11th, and, b, the fact

that the president was driving over the river on a bridge together pentagon services. that is a separate question. and, you know, having just been through the experience with air force one flying low over new york, that memory is still fairly fresh here in washington, as well as in new york. i'm sure some questions will be asked about the timing of the radio exercise, but what happened here is some information getting out and being reported without being confirmed, which has alarmed folks here. but i just want to emphasize, no shots were fired. there was no suspicious vessel. this was strictly a radio exercise, according to senior coast guard and law enforcement officials. so there has been no crisis here. >> pete, as we're looking at this live picture of that coast guard boat there on the potomac

is this a board ordinarily out there? is security heightened all because it is september 11th. >> i don't think so. i mean, i think these patrol boats are out there all the time. my guess is, i don't know this for certain, my guess is their presence in this part of the river may have been a little higher today simply because the president was moving across the bridge. by the way, if there was a hold on traffic at national airport, that could have been the reason. the president's movement. these things may all be unrelated, but, yes, fast patrol boats like the ones you're looking at here are on the potomac river every day. this is part of the post-9/11 security environment we're in. their patrols are stepped up much more. around the presidential inaugurati inauguration, the coast guard presence on the river was heightened in a very big way. the sort of security zone was pushed way out, almost toward the chesapeake bay, much higher than you would normally see on

the river. the camera is panning back and forth. you see washington, d.c. in the background here. this is a camera apparently on the virginia side of the river or -- yeah, looking back toward the district and those fast patrol boats are here all the time but there was no suspicious boats and no shots were fired. >> pete, again, this brings us back to the timing, as you mentioned earlier. >> i just -- i think -- i just want to emphasize one other thing. our little headline saying they conducted a training exercise on the river, i think that may be a little misleading. the training exercise was entirely in the air. it was in the ether. it was a radio exercise, i'm told. so i don't know that they were -- there may have been some river activity along with it. i think that's something we have to look into. i don't know that for a fact. i just know that this was -- that there was -- i'm told that you would not have seen anything if you were looking at the boats

at the time. >> all right. nbc's pete williams, thank you so much for clarifying. appreciate it. >> you bet. >> we now want to return you to msnbc's living history event, 9/11 as it happened. we'll have more at noon. >> or divert to an airport if that is what they wanted to do. personally, i saw the blast at the pentagon, not the blast take place but moments i had been at national airport trying to get up to new york and you could see that smoke billowing out of the pentagon. can i give you a little description what it's like on the streets of washington because it was quite crowded trying to work my way back here to nbc. they have not given not only the white house and those key buildings like the u.s. capital but at this point, they've given all federal employees the word to leave their offices and get home so there are traffic jams in washington. >> bob, i'm sure you're going to get more information for us momentarily. first, we want to go to jim miklaszewski at the pentagon who

has more information. >> they are still clearing people away from the pentagon. still security forces believe there may be another incoming plane headed in the washington region, but there was a very telling dramatic moment a second ago when a u.s. air force f-16 flew very low level, did a wide sweeping turn around the pentagon and back over washington. and as one air force officer standing near me, "my god, they are now covering air cover over washington." what tom has described as terrorist war against the u.s. >> show you the pictures of lower manhattan where the situation gets not only worse, not better. the financial district of the world is also a commercial area and both twin towers have collapsed on the ground. there is untold loss of life. the ripple effect goes on with all of the smoke and dust that is spread out across that very

densely populated area. it goes down below ground, as well as in the high-rise buildings there. there are many residential structures in that area as well. some heroic rescue workers were down there trying to get people out of the building when the first building came down and then the second building did as well. without any sound and looking at this there is a surreal quality but that is the epi center of a great, great national tragedy and a great loss of life, no question about it this morning. >> we are talking about people who were hurt, perhaps killed in this blast. many of them have been brought to area hospitals, including st. vincent's hospital. bob is there. what is the latest some. >> katie, ambulances continue to stream in. several new york city streets have been closed, major avenues closed off so ambulances can continue to come in. in addition, the new york city subway system has been closed down and several buildings that were not involved in the world trade center area have been shut down and people have been told to go home.

but a lot of them are wandering aimlessly on the street and many people weeping and hugging each other. there clearly is a time as tom described is the close beginning of a war. and the -- but the casualties do keep coming in. burn, smoke inhalation, very severe. and, again, all of the medical people that i've talked to say this is just the tip of the iceberg. we expect casualties to be coming in all through the way and way into tomorrow and beyond. >> bob, if you could stand by for a moment. we have this report from ap i am going to read. a large plane crashed tuesday morning north of the semor set airport. airport officials said the plane believed to be a boeing crashed eight miles east of jener shortstop town. wxix tv reported. two planes crashed into the world trade center in new york city twin 110 story towers collapsed. explosions rocked the pentagon and the state department also

that was refuted moments ago and spread fear across the nation. there was no other immediate details on the pennsylvania crash and it was not clear whether the crash was related to the others. again, that was a report, bulletin just issued by the associated press. >> you know what is so stunning about this? there has been no, no indication whatsoever that this very carefully coordinated massive attack was going to occur. there has been a complete intelligence failure here. and there will be, obviously, down the road a price to pay for that. >> well, that is actually not all that surprising, tom. because we've observe talked in the past following every terrorist event how vulnerable the united states is and many terrorist experts say how unprepared they are. the question is, of course, can you ever prepare for an attack like this? >> well, that's true. but we also have people out there who are -- we've penetrated these kinds of organizations, but to have this kind of an attack, this

sophisticated and efficient striking at the heart of the nation's capital and striking at the heart of nort and if this is true that this plane went down as a result of this attack, we don't know whether it's the end of it. this is a massively well-coordinated attack that is nothing short but a declaration of war on this country. >> terrorist and intelligence experts are saying now very few number of terrorist groups that are capable of this kind of planning and a couple of names come to mind and i'm not throwing them out because we certainly don't have any reports. before i go to jamie, i want to say the sdrings coming descriptions coming from eyewitnesses of these explosions occurring is chilling. one man talked about getting off a subway train in lower manhattan and looking up at the building after the first explosion and seeing people jump out of the windows. we have no idea how high up, but hearing people on the ground scream each time another person jumped out of a window attempting to get to safety and then when the second explosion occurred, he felt the heat of the explosion on the back of his

neck. jamie, our national correspondent, she is joining us now on the phone. >> matt, speaking of those intelligence officials that you were just mentioning, now, finally, we can no longer reach on the phone anyone at the cia. apparently the cia has been evacuated. we know the national security agency, which is the electronic eavesdropping agency, which is south of baltimore near ft. meade, maryland, they have been shut down. what we're hearing from both places is that all nonessential personnel have been told to leave. and i can only imagine that probably they are trying to move some of their operations out of those buildings as well. for backup procedure. but, in addition to whatever intelligence was or was missed in all of this, we now have perhaps some problems gathering intelligence as those buildings are now being shut down.

>> right. . jamie, thank you so much. tom, let's talk about something you mentioned a second ago. it shows the e normt of this situation in addition to what we assume will be horrendous loss of life. all planes in this country have been grounded. you think about the impact that has. is there ever a time we can imagine something like that happening before. >> the most powerful nation in the world. national security officials and terrorist experts have been saying for some time a small band of willful and sophisticated people can bring us to a halt and they have done just that. is there a psychological terror as a result of this as you can only imagine how it plays out across the country today, people looking in who don't live in new york or live in the nation's capital are wondering what happens around me? >> this is just the beginning. we will be living with this story and dealing with the consequences of it for some time. the united states will change as a result of all of this. we already thought there was a

lot of security in america at the airports and so on, yet, there was a successful hijacking in boston airport today and the consequences of that we're seeing on the stren here this morning. this is going to change this country profoundly in not just the coming days but the coming months to say nothing you have been saying of the horrific loss of life. >> on that subject, to complete a thought i started before, you both were out at the murrah federal building in oklahoma city. a much smaller building and it took rescue workers more than a week to find all of the people trapped in that wreckage. we have a building here, two buildings of each 110 stories. it's mind boggling to think of what it's going to take over these next days and weeks to find survivors or victims of these explosions. >> of course, it continues to be a terrifying situation because there are a number of planes up in the air as this took place and a number of unconfirmed and frightening reports about those

planes that we heard earlier from jim miklaszewski that somebody had gotten word at the pentagon that perhaps there is another plane, whether they were talking about the one north of pittsburgh or it's completely unclear, but -- it's also unclear whether these planes that were en route to a destination have been grounded, in other words, if there were emergency landings or what. i think it's very difficult to get any communication with airports all across the country because i'm sure it is completely chaotic. >> katie, the time you spent with the victims there in oklahoma city, this psychological effect of all of this on this country and how it's going to affect our whole sense of security and, in a way, our sense of innocence this is fortress. we said it about column columbine high school. >> i have never, ever witnessed anything quite as horrific.

i hate to keep saying it because we have seen these types of things play out in movies and, you know, in worst case scenarios and in dramatic rendition of this kind of incident, but certainly no one has ever seen this kind of thing unfold and it is really shocking. >> we want to go now on the phone, we have neil livingston who is an expert on terrorism. can you hear me? >> can i. >> we were talking about what it would take in terms of planning and coordination to pull off an attack like this with so many prongs, at least two attacks here in new york city, one in washington, d.c. we don't know if the crash of that plane outside pittsburgh is related, but give me an idea of how many groups there are in the country that would be capable of something like this. >> very few groups in the world capable of this kind of action and you have to remember also that we have the people who hijacked these planes were going to a certain death as well. so they were suicide bombers, in

effect. and that probably suggests that this was not something like the cartel or one of the other groups that has the financial wherewithal and the infrastructure to carry out coordinated attacks. i think obviously, the finger of suspicion and we are always very cautious about pointing that in any particular direction but we have to look to the middle east. we have to look to osama bin laden. we have to look at some palestinian groups right now. >> even in the past when we were talking about osama bin laden and his group, intelligent experts picked up conversations, transmissions that occurred before an attack to give some kind of indication, even if we didn't understand them until after the attack, is it unusual that with so many prongs to an attack that there wouldn't have been? type of warning through intelligence sources some. >> well, it's -- it's a myth that we always know that these things are coming down. part of our problem is -- we just had a warning go out to our

embassies and military bases inned -- in the far east. that could have been a faint, a diversion. we have so many warnings these days they tend to fade into the background noise until we have real specific information about it, an upcoming attack, generally we don't take action. these groups are very hard to penetrate. they are focused with bonds of kinship and people who have known each other for years. so it doesn't surprise me that we didn't know that this was coming. >> mr. livingston, thank you very much. >> benjamin levy is at the scene near the world trade center. he is going to tell us precisely where he is and what he saw. benjamin, can you hear me? >> hello some. >> hello, benjamin, katie couric. can you tell me where you are and what you are seeing? >> i'm in lower manhattan but i was working -- i work at the federal building behind city

hall and we were just sitting at our desks and we heard a big explosion and then about five minutes or ten minutes later we saw the other plane hit the building, the second tower. and then we just evacuated. as we started to walk away, we turned around about maybe 15 minutes after we left the building and the second tower just disappeared from sight. i tell you, i've never seen anything more horrible in my entire life. >> did you see any people, any casualties, mr. levy? >> we bumped into a guy from tower one who said that he had a chance to get out of the building after the plane hit the first one. he said that -- he said that people were jumping out of the windows to get away from the fire. >> where are you now, benjamin? >> i'm in a hair salon in lower manhattan talking to you guys. >> well, obviously, that was -- >> was the whole federal

building evacuated, mr. levy? >> we started running out of the building as soon as we saw the second explosion and then i work on the 22nd floor. as soon as we were down at the bottom, they sounded the alarm and announced evacuation but most of us were already out. >> how physically -- >> how far physically are you from the world trade center. >> about six blocks away. >> you were able to get out easily and no electric problems in your building as a result of the impact of the fire or anything like that? >> no. we got out pretty good, thank god. >> that whole area down there, the city hall, federal building and all of the other commercial buildings have been evacuated as well? >> well, yeah. as we were leaving the people were telling the shop owners to shut their shops and go home. >> that must be enveloped by the smoke and dust that we see because that covered the lower end of manhattan which is a considerably large area, not only physically but in terms of the financial networks, the commerce down there, a lot of

reasonings areas. >> you could smell the smoke and you could smell it but we were walking away from it. >> benjamin levy, thank you very much for talking with us. we appreciate it and glad you're safe. >> katie, a a rundown here what is going on around the country. the state department officials have been moved into the state department training center in arlington, virginia. state has been evacuated, obviously. minneapolis/st. paul center shut down. georgia all flights at hartsfield closed. cnn world center is closed. in maryland. officials tightening security throughout the state of andrews air force base. hampton roads has been placed under increased security and pennsylvania, philadelphia international airport closed and the liberty bell in independence bell closed as well. >> all national monumen,