let's go nbc's jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. mik, what can you tell us?ea mitchell just said, senior military officials here at the pentagon are saying they are getting information that the american airlines flight 11, after it left boston apparently, was hijacked, and was diverted, apparently, the early information was, was being diverted to jfk for some reason. and then, obviously, nobody knows exactly who was at the controls of the plane. but it broke off its route to los angeles and was headed toward jfk. that was the initial information that officials had received. when obviously it did not go to jfk but veered off and headed toward the world trade center. again, no indication as to who may be responsible or who was at the controls of that plane when it rammed into the world trade center. >> katie, i don't want to alarm anybody right now, but apparently it -- it felt, just a few moments ago, like there was an explosion of some kind here at the pentagon. e two oil rigs look the same. can you tell what makes them so different? did you hear that sound?

i'm sorry to interrupt, but we're going to go back to jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. mik?ber when jim said that the people were -- were being told not only to get out of the building, but to take cover. >> security forces in the area have just blared out over their loud speakers that any pedestrians who are anywhere near the pentagon to take cover immediately. >> you get out of a burning building. you do that at your house if it were burning. you take cover when you're under attack. >> 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. >> mik, thank you very much. we want to move a couple of miles way from you right now to white house where bob kerr is standing by. bob, we understand that building has now been evacuated? >> that is true. it is utterly surreal. as soon as word came of the pentagon incident, we were rather forcefully removed from the white house. the scene was one of administrators, cooks, whatever, running at fairly high speed all the way out of the building th

. >>> so you know who jim miklaszewski is. mostly people call him mik.n correspondent. a visible steady rock solid part of the nbc news gathering team for three decades, one of the most recognizable reporters on tv. in 2001 when the 9/11 attacks happened jim miklaszewski was live on the air from the pentagon where he had his office. and where he was when the pentagon was hit by that plane that day. today in shanksville, pennsylvania, at the opening of part of the flight 93 memorial there, jim miklaszewski was part of that program today. at that event he gave an account i had never heard him give before of his own reporting experience he saw that day. honestly it was stunning. just take a minute. this is not a long piece of tape but just hear this, particularly today and because of who he is and how solid he is. this is worth seeing. trust me. watch. >> as massive and solid as that total concrete structure pentagon is, the entire building shook, windows rattled. my immediate thought is we are under attack. i jumped up from the chair, looked out the window

our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski has the report. >> reporter: afghan security forces today launched a fierce counter attack against the taliban, in a desperate effort to retake the northern city of kundef. so desperate that for the first time in a year, since american forces ended their combat role in afghanistan, a u.s. f-16 launched air-strikes against a taliban target. 14 years ago the u.s. and afghan military drove the taliban out of town. on monday, the taliban retook the city and raised its flag. some 400 to 500 taliban soldiers swept in in a surprise attack. driving some 3000 afghan military and police out of the city. the taliban easily seized government buildings and freed 500 prisoners, including the taliban from the city jail. there was so little resistance, taliban fighters had time to take selfies with local residents. at the pentagon, officials acknowledged this was a stunning defeat. >> obviously this is a setback for the afghan security forces. >> reporter: the attack raises serious doubts about the ability of afghan forces and president obama's plan to with

we have seen, all of us, my colleague jim miklaszewski of course responding in shanksville today.collections of that day. >> i was on a ship down in norfolk, virginia. we were getting ready for an exercise. had the tv on, of course, in the public affairs office as we normally would. when that second plane hit the world trade center i think we all knew, every sailor on that ship, that the world had changed forever. and within hours we found ourselves at sea off the coast of virginia. i was on an amphibious warship heading down to north carolina to pick up marines bep didn't know exactly what the mission was going to be but the fleet commander wanted as many ships at sea as we could because we didn't know the coke of the violence that was yet to occur that day. there we were picking up in marines in north carolina and the plan originally was to go up to new york city to potentially put marines in the city to help with security and eventually that didn't happen. the mayor giuliani decided against that. we were at sea for four or five days just waiting for orders to see if there was m

our own pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski was invited to speak, struggling as he recalled beingt the pentagon 14 years ago today. >> it became a makeshift morgue. >> reporter: he honored the men and women on flight 93 who stopped their plane from hitting the nation's capital. >> while all of us were writing only the first page of 9/11 history, the 40 on flight 93 were writing their enduring legacy. >> reporter: ed root's cousin lorraine bay was the senior flight attendant on board. >> the wounds never completely heal. we go on, we adapt, we do the best we can. >> reporter: for some it was a day of service, a day to pause and reflect in silence. 14 years have passed. it seems like yesterday. america will never forget. >>> and that is "nightly news" on this september 11th. i'm kate snow in for lester. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching. have a good night. we begin with breaking news just southeast of sacaremnto ... this is esentially gold country... a wildfire >>> that breaking news is southeast of sacramento, gold country. a wildfire there raging out of control. it

>> nbc's jim miklaszewski for us, thank you. >>> developing news in new york city, vice president joepeaking marking 14 years since the september 11th attack. while addressing the crowd,, ss intr intrepid biden says emotions were still as raw as they were that day on 2001. >> when you go through this year after year, it doesn't matter if it's 14 years or 40 years, it brings back memories as if they happened five minutes ago. >> biden also remembered and praised the bravery of 9/11 victims at the pentagon and onboard flight 93 which crashed in shanksville, pennsylvania. >>> take you to arizona and new highway shooting and attacks that police are treating as terrorism. police have confirmed the 11th shooting in the past two weeks. a bullet pierced the side of a tractor trailer on interstate ten in phoenix on thursday morning. drivers across the city are fearing getting behind the wheel even avoiding the highway all togeth together. >> really kind of takes us out of our way but for the safety of the son it's worth it. >> it's scary. it's really scary. >> who wants to be on i-10 when bull

jim miklaszewski is at the pentagon now. mick, are you hearing more information from there? >> well, according to u.s. intelligence officials, katie, there appeared at least to their knowledge to be no specific threat involving hijacking airliners or any attacks on buildings in the new york area. u.s. intelligence officials report this morning that there are, you know, they constantly are hearing about threats, possible terrorist threats against american targets worldwide. but as far as they know this morning, they had no early indications that anything of this nature could have occurred. pentagon officials are already calling this a terrorist attack. they say that they have not yet ordered the scrambling of any military jets. if national guard were to be scrambled in that area, that would be at the order of the governor. now, of course, the president does have the authority to scramble american military forces in defense, but there's a problem here. what now do you defend against exactly? if you put war planes in the air, there's always a danger that they could misidentify

. >> we want to go to jim miklaszewski who is at the pentagon. jim? clearing people from the pentagon and officials belief there is another incoming plane headed in the washington region, but there was a telling, dramatic moment a second ago when a u.s. air force f-16 flew at low level and did a wide sweeping turn around the pentagon and back over washington. and as one air force officer standing near me said, they are now flying air cover over washington. a very dramatic moment. a milestone in what tom has already described as a declaration of war, terrorist war, against the u.s. katie? >> let's go back to show you the pictures of lower manhattan where the situation is only worse and not better. that is the financial district of the world and a great residential and commercial area and both twin trade towers have collapsed onto the ground. there is an untold loss of life and heroic rescue workers down there trying to get the people out of the building when the first building came down and then the second building did as well, without any sound and in

nbc's jim miklaszewski is live from the white house for us. explain.ate john kerry saying this week the u.s. is committed to the allies in the middle east and highlighted specifically missile defense, special ops training, cyber security strength. are the saudis looking for the same from the president? >> reporter: the saudis and all the gulf state allies for that matter looking for reassurance from the u.s., especially in the gulf region because, in fact, they live in a pretty bad neighborhood. now, these -- the king was here at the white house at president obama's invitation. the president trying to sell the saudis on accepting this iran nuclear deal an it's been a tough sell from the very beginning. king salman snubbed an invitation at king david and had quite the salesmanship job to do but it appears the president is making some progress. the president insisting that this is the most immediate and best deal to keep iran in the short term anyway from getting a nuclear weapon and there are indications that king salman may, in fact, support this deal

but we start in the press box, jim miklaszewski has breaking news on what's going on with the talibanafghanistan. kelly o'donnell is on the hill following the hearing on planned parenthood. and more on planned parenthood's positive headlines, plus we'll hit the campaign trail in oklahoma city with hallie jackson who is following around carly fiorina who has driven news on planned parenthood. >>> but let's begin with the breaking news out of northern afghanistan where government forces and the taliban have been engaged in heavy fighting all day. the taliban took this strategically important city of kunduz on monday, the first major city to fall since the u.s.-led invasion of afghanistan in 2001. let's go to jim at the pentagon. what's happening here and is this what happens when the u.s. presence shrinks? >> this is the best definition here of a surprise attack. it caught everybody in afghanistan here at the pentagon, by surprise. and it was a total shocker. there was a team of about 400 at most, taliban fighters, who swept into the city of kunduz, easily driving out, get this, 3,000 a

nbc chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski was there and shared his memories of that day. >> reporterthe courtyard in the middle of the pentagon with its majestic elm trees has always been a refuge from the daily grind of the pentagon. on 9/11, on 9/11, it became a makeshift morgue. >> and here in new york, moments of silence at a ceremony at the world trade center site to mark the times the two planes hit the twin towers. nbc's ron mott joins us now from the 9/11 memorial site in lower manhattan. ron, good day to you. how has the day ebbed and flowed? >> well, good afternoon -- good evening, richard. always an emotional day here in new york city on september 11th, and obviously for good reasons. seeing all of those people lose their lives 14 years ago today. in fact, one of the family members who got up to speak today said that, yes, it's been 14 years and we've all heard that old adage about time healing all wounds. it does not heal all the wounds. and this person said that it could be a hundred years and it will still feel as fresh as if these buildings, these towers fell just yest

. >> courtney, you and jim miklaszewski cover this man and a number of others in that building everyto dial in to the still relatively secretary of defense. i think it's fair i found earlier that he didn't have the urgency in his demeanor and delivery that other officials has had and tends to be rather drawl and genuinely he is an academic, a intellen intellectu comes to this from a different footing. >> absolutely. he's taken criticism in the media and pundits for his lack of -- or seeming lack of interest in this enormous problem. i mean, in this building here, when's going on in syria, what's going on in iraq is in a large -- it's pretty much all encompassing for the press corps and for people in this building for the policymakers, the u.s. military, for the intel. you know? for the people who are in charge of the operations, logistic, the planners. this's the major issue we're following right now. yet, if you look to secretary carter, he is rarely engaging on it. for instance, today, he is hosting a -- forum this afternoon. last week, he had a -- meeting with the facebook coo. he

. >> so, alex let's try to get jim miklaszewski on the phone.and beat the hell out of you because you work for the "new york times." this is an extraordinary, extraordinary story and again i don't know how -- i think the "new york times" editorial had it dead right. it undercuts our very values as a country and what we're supposed to be doing in afghanistan. >> it's sickening. it's a horrifying story to read. i'm proud of my colleague for bringing to it the pages so we can all read it and be outraged about it and do something about it. it's one of the worse stories i've read in the paper for a while. >> mark halperin, do you agree the white house has to get out in front of this and due agree with ron fornier that they didn't come out yesterday and say anything about young boys being chained to beds and being rape slaves and americans being punished for trying to protect them? >> the white house and as you said the pentagon and i think this is clearly a case where the news cycle has to stop. there's a lot going on this week, the pope's visit, the