Photo courtesy of the National Archives
A rude awakening
On Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, I was a Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office detective on assignment to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis. My role was to help prosecutors prepare for trials by locating victims and witnesses, clarifying the information they could provide to the case, and generally tying up loose ends.
Terrorism was a rather non-existent concern to me and most local law enforcement officers in 2001 – this despite multiple attacks against US soldiers, citizens and US interests, mostly oversees, for decades. The attacks on September 11th changed all that.
As many others have recalled, September 11th was a beautiful day with clear blue skies, cool air and warm sun. Oddly, the weather that day has stuck with me all these years – probably because it so starkly juxtaposed with the awful images that emerged later in the day.
On that morning, I was at Minneapolis North High School attempting to locate and serve subpoenas to a few students who had been present during a shooting earlier in the summer. While walking in the halls I noted how quiet everything was and realized that in each classroom I passed, students and teachers had gathered around TV’s and were quietly watching something of importance. I don’t recall if I was invited in, but I ended up sitting in a classroom full of students watching the initial reports and video of the attacks. I’ll always remember being impressed by the solemn, quiet reaction of those students – no joking or horseplay, just quiet reflection on what was obviously an attack on all of us.
I remember feeling numb at first, then restlessness and anger overtook me. I rushed back to our Detective Unit office – noting once again just how quiet everything seemed that day.
Once back in the office I began passionately urging my boss to send all the detectives out on the street to somehow “foil” a potential attack closer to home. It was a silly suggestion, based on the urge to do something – anything, and my boss was right to pour cold water on the idea. We remained together, watching the events unfold and trying to stay busy at our desks, waiting for assignments that never came that day.
The response
Things changed quickly though. Within a day or two many of us were tasked with helping staff tip lines at the Minneapolis FBI office and following up on leads with agents. This represented the infancy of the future Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) model of linking local law enforcement with federal agents to intercept and prevent terrorism by ensuring better coordination and information sharing.
It was in these early days that Minneapolis agents connected the dots between the September 11th attacks and a French citizen, Zacarias Moussaoui, who had raised suspicion while taking flight lessons in the Twin Cities. One source of suspicion was Moussaoui’s reported interest in learning how to fly a plane, but his lack of interest in learning to land a plane. Moussaoui became known as the 20th hijacker and was later convicted of conspiracy related to terrorism and the September 11th attacks, receiving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
FBI Agent Harry Samit had arrested Moussaoui in August 2001, considering him a significant terror threat, and trying in vain to sound the alarm prior to 9/11. I met Samit briefly in the local FBI office during this time. Samit was a former fighter pilot as I recall, and I was left with the impression that we were in good hands with agents like Samit on the case who were now being listened to.
I recall a similar impression on September 14th, when President Bush was speaking to first responders at ground zero. The President was using a bullhorn to speak to the group and famously responded to someone who yelled that they couldn’t hear him:
“I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”
President George W. Bush
I knew it that instant, that we were in good hands.
Over subsequent months and years I was able to play a small part in our nation’s response, and our coordinated effort to prevent future attacks.
When President Bush began efforts to re-organize federal law enforcement and create the Department of Homeland Security, I was part of a groundbreaking meeting at CIA headquarters in McLean Virginia, consisting of federal agents, military intelligence officials, and state and local law enforcement officers. It was the start of tearing down the silos of information that existed between dozens of separate agencies – an effort that continues to this day.
Later I was tasked with commanding the Hennepin County Weapons of Mass Destruction Tactical Response Team (HCWMD). This team was made up of SWAT officers from a variety of state and local law enforcement agencies, who were trained and equipped to provide a tactical response in a WMD environment. It remains in operation today, largely supported by federal homeland security funds. The team trains regularly to familiarize itself with critical infrastructure, and is a resource used to help provide protection during significant events locally.
The takeaway
September 11th broadsided local law enforcement much as it did the public. Law enforcement woke up quickly following the attack, and changes made back then remain in place to this day. As years pass – fortunately without a subsequent, significant attack – our public safety leaders must resist the natural tendency to revert to a September 10th mindset.
Our adversaries told us their intent pre-September 11th, and their message has not changed. We must never forget the lessons of September 11th and remain forever vigilant.