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CNN Saturday Morning News

First Reporter on Scene at Pentagon on 9/11 Looks Back

Aired September 07, 2002 - 08:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: When American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon last year, CNN's Bob Franken was the first to go on the air live from the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Helicopters that are circling the area, of course, looking to provide some visual sighting in case anybody, any sort of invader, anything like that wants to take to the air. It's interesting, these helicopters also will hover on the ground. There are any number of highways here and they would be looking for suspicious vehicles, that type of thing.

We are told there are casualties at the Pentagon. We have not been able to get an accurate figure. We are not exactly sure at the moment of the whereabouts of the Secretary of Defense. But the building has virtually been evacuated, if not totally evacuated. There is heavy security there. Investigations going on as they try and find out what happened.

We constantly see sirens and hear sirens and see ambulances go by, many of them from Walter Reed Military Hospital on the other side of Washington, clearly going in there to help with whatever casualties there are.

We also have seen a couple of times F-16s, at least one F-16 flying overhead a couple of times. That was reported to us to be the case of the Pentagon scrambling fighter jets in case another plane was heading this way. But as I said, right now there has been no evidence of another plane coming this way. They're on full alert, of course, and trying to now recover from the severe damage that hit the other side of the building.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the area of the Pentagon that was destroyed by that hijacked plane is now being restored and it's way ahead of schedule, which is great news. In fact, the employees have begun moving back into that area. They began moving back in last month.

CNN's Bob Franken with us this morning on a much quieter day.

I cannot imagine what that day must have been like for you, Bob. The unthinkable happening, a plane actually hitting the Pentagon.

FRANKEN: Well, first of all, we know now is that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, you remember in the report we didn't know where he was, he had actually gone down to the area, which, by the way, is right over my right shoulder, the area that had been hit. It was an area in which 184 Pentagon employees died and, of course, the five hijackers, 184 plus the five hijackers when the plane crashed into the building.

And as you pointed out, it has been completely rebuilt, Operation Phoenix, rising from the ashes, people who have moved back into the office, this. This, of course, was a labor of love, a labor of defiance. And, of course, it's been quite a year.

And the chaos here, it wasn't so much the experience of the reporters. We have a tendency to too much look at our own performance. It's really less about us than the memories of the chaos, the fact that the streets were jammed, cell phone traffic was jammed. The awesome feeling as you realized that F-16 jets were flying overhead, looking for other intruders. It's a memory that was unique.

MOLINEAUX: Bob, of course, by the time this happened at the Pentagon, the world was already aware of what was going on at the World Trade Center. That must have given a sense that something truly awful was under way. Did it?

FRANKEN: Well, certainly it did. When the second plane hit the World Trade Center the second building, of course, everybody immediately correctly assumed that it was a terrorist attack and then this one, I know that I got this call, "Get to New York," followed by a "Get to the train station to get the New York, planes are grounded," followed by a "Forget New York, get out to the Pentagon."

It was that kind of day. It was a day of images that are, on the one hand, very, very sharp, very indelible, of course, but at the same time it was a blur, all of this going on and you sort of reacted in an instinctive way.

CALLOWAY: You know, Bob, we've heard stories about people, from some of our reporters who we're on the Hill who perhaps were around the White House. Where you were that day, can you tell us what your memories are of the confusion there and how information was getting to you?

FRANKEN: Information, of course, was coming from mainly the bureau. If I may say so, as I said, I think the media have a tendency to spend too much time talking about their role in this entire matter. But I do want to say that I believe that the media, that they performed in the highest traditions. And that included the experience at CNN.

The information was coming from CNN. It was at the same time a frantic day, it was very orderly. There was a process we've done thousands of times that went into place. There was the live shot process. The information was coming that way. Plus, of course, you got snatches of it on the scene.

CALLOWAY: But on the scene there -- you know, as you say, the story really wasn't about the media, it was about what was going on at the Pentagon -- what are your memories, you're thoughts of that took, what took place at the Pentagon after the plane hit, on who was there first and how organized that effort was?

FRANKEN: Well, that was quite organized. There had been plans that had been rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed. And the Arlington County officials were the first on the scene. They went into the rescue effort. The Pentagon went into its rescue effort.

As I mentioned a moment ago, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld actually went down to the area and participated for a few minutes in trying to help those who had been injured.

It was a very quick scene. And, of course, there was the constant sound of sirens. I remember at one point that a policeman came over and told us -- we were over on the shoulder over there -- you can't be here. And I said to him, "We have to be here. This is history." And the man stopped, considered for a moment and said, "OK," and left.

So everybody, I think, was doing two things at the same time, responding to the emergency and also remembering this was something horribly unique. MOLINEAUX: Thank you very much, Bob Franken at the Pentagon.

CALLOWAY: And we're going to continue talking to Bob about his day at the Pentagon and what unfolded there at the Pentagon that day.

MOLINEAUX: Yes. We're going to be taking your questions, too, at wam@cnn.com. And our phone number is 1-800-807-2620. Yes, that is now a toll-free number. 1-800-807-2620.

CNN SATURDAY MORNING will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CALLOWAY: We are back with CNN's Bob Franken who, of course, covered the rash of the hijacked plane into the Pentagon last year and he's going to take your questions, your e-mail questions and your telephone calls now.

We want to remind everyone that you can reach us at wam@cnn.com and we now have that toll-free number, so if you're on hold, you don't have to pay for it. And that number is 1-800-807-2620. 1-800-807- 2620. Send in your e-mail and your questions now for Bob.

And we already have some questions.

MOLINEAUX: Yes, Bob, we are getting e-mails in. William from Virginia Beach says, "I was horrified on 9/11 when I heard about the plane hitting the World Trade Center and then watched the second one go into the other tower live on TV. What was it like for you when you heard or saw the plane go into the Pentagon?" Or, in your case, when you were in the train station hearing that this had actually happened?

FRANKEN: Well, there are conflicting reactions. There was a very personal reaction. Quite frankly, my first phone calls went to my family to say do this, do that, make sure you're OK, make sure you're in touch, etc. And then immediately went into the we have a job to do mode and immediately went to the newsroom. They said get out to the Pentagon, the truck is on its way. And was very aware of everything that had to be reported.

There was so much going on. There's almost a wall that you put up a little bit. It becomes so absurd, so bizarre as this situation was, that you just really sort of take things down as who, what, when, where, why and how and try and keep your head, try and make sure that the information that is going out is something that can be helpful to a society that is terrified at the moment.

CALLOWAY: You know, another part of that question was if anyone, there were some reports that someone from the Pentagon had been on that plane. You know, that was the one thing that I remember -- and we're getting questions about that, too -- about all the rumors and some of the things that were coming out immediately after the plane hit the Pentagon and the World Trade Centers. Was it difficult for you, I think is what people want to know, to decide for what was an actual fact and, you know, how difficult was it for you to report those kind of things when so much was unknown?

FRANKEN: Well, there's a rule of thumb. If you don't absolutely know something to be a fact, don't report it. And so, no. It wasn't particularly difficult. If I would hear somebody tell me something, then I would have to report it.

Aaron Brown earlier this year quoted the old reporter's adage, if the reporter's mother says I love you, check it out. And that's just the mode that you have to go in.

So, no. That wasn't difficult. Frankly, the harder job was from, the one that was handled by the people inside the bureaus, the ones who were getting all this information.

CALLOWAY: Right.

FRANKEN: They were the ones that had to act as a filter.

CALLOWAY: Yes, and unfortunately people never get to see the hard work they do.

Back to some of the e-mail questions here. I'm just going to read it right off the screen. This is from Sue in Kentucky, Bob. She says, "Knowing that this is the third attack, that it had been a terrorist attack, were you in fear of your own life that there may be others on the ground around you?" Other terrorists I'm assuming is what she means.

FRANKEN: You know, I've talked about this before. The answer is not particularly, no. We were too busy. But something happened. It was actually the next morning. And we had set up across from the Pentagon and suddenly there was a police loudspeaker with 100 TV cameras around as many reporters. And then the policeman came on the loudspeaker, "Evacuate the area! Evacuate the area! Plane coming in!"

Nobody moved except for the cameramen, who pointed their cameras to the sky and the reporters who looked to the sky. I thought that was the ultimate professionalism.

MOLINEAUX: Yes, at times like that you might want to duck and run, but that's not what your job is.

CALLOWAY: Yes, in fact, we had several questions about that, Bob. I bet you do get asked that a lot. There's another question, the same thing, from Sandra in Oklahoma, "Weren't you afraid of being killed?"

It really never went through your mind, did it, while you were standing there? You just had to get that information out.

FRANKEN: Well, again, there's a tendency, all of us like to talk about our personal experiences and how we covered the story. The fact of the matter is that there were people since that day until now who had been really in dangerous positions. Certainly the people in our military had been in constant danger. The people that day who were at the Pentagon, who were fighting the fire, who were in danger of an explosion any time, those were the ones who were really in danger.

So it really almost becomes presumptuous if the reporter is going to say boy, I feel like I'm in danger. Those are the people who were really in danger.

CALLOWAY: Right.

MOLINEAUX: All right, thank you very much.

Bob Franken at the Pentagon.

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