After retiring from the Marine Corps in October 2000, I took a position in the Navy Intelligence Directorate at the Pentagon. On September 11, 2001, I was in my cubicle when I heard that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers in New York. I knew right away this was a terrorist act, given I had been the Antiterrorism Operations Officer in the U.S. Pacific Command until mid-1999. Those of us working on combating terrorism had often talked of the potential for terrorists using aircraft for suicide attacks. I immediately turned to the TVs we had nearby to monitor any worldwide developments. I watched as the 2nd plane plowed into the other tower, and knew my fears were confirmed. I was very angry, because I knew we had failed as an intelligence community and as a nation to protect our people from these Islamic terrorist savages.
Like the rest of the country, I watched the unfolding catastrophe, and began pulling up intelligence on terrorist threats on my classified computer systems, as I knew we were in a new era. About a half hour after the 2nd plane attack, I felt the building shudder heavily. There was no explosion per se. It was curious, since I had been around explosions in my Marine Corps career, and this was unlike those. My office was on the top floor in the D ring, which meant I was about 100 yards from the left wing tip of the plane when it plowed into the building.
I went down the back stairs to our office to examine what was happening. I moved down the hallway to where I perceived the shudder came from. I suddenly began to see black smoke and screaming people fleeing toward me. I will never forget the images. I had never seen utter terror before, but I witnessed in that moment. The next 10 minutes were a blur. I simply cannot remember what happened. Eventually, I remember going back up the stairs to warn the rest of the people in my office. In those 10 minutes, everyone had evacuated. Only one guy was left and he was leaving as I came in. I went down the stairs again and the police were ordering everyone to evacuate. I made it out and was eventually able to make it home. Our N2 watch section, 14 good people were killed as they were doing their normal morning meeting.
The next day I joined the new Navy N2 counterterrorism watch for the next three weeks, tracking down terrorist threats in conjunction with the other government agencies. At the beginning of December, I joined a new counterintelligence group to conduct counter-terrorism against al-Qaida for the next 10 years.
As I was leading the Department of Defense’s Counterintelligence Al-Qaida Network Campaign in 2007 Ronald Bucca, Jr, came to work for me. Ron was the son of the heroic 9/11 fire marshal who had understood and tried to counter what he saw as the impending threat of al-Qaida before he was killed. Ron had already been a special forces soldier, participating in the fighting in Iraq. He wanted to continue the fight by hunting al-Qaida as part of our team. He was terrific as part of our team, but unfortunately, he departed after about six months to continue the fight in other ways. He gave me a memorial card showing his father as a fire marshal. I kept the card next to my computer and looked at it every day to remind me to keep up the fight against evil.
9/11 is a tough day for all of us. It is easy to forget the pain and suffering, not only of those who died or were wounded on that day, but in the subsequent wars to destroy the terrorists and their allies. This is, however, a day to remember when we united as a nation to defeat the enemies of freedom. It is a day I cannot forget.
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/2016/09/10/911-ronnie-bucca/88906078/