Recalling the US Secret Service’s seen and unseen heroism on 9/11
Secret Service Faced an Unprecedented Test on Sept. 11, 2001
Tyunews.com – As the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 unfolded, the U.S. Secret Service was confronted with a mission unlike any it had previously carried out: protect the nation’s top leaders while the scale of the danger remained uncertain.
Director Brian Stafford was inside the Secret Service Crisis Center at the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters when the World Trade Center attacks transformed an already urgent morning into a national emergency. President George W. Bush was in Florida, and numerous other protected officials were spread across the country. Stafford had to track their locations, issue instructions and consider whether the attacks might be part of an effort to incapacitate the federal government’s leadership.
The concern extended far beyond the immediate scenes in New York and Washington. A successful attack on national leadership could disrupt the ability of the government to function at a moment when rapid decisions were essential. Stafford therefore took on the exceptional task of activating the federal Continuity of Operations Plan under Presidential Decision Directive 67.
That framework was designed to move U.S. leaders to secure locations and sustain government operations during a catastrophic crisis. Although the country had rehearsed such preparations, the full continuity posture had not been used in this way before—not even during World War II. The challenge on 9/11 was not merely to follow a plan, but to use it in real time amid incomplete information and a constantly changing threat picture.
Emergency protection in Florida
In Sarasota, Florida, Deputy Special Agent in Charge Edward “Eddie” Marinzel led Bush’s protective detail during the president’s visit. The nature of the morning changed sharply after White House Chief of Staff Andy Card informed Marinzel that “America is under attack.”
“America is under attack,”
Marinzel, working with Card, the White House military aide and advance teams for Air Force One, focused on moving the president away from possible danger. Bush initially wanted to return directly to Washington, D.C., but the capital was considered vulnerable while the situation remained unresolved.
The team chose Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, a location with communications resources suited to the emergency. From there, Air Force One proceeded to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, home to U.S. Strategic Command, or STRATCOM.
Offutt had an additional and unusual advantage that day: it was already scheduled to conduct a nuclear war drill. That circumstance made the base especially well positioned for a moment of heightened national-security concern. Once civilian airspace had been grounded and combat air patrols had secured the Washington area, Marinzel accepted Bush’s instruction to return to the capital.
The route taken by the president illustrated a central tension of the day. The desire of national leaders to return to Washington had to be balanced against the Secret Service’s responsibility to prevent another attack from causing further disruption. Protecting a president in a crisis means safeguarding not only one person, but the continuity of presidential authority and the ability of government institutions to operate.
Agents inside the World Trade Center
While senior officials were moved among secure locations, Secret Service personnel in New York faced the disaster at close range. Special Agents Tom Armas and John Buckley were at the New York Field Office in 7 World Trade Center for the annual United Nations General Assembly briefing when they rushed into the North Tower.
They had reached an area near the 40th floor when the impact of the attack on the South Tower sent a shockwave through the building. The force knocked both agents off their feet. They began making their way down, but their descent was interrupted again when the South Tower collapsed.
Armas and Buckley became trapped in the North Tower lobby as the collapse blew out windows and filled the area with the force and confusion of the surrounding disaster. When the rumbling ended, the agents turned their attention to people around them.
Armas, wearing gym shorts and a T-shirt with his equipment attached to his belt, and Buckley led civilians and members of the Fire Department of New York outside. Smoke, debris and the disorientation of the streets briefly separated the two men. They found each other again minutes later and continued helping people move away from danger.
Their actions reflected a different but equally urgent dimension of the Secret Service’s work that day. The agency is widely recognized for protection of presidents and other national figures, yet its personnel were also among those responding directly to the human emergency at the World Trade Center.
Protecting government continuity
Across Washington, protective details moved rapidly to secure other members of the national leadership. The need for these actions arose from the uncertainty surrounding the attacks: officials could not immediately know whether more aircraft, targets or coordinated threats were still in play.
For Stafford, Marinzel, Armas, Buckley and many other agents, 9/11 demanded decisions at extraordinary speed. Some worked from command centers, monitoring a national crisis and arranging secure movement for protected officials. Others operated in the debris and chaos of lower Manhattan, directing civilians to safety after surviving the collapse around them.
The events of that day demonstrated why continuity planning and protective operations are closely connected. Emergency relocation, secure communications, aviation coordination and physical rescue all became parts of the same response. The goal was to preserve life, protect constitutional leadership and ensure the government could continue functioning during one of the most traumatic days in modern American history.
Twenty-five years later, the stories of the Secret Service response remain a reminder that the agency’s work on 9/11 took place both in highly visible moments—such as the movement of Air Force One—and in less visible acts of courage amid the smoke and destruction in New York.
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