(After 9:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Van Stopped Near Temporary Command Post Shows Plane Crashing into WTC

The command center of New York’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM), based in WTC Building 7, was evacuated around 9:30 a.m., according to the 9/11 Commission (though other accounts suggest it is evacuated earlier or later than this) (see (9:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 305] Subsequently, OEM staff members request the OEM command bus, which is equipped with radios and computers, to use as a mobile operations center. This is then used to set up a temporary command post, located at one point in front of 70 Barclay Street, with Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, OEM Commissioner John Odermatt, and the police and fire commissioners all present. Giuliani is apparently at this post when forewarned of the WTC collapse (see (Before 9:59 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Alarm is raised when a panel truck is stopped near the temporary command post, with a painting of a plane flying into the World Trade Center on it. Fearing that it might be a truck bomb, the New York Police Department immediately evacuates the surrounding area and calls out the bomb squad. NYPD temporarily detains the truck’s occupants, who turn out to be a group of Middle Easterners who speak no English, and have rented the truck. According to a report by the Mineta Transportation Institute, the vehicle turns out to be an innocent delivery truck. The report does not state who rented the truck to the Middle Easterners, or why it shows a picture of a plane hitting the WTC. [Jenkins and Edwards-Winslow, 9/2003, pp. 20; 9/11 Commission, 5/19/2004]