What? No Continuity of Government Precautions After TWA Flight 800?
How lax.
At 12:10pm on September 11th, 2001, the anchors of the local NBC affiliate in Washington D.C., interview Lieutenant Dan Nichols of the Capital Police Department.
"We have Lt. Dan Nichols of the Capital police now, who's on the telephone with us. Mr. Nichols are you there?"
Lieutenant Nichols: "Yes I am. How are you?"
"I'm doing well sir, the question is how you are doing? We understand that the government has pretty much been shut down. Can you give us the latest on the situation at the Capital?"
Lieutenant Nichols: "Approximately two hours ago we ordered a mandatory evacuation of the Capital and the House and Senate Office Buildings. All members and staff and the public who were in the buildings at the time were evacuated and sent home. We've taken measures to protect Congressional leadership and we have protective coverage on them at this time."
"When you say 'protective coverage' have they been taken some place special or are they just surrounded by guards? Can you tell us some more about that, sir?"
Lieutenant Nichols:"We have contingency plans in order to provide exceptional protection for leadership, that's part of our Continuity of Government efforts."
"There were no reports of any terrorist attacks at the Capital this morning, tell me if you would what procedures are underway to ensure that nothing does happen there."
Lieutenant Nichols:"Well, right now, we have contingency plans in place for events like this. We've enacted them before, during the World Trade Center bombing that occurred a few years ago and after the Oklahoma City bombing. Right now, we've done a security sweep and we've locked the buildings down and we'll remain in a heightened security posture for the foreseeable future."
"All right, Lieutenant, do you know for how long the Capital will be shut down and remain evacuated?"
Lieutenant Nichols: "That's a decision to be made later this afternoon. We hope to have a word from the leadership on how we're going to proceed tomorrow, but for this afternoon and into tonight, the Capital will remain closed and we will have extraordinary security measures around the buildings."
"And just to confirm, there has been no problem, no explosion, no anything, anywhere near the Capital?"
Lieutenant Nichols: "No, and I need to reassure everyone that this is merely a precaution. We take these types of measures in light of terrorist attacks against American interests. Clearly, this is the most severe terrorist attack we've had and we decided to take these measures as a reasonable and prudent precaution. But the legislative branch still continues to function. Member's of Congress are safe, and the buildings are secure."
"All right. Lieutenant Dan Nichols with the Capital police we thank you very much for that information." (13:27)
The interview begins at the 11:11 mark of this 41:41 minute segment.
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