d your comfort zone. now you can feel what happens as we raise your sleep number setting and allow the bed to contour to your individual shape. oh yeah. it's really shaping to my body. during our biggest sale of the year, every bed is on sale. queen mattresses now start at just $599. and during the final week, save 40% on our innovative limited edition bed set. but only while supplies last and only through sunday. you can adjust it however you want so you don't have to worry about buying the wrong mattress. once they get our bed, they're like, "why didn't i do this sooner?" don't miss the biggest sale of the year on the bed that can change your life. the sleep number bed. only at the sleep number store.

we have a breaking news story to tell you about. apparently a plane has just crashed in to the world trade center here in new york city. it happened just a few moments ago, apparently. we have very little information available at this point in time, but on the phone we do have jennifer oversteen who apparently witnessed this event. jennifer, can you hear me? >> hello? >> hi, jennifer? >> hi, katie. >> hi. can you please tell me what you saw and give me any information about what's going on there? >> yes. i have to -- it's -- it's quite terrifying. i'm in shock right now. i came out of the subway at bowling green, heading to work in battery park, at the ritz-carlton hotel, and i came out and it's -- i saw a -- i heard a boom, looked up, there was a big ball of fire. i'm looking north at the world trade center and it is the last twin tower. if i'm looking north.

i'm looking north in battery park right now. you can hear the fire engines and emergency crews behind me, and it is unbelievable. when the fire first burst it was -- hello? >> go ahead. we can hear you. >> i have never seen -- before -- and -- as you know i used to work in news. i've never seen any fire like this in the air. and the pieces of the building were flying down. it looks like it's the -- it's like the top -- i can't even tell you, maybe 20 floors, and intense smoke. it's horrible. i can't even describe it. >> do you have any idea what kind of plane it was? >> i'm sorry? >> do you have any idea what hit the world trade center? >> what it was? >> yeah. what kind of plane? we're getting reports that an airplane hit the building. >> i -- i didn't even know that. honestly, i was walking up and looked up and saw a big boom and fire. you know, i got to tell you, we were all saying around here it was very interesting it would be a bomb and it would be so high up. so perhaps it was a plane.

we have no talk of a plane. vie to tell you, there is something flying in the air. i mean -- it's mind-boggling. it's horrifying. >> jennifer, it's matt lauer, i'd like to ask you, while you were close to the building, or have you, since the explosion, seen anyone who's been injured, being taken out of the building? are there ambulances dealing with people on the sidewalk around the building? >> no. i have not. i have not gotten that close. i have to tell you, my father works in the world financial center. i first called there to see, because it's next door, to see if he was okay. i couldn't get through, and i'm far away right now. i thought it might be a little dangerous to get too close. i saw lots of debris coming down, and right now i'm in battery park. i don't know, you know -- if it's only -- it probably -- a five-minute walk from here to the world trade center, but the smoke is incredible. i mean, i can't see the top of the tower. it's starting to cover the top of the second tower. >> in fact, we're looking at

pictures right now, jennifer, with a huge gaping hole on the side the building and billowing smoke. >> i'm right now -- yeah. i see major fire. i definitely see fire. >> jennifer, you said you're looking north of the building. in other words, you're south of the building, is ta right? >> correct. >> because we're looking at a picture that is looking at the north side of the building. >> i'm on the exact opposite side. >> and it appears that is where the largest hole is and, again, as you mentioned correctly, towards the top of the building but on the north side. then on the, what i think is the west side of the building, we can also see some holes there that could have been from damage once the impact occurred. again, we've been told that this is a plane. we don't have confirmation on that, but there is an enormous hole in the north side of that building. >> jennifer, can you tell us a little more what you heard when you heard this explosion, describe it for us? >> absolutely. when i walked out of the subway, i looked at the twin towers, because, i mean, i just always

look up there, and right when i looked up, there was a boom. it wasn't -- it wasn't that loud. like, it wasn't huge. however, it was unbelievable with the amount of fire. it was a big ball of fire. that just went up. and -- i looked around at people. we were all horrified. i'm stuttering, because i'm in such shock. i've never seen anything like it. it's horrible. >> and, of course, this is real cause for concern, because the world trade center is one of the busiest office buildings here in new york with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of workers who -- >> the governor has his office there. >> city office there. >> several thousand. >> and of course given the time this has happened, it's only probably appropriate to surmise that people might have been in the building. >> and you know, we've seen stories in the past where planes have hit buildings, small planes, and it would be hard to imagine that a small plane could create that kind of hole in a building like the world trade center and create the damage on the other side of the building

from the sheer impact. small planes tend to crumple and then fall down the building. again, we haven't talked to anyone close to the base of the building. we don't know what kind of debris or wreckage -- yes, go ahead, jennifer. >> i'm talking with a police officer who said, yes, he heard it was a plane. >> does he have any information what kind of plane it was? can he tell us any more details? >> i'm going to put you on hold one moment. okay? >> just to the recap, if you're just joining us. you're looking at dramatic pictures of new york's world trade center in lower manhattan where a short time ago we are told that a plane crashed into the upper floors of the western most tower. you can see a gaping hole. that is on the north side of the building and you can see residual damage on the west side of that building and obviously fires burning right now in the world trade center. >> tall building have a real problem here in new york. back in the '40s a plane hit the

empire state building. in the '60s, a helicopter crashed on the top of what was the pan am building, now the metlife building. >> right now we're getting information it was a small commuter plane and, of course, we'll let people know as soon as we have more information as to what actually caused this and, of course, on everybody's mind, who might have been hurt. as a result of this terrible, terrible incident. we're going to be talking to more eyewitnesses coming up, in just a few minutes. >> oh! another one just hit. something else just hit. a very large plane just flew directly over my building.id g d. my insides? pure platinum. [ female announcer ] a healthy outside starts inside. new iams simple & natural has chicken as its number one ingredient and zero fillers. it works inside for health you can see on the outside. [ dog ] i can't be a rockstar on the outside if i'm not one on the inside. [ female announcer ] new iams naturals. you'll like what's in them and love what's not.

[ dog ] i am an iams dog. [ girls ] he's so cute! [ dog ] groupies! i am an american. i am an american. i am an american. i am an american. i... i... i... i am... ...an american. i am an american. i am american. i am an american. voice: i'm an american. voice: i'm an american. voice: i am an american. voice: i am an american. voice: i am an american. i am an american.

i am an american.

we're back at 9:00 eastern time on this tuesday morning. and we're back with dramatic pictures of an accident that has happened just a short time ago. you're looking at the world trade center in lower manhattan where just a few minutes ago we're told that a plane, some reports are that it was a small

commuter plane, crashed into the upper floors of one of the twin towers. you can see fire and flames or smoke billowing from that tower. there is a gaping hole on the north side of the building. that's the side you're seeing to the left-hand side of your screen right now. and other damage to the west side of that building which is to the right side of your screen. this, of course, happened just before the morning commute, before people were heading into their offices and while i'm sure some people were already at work, immediately there's speculation or cause for concern this is the world trade center that was the center of a terrorist bombing some years ago. so the questions have to be asked, was this purely an accident or could this have been an intentional act. either way, extensive damage has been done to this building. >> it also looks like there is smoke coming out of the east side of the building on that shot we saw. looks like white smoke billowing out of the east side of the building. >> obviously horrified commuters were absolutely devastated when

they heard this explosion. we talked with somebody a moment ago about that. jennifer oversteen, and, also, another eyewitness, elliott walker, who is actually a producer here on "the today show." can you hear me? >> yes. >> tell me where you are and what you saw. >> well, i live in this area, i returning to my apartment. but i was walking down the sidewalk delivering my young daughter to school, and we heard a very loud sound, the kind of sound you hear when a plane is, you know, going fast past you. followed by an enormous crash. and an immediate explosion. i don't think we could feel shock waves but we sort of felt like we did. and we were in a position where we could see the trade center almost immediately between the other buildings. and an enormous fireball that must have been 300 feet across was visible immediately. a secondary explosion, i think, and then plumes of smoke. there must have been a three-block cloud of white smoke. now, from where i was on the

street a moment ago, you can, in fact, see smoke leaving the building on three sides. it seems to be coming out on at least four or five floors. the air is filled with hundreds of thousands of pieces of paper that are sort of floating like confetti. the area is swarmed with emergency vehicles and sirens. obviously we're very sensitive to this kind of thing in this neighborhood. >> elliott, of course because of the incident that occurred in the early 1990s, have you seen evidence, elliott, of people being taken out of the building? you say emergency vehicles are there. understandably so. but of course a major concern is human loss. do you know if there were many people in the building? >> oh, another one just hit! something else hit. no large plane hit there's been another collision. can you see it? >> oh, my. >> something else. it looked like a 747. >> we just saw a plane circling

the building, a second ago on the shot right before that. >> i think there may have been another impact. can you tell? i just heard another very loud bang and a very large plane that might have been a dc-9 or 747 flew past my window. i think it may have hit the trade center again. >> to be honest, elliott, i didn't get the impression it was that big a plane. >> it looked big from here. >> i did see a plane go by a second ago. it has now impacted the building. i'm trying to see if it's a different tower. it is. it's the other tower. >> i think it may have been. i think the first was world trade center one. it looks like on the television it may have been the second. >> this is a piece of tape, and we may actually see another plane enter the picture here in a second. >> i wonder if there are air traffic control problems. >> let's go back to jennifer who we were talking to a second ago. jennifer, did you see this happen? >> hello? >> did you see this happen, jennifer? >> matt, i never have seen -- it looks like a movie. i saw a large plane, like a jet, go immediately headed directly into the world trade center.

it just flew into it, into the other tower coming from south to north. i watched the plane fly into the world trade center. it was a jet. it was a very large plane. it was going south. it went past what's being built in battery park, almost hit it and then went in. >> this is so shocking. of course to everybody watching. >> i've never seen anything like it. it literally flew itself into world trade center. >> obviously now we move from what appears -- there it is right there. >> again, i'm looking from -- from south to north. it appeared to be the one on the right. >> that appeared to be at least a 727. we saw it a second ago. here comes the videotape that we showed you. you will see what appears to be a large plane. it could be a 727, right there, maybe even bigger. flying right into the side of the world trade center. >> it was at least a 727. it was a jet. i couldn't believe my eyes, watching it right above me.

>> now you have to move from talk about a possible accident to talk about something deliberate that has happened here. we're going to immediately check with air traffic control in the area to find out if they had contact with either of these planes before the accident. but what we've just seen is about the most shocking videotape i've ever seen. >> the scene here is incredible. people are out of their office buildings watching, crying, taking pictures. i've never seen anything like it down here. [ agent ] so your policy looks good, is there anything else? why did you buy my husband a falcon? thanks for the falcon. i didn't buy anyone a falcon. sure, you did.

you saved us a lot of money on auto insurance. i used that money to buy a falcon. ergo, you bought me a falcon. i should've got a falcon. most people who switch to state farm save on average about $480. what they do with it, well, that's their business. oh, that explains a lot, actually. [ chuckles ] [ male announcer ] another reason people switch to state farm. aw, i could've gotten a falcon. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. [ falcon screeches ] from body and bath shops? with olay get what you love at half the price with new olay body collections, tantalizing fragrances and olay moisturizing ingredients that transform lathering into lavishing. olay body collections.

fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] half a day's worth of fiber. fiber one. the crib is already there. great. thank you so much. [ male announcer ] we provide great service, so you can stay you. holiday inn express. stay you. [ tv announcer ] today's trivia question -- what's the hardest play in baseball? the unassisted triple play. the unassisted triple play. [ male announcer ] stay smart and book smart. book early and save up to 20% at any holiday inn express. stay you.

and to figure out what in the completely impossible to understand why this is happening and to figure out what in the world is going on. ollie everheart -- >> hopefully they were evacuated following the first incident. and we can only hope that it was a very short period of time from when we first learned about this was probably about 8:50 eastern time, the second incident occurred about 9:05. and so obviously that would be a short amount of time to get people out of the building. ollie everheart is another witness who is on the ground. ollie, can you hear me? >> yes. hello. please tell me what you're seeing. >> i live in lower manhattan. i face the north tower where the first plane crashed into the building. and right now, there's a lot of chaos on the ground, a lot of emergency vehicles. everyone from the world financial center has exited and

is walking north up to battery park north. there is just mass and mass of people walking north uptown of manhattan. i happened to look on the first tower and i actually saw people waving where the first plane crashed through and then it was unbelievable seeing the second jet come crashing into the second tower. what is going on? >> and unfortunately here in new york, many of our stations cannot see this, because the local stations, antennas are on the world trade center. their backup tower on the empire state building but communication, television communication in new york city is probably pretty much knocked off the air. >> i just want to say something here. we're looking at a picture where it appears, because of the angle, i think, that the towers are leaning. i don't think that is actually the case because after the first impact, it looked as if it was we're getting a witness saying

they are leaning actually right now, which will give you an idea of the type of impact we're talking about. >> and that perhaps they are buckling under the force of the collision or the hole that's resulted from these two planes. >> we're going to george shea right now, who also witnessed both or one of these collisions. george, can you hear us? >> i can hear you. >> what did you see? >> i was in a car driving up, just gotten out of the battery tunnel driving north on west street when enormous explosion happened. and i think it was larger than a construction explosion. i looked out the window and what appeared to be enormous tire smashed into the ground and i believe it hit the car to the right of me. it was just so scary. and there was also a ton of debris fall. i jumped out of the car and i ran south, away from the building because i thought there would be further explosions. >> and have you seen anyone injured on the ground?

>> a man next to me was hit by a piece of debris on his arm, and they said that someone had been badly hurt in a car ahead of me. i'm not certain if it was the car next to me. i can't verify that. all i can say is a lot of debris was falling. it was very confusing because everybody, i think, immediately assumed that a bomb had exploded and that sort of -- you know, had people thinking that further bombs may explode. there was sort of a rush away. >> did you see, george, the second plane, that jet, fly into the other twin tower? >> i heard two explosions, however. there was a first explosion that was louder, and then a second explosion. and but i did not -- i could not see that. i looked up. when i looked up i saw debris falling and the tire as i said, a very large tire. >> of course this is, as we've said, completely shocking video. shocking turn of events. we've been talking here that the first incident, one might

surmise that it was some kind of accident, then to have a second, what appeared to be 727 jet of course, the question of terrorist activity has to surface and the question of whether this was an intentional terrorist act of some kind. >> keep in mind we're in an area where there are three major airports, you have newark airport, kennedy airport, and la guardia airport, all within several miles of the world trade center. you know, it's very unusual for a plane to get into this area without being completely tracked or identified by air traffic control. so you would have to imagine that, a, if this plane were headed right for the world trade center there must have been someone trying to talk or communicate with that pilot, and for it to fly right into the side of the building -- >> the smaller plane, you can understand almost. but a jumbo jet, a large jet, completely -- >> let's rerack that video if we could in the control room where we actually saw the jet flying into the building.

which was unbelievable. >> elliott walker said it was a big plane. i was looking in the distance and saw a small plane which might have been a helicopter -- to see this plane come into the picture. >> there it is. >> that is a big plane. and i mean, it's hard to imagine, it's a 737 we're now being told. flying directly into the midsection of the -- the eastern tower of the world trade center. >> needless to say, it's pandemonium, i am sure, down there, and we gathered that from the eyewitnesses with whom we spoke and how terrifying this was for them to see. you can only imagine as you get closer to the twin towers, that a new york landmark, how -- what the scene must be like there. >> you talked about the building looking like they've buckled. they're designed to have a two-degree sway in either direction because of the height of the building, being able to deal with the wind and stress,

but something like that, probably, more than it was designed. we want to go out to jane derenowski who is a television producer here in new york. jane, can you hear me? >> yes, i can hear you. i'm down here near the world trade center. i was walking down sixth avenue this morning at 8:42 a.m. a group of us saw a plane veer through the building then saw a huge cloud of smoke and then fire came out of one of the towers here. it's near the upper floor, as you can probably see with your chopper shots, and then about ten minutes ago, a second explosion in the second tower. lower down. that was not affected by the plane. so i'm not quite sure what happened there. right now there's a huge gaping hole in one of the towers, and the other building is on fire. the scene down here is incredible. people are out of their office buildings, watching, crying, taking pictures. i've never seen anything like it down here. >> we want to mention when the impact hit the first tower, you would hope that people who were

in the second tower were beginning to evacuate. especially if air traffic control had some indication this was deliberate, you'd hope that they were starting to get people out of the other tower before the second plane hit that tower. >> if you tried to go up, we've been upstairs in the world -- in the towers, in the restaurant there, to try to get down. >> the elevators would have been jammed. no question. if there was an indication this was deliberate in the first case, you would hope that they would immediately begin evacuation in the second tower. >> i've just spoken to top u.s. officials with the access to latest intelligence, and they said, "that this was clearly terrorist-related. no question about it.

♪ whoa! hey! [ dog barks, growls ] ♪ whoa, watch out, little man. ♪ [ male announcer ] when you take away the worry, it's easy to enjoy the ride. hey, bud. hey, dad. [ male announcer ] introducing cadillac shield. the most comprehensive suite of owner benefits offered by any luxury auto maker in the world. even though i'm a great driver, and he's... not so much. well, for a driver like you,

i would recommend our new snapshot discount. this little baby keeps track of your great driving habits, so you can save money. [sighs] amazing. it's like an extra bonus savings. [ cackling ] he's my ride home. how much can the snapshot discount save you? call or click today.

hello, i'm milissa rehberger. official at dulles airport

evacuated several gates, after a suspicion item found. two departing flights delayed. virginia state police on the scene right now, investigating that item. two of the three terrorists who may be involved in a plot to attack new york or washington around the 9/11 anniversary may have american passports. now back to "9/11 as it happened." >> reporter: we've got another eyewitness we'd like to speak with. dan deedrick. tell me where you are and what you're seeing or what you saw. >> okay. what i saw was one plane coming in low from the north. down over seventh avenue. it crashed into the top or the middle of one of the towers. ten minutes later i saw another plane crash into the other side

of the tower at a lower level. it looked to be a small, you know, commercial plane, the first plane that i saw. it crashed into the top of the tower. and there was a huge fireball and there was a gaping hole in the side of the tower. as we were waiting outside and looking at it, another plane came in low, i believe from the other side, and hit the sort of the middle of the other tower. i saw both planes, two separate planes crash into each tower. >> dan, again, the size of the planes, tell me about that. >> i would say that the plane was a midsize, looked to be a commercial airline. i don't know. i thought perhaps, you know, a commercial airline. a midsize, you know, not a jumbo jet. >> this, of course, is unconfirmed, but we are getting information from an employee of united airlines, and again we want to emphasize this is

unconfirmed, but there is speculation that an american airlines plane was hijacked and crashed purposely, on purpose, into the world trade center, and that the second plane was another plane perhaps hijacked, then flown into the second tower. we want to remind people the world trade center bombing that took place on february 26th back in 1993, the product of a terrorist attack, the result of a terrorist attack that killed six people and injured more than 1,000. of course, that happened on a friday afternoon. i think, matt, you and al were working that day. >> we were. >> i know i was at nome virginia watching it, in disbelief. now it feels a bit like deja vu. of course, this is so much more bizarre. >> no question. keep in mind that killed six people, injured 1,000 and the explosion happened in a garage in the basement. this was a direct hit on the mid-section or upper section of the tower. so the potential for injuries

and death are much larger. of course, also people on the planes. >> exactly. if they were hijacked and they were en route to a different destination, of course, the story continues to unfold. bob kerr joins us. bob, where are you and what can you tell us? >> katie, good morning. i'm on the north lawn at the white house, and the first thing we look for here in light of what's happened is whether there is any unusual activity out here, whether there's an unusual police or secret service presence, people on the roof, that sort of thing. we don't see that as we speak. i did try to call the national security office here. as you know, the president is out of up to, he's in florida. we're told he has been informed of this. i can tell you that the white house national security staff that remains here is in a senior level meeting, and we're hoping to hear from them as soon as possible. but katie, the reaction here to the pictures you're seeing and to the initial pictures when they came up, even in what's called the lower press office

here at the white house, was one of shock. i mean, people are standing around television monitors looking at this. when i say people, i don't mean just the reporters. i mean the people who are actually in the office who work here at the white house. >> so very little information is coming out of the white house at this juncture. but needless to say, if the speculation is true about some kind of terrorist event, this will be a major, major crisis for the bush administration. jim miklaszewski is at the pentagon. mik, are you hearing more information from there? >> reporter: according to u.s. intelligence officials, katie, there appeared, at least to their knowledge, to be no specific threat involving hijacking airliners or any attacks on buildings in the new york area. u.s. intelligence officials report this morning that there are -- they constantly are hearing about threats, possible

terrorist threats, against american targets worldwide. but as far as they know this morning they had no early indications that anything of this nature could have occurred. pentagon officials are already calling this a terrorist attack. they say that they -- they have not yet ordered the scrambling of any military jets. if national guard were to be scrambled in that area, that would be at the order of the governor. of course the president does have the authority to scramble american military forces in defense. but there's a problem here. what now do you defend against exactly? if you put warplanes in the air, there's always a danger that they could misidentify a pilot's intentions, although i believe, according to officials here, in

the area are now off limits and restricted. but so far the u.s. military and pentagon officials are scrambling to get as much information as they possibly can, to determine what course of action, if any, the u.s. military would take. >> but, mik, they are describing this as a terrorist attack right now. >> reporter: there are some officials here in the pentagon who are calling this an obvious terrorist attack based on very preliminary information. the information that intelligence officials are getting in terms of a possible hijacked plane, and of course the very horrifying video of the plane veering into the tower itself is a clear indication to everyone here that this is not an accident. primary concern right now is protecting the american public in the new york area right now against any possible further attacks by the air. they have no indications there

will be, but there is some concern that since this appeared to be such a highly coordinated attack, that there may be other terrorist attacks that could be planned either in new york or elsewhere. this is absolutely the worst case scenario for the counterterrorist planners, because apparently according to intelligence officials, there were no firm indications prior to this that anything like this could have happened, but in terms of scrambling the u.s. military, it would be for protection for the time being, and not necessarily even thinking right now about any kind of retaliation. >> david gregory is now on the phone. >> he's following the president. >> that's right. david? >> katie, the president is about to begin an education event which is obviously being cancelled. the event will go forward insofar as the president will come out and make a statement about this.

he was made aware en route from his hotel to this school here in sarasota where he was going to talk about education. he'll make a statement. then we're told by white house officials he will quickly depart for washington. >> we should mention the new york area airports have all been closed. the lincoln tunnel has been closed here in new york. while getting ready to listen to the president, back to jim miklaszewski at the pentegon. can you shed any light for us on what kind of things are in place in the event of an attack of this nature? >> reporter: well, katie, it's very difficult for the u.s. military to respond to this kind of thing, you know, right now, because it's unclear exactly who's behind it, and if there are any other potential attacks or incidents like this, because this has obviously not been officially declared a terrorist attack, but all the experts who

are looking at these pictures say there's no doubt about it, this was a coordinated terrorist attack. but who and why is very much unclear right now. and the problem with trying to put planes in the air to try to prevent any further attacks is -- these are, after all, open air spaces, for the most part. and it's difficult for the u.s. military to simply scramble jets and put them in the air. according to officials here, then do what? this area, of course, according to officials here, is obviously going to be declared off limits in terms of any air traffic. but right now officials here at the pentagon are simply scrambling to find out first, what happened, and what potential reaction the u.s. military could provide in terms of protection. possible further protection

against any further potential attack. >> and, mik, it's important to note that, if the planes were hijacked, carrying passengers, there isn't much that military officials could have done. you can't shoot down a plane like that for risk of the people on board, plus for the injuries you could cause on the ground in a place like manhattan. >> reporter: that's exactly right. and the president, as we said earlier, does in fact have the authority to scramble the military to put them up in some kind of force protection mode. the governor has the air national guard at his disposal. he can do that. but again, officials are pretty much wondering exactly what to do in terms of protection, and how. again, to the counterterrorism officials, this is absolutely the worst case scenario, because right now there seems to be not much, not much they can do in terms of the aftermath. information. i want to read this reuters wire.

two planes crashed into the towers of the world trade center on tuesday morning causing huge explosions and killing at least six people. cnbc said there were at least 1,000 injured. both towers of the lower manhattan landmark where thousands of people work were the scenes of a bombing in 1993. the fbi told the associated press that it was, quote, foul play and not an accident. a person who answered the phone that was reported by abc, a person who answered the phone on the trading floor at inner dealer broker located near the top of the world trade center cantor fitzgerald, said, we're -- blanking -- dying when asked what was happening and hung up. there was screaming and yelling in the background and a follow-up call was not answered. nick fulton, an eyewitness, said before the first explosion he saw a plane fly over his apartment in the is soho district of lower manhattan. jamie gangel is on the phone our national correspondent, with more information.

jamie, what can you tell us? >> reporter: katie, i've just spoken to top u.s. officials with the access to latest intelligence, and they said, quote, that this was clearly terrorist-related, no question about it. they said that they couldn't give any further details now, not because they didn't want to share it but because they just don't know yet. they're at the earliest stages. >> do they know, jamie, for example, if a plane was, in fact, hijacked? >> reporter: they would not answer that, and i think that it's -- i think that, they are just getting the earliest details. and they're afraid of putting out misinformation. but they said, you know, that it was clearly terrorist related. >> today we've had a national tragedy. two airplanes have crashed into the world trade center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country. ♪ been torn apart

♪ got so many scratches and scars ♪ ♪ maybe time can mend us together again ♪ ♪ it's not what we've done but how far we've come ♪ ♪ i know that we will recover [ male announcer ] here when you need us most. ♪ i know that we will recover

you feel it working, so you know it's working. and that means you're good to go, for whatever the day brings. new crest complete. unlike ordinary toothpaste, you feel a deeper clean. it's a signal that tells you your whole mouth is clean. you're also protected. because most of life happens outside the bathroom. feel it working, know you're covered. with new crest complete, life opens up when you do.

we're looking again if you're just joining us, where both towers of the world trade center in the new york city, where two planes have crashed into the towers. one shortly before 9:00 eastern time, one shortly after 9:00 eastern time. and as you can see, the tower on the left was hit just above the midsection point. they are both 110 floors high. 1,300 feet above the ground. the tower on the right was hit more probably two-thirds to three-quarters of the way up the tower. you can see fire, fires burning

in both towers. we actually saw a videotape -- we watched the second tape or the second plane hit the building. you'll watch it enter from the right portion of the screen. and then make contact with the left-hand tower in what is shocking video. and here it comes right there. you can see the impact on one side of the building, and the residual damage coming out of another side of the building. and one can only imagine that that one occurred shortly after 9:00 in the morning, how many people were in the building at the time of the impact. and it's a large plane, we're told it was either a 737 -- some reports said that the first was a 757. >> some kind of airbus, that's what the united worker told us. that apparently that it was an american airlines plane that had been hijacked from boston to los angeles. but we're just getting initial reports of that. again, we must tell you that we're trying to get as much information, but it is trickling in at a very slow pace.

so, all of this is unconfirmed. and, of course, speculation of a terrorist attack is unconfirmed, although that is what some pentagon officials are saying. let's go to president bush right now. >> unfortunately, we'll be going back to washington after my remarks. secretary rod pace and the lieutenant governor will take the podium and discuss education. i do want to thank the folks here at the booker elementary school for their hospitality. today we've had an national tragedy. two airplanes have crashed into the world trade center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country. i have spoken to the vice president, to the governor of new york, to the director of the fbi, and have ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and their families, and to conduct a full-scale

investigation, to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act. terrorism against our nation will not stand. and now if you join me in a moment of silence. may god bless the victims, their families and america. thank you very much. >> we're going to go to andrea mitchell now who has more information on this tragedy. andrea? >> reporter: matt and katie, i've spoken to a top u.s. official who says early reports to our intelligence community and to other officials within the administration are that this was a hijacked american airlines plane en route from boston to los angeles. one of the two planes, they say, was apparently a hijacked american airlines plane. they cautioned that early reports still need further confirmation, but this is at least what the u.s. government is being told by american airlines officials,

apparently. they are assuming and informed the president that this is a terrorist attack. >> and, andrea, no information as to in what term of the flight this flight was taken over, how much warning that air traffic controllers may have had that someone hostile was at the controls of this plane? >> reporter: exactly right. they had no other information, just that one of two plane was hijacked from boston en route to los angeles, presumably after it had already been in the air and en route because i was told en route to los angeles. so probably hijacked after it had taken off. as you know, those are very short flights. those are usually 737s or 757s on that route, but this clearly, according to the u.s. government, a terror attack, as you heard the president say. now, one of the things, matt and katie, understand there was no specific threat that the u.s. government is aware of. no specific terror alert, other than the worldwide caution that had been re-issued in recent

days because of the strife in the middle east, because of concerns over terrorists. of course, the best known is osama bin laden but no alert coming from his organization, and as far as they know, as of this morning, as of this minute, he is in afghanistan. >> we should mention, andrea, it appears that this was a well-coordinated bombing or terrorist act, because of the fact that two planes were used, both substantial in size, and the fact that they both hit the world trade center within 18 minutes of one another, obviously a lot of planning went into this attack. let's go nbc's jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. mik, what can you tell us? >> reporter: to add to what andrea mitchell just said, senior military officials here at the pentagon are saying they are getting information that the american airlines flight 11, after it left boston apparently, was hijacked, and was diverted, apparently, the early information was, was being

diverted to jfk for some reason. and then, obviously, nobody knows exactly who was at the controls of the plane. but it broke off its route to los angeles and was headed toward jfk. that was the initial information that officials had received. when obviously it did not go to jfk but veered off and headed toward the world trade center. again, no indication as to who may be responsible or who was at the controls of that plane when it rammed into the world trade center. >> katie, i don't want to alarm anybody right now, but apparently it -- it felt, just a few moments ago, like there was an explosion of some kind here at the pentagon. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals.

fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] half a day's worth of fiber. fiber one. [ jack ] yeah, this is pretty good. possibilities are everywhere. multiply them with the premier rewards gold card from american express.

with triple membership rewards points on airfare, double on gas, double on groceries, and a single point on everthing else, it's a fast way to earn more every day. plus, you can earn 10,000 bonus points. and the annual fee the first year is on us. call 800.axp.gold to apply.

right now we want to talk with larry johnson, a terrorism expert and the former deputy director of the state department office on counterterrorism. mr. johnson, can you please put this in to some kind of perspective for us and give us your insight on what might have happened here? >> first we need to be cautious before jumping to conclusions that it's necessarily terrorism. i mean i would be inclined, based on

preliminary reports that that's the case, but there's always the possibility you may find out after the fact this was a suicide pact that for some reason had nothing to do with politics. that said, this is a first. this is a very rare event. it's unlikely to be repeated but, president bush put his finger on it, we have to fine who did this, in any any country, any nation in the world that is in any way involved or responsible, if it turns out to be terrorism, will require a response from the united states. the united states has got to be willing to pay that price. >> mr. johnson obviously we were completely stunned when about 25 minutes after the first explosion, after the first plane crashed into one of the twin towers, another very large plane did the same thing. we've been talking with our correspondents all morning about, if another incident could happen on the heels of these two, what kind of measures are in place to prepare for

something else that could conceivably happen? >> one of the steps already being taken -- i was at national airport getting ready to fly to la guardia when this occurred. they have shut down traffic going in and out of the city. you're talking about a disruption economically for the nation with the air traffic not going in. and people are going to err on the side of caution. >> people have been saying, particularly jim miklaszewski and andrea mitchell, no warning attached to this event. generally speaking, do we get some kind of, or do u.s. officials, government agencies, get some kind of warning from a particular group, or is this pretty -- i mean, fairly typical in terms of an event happening without any foreshadowing? >> no, katie, this unfortunately is typical. it's only in the movies you get the advanced warning. if you look at every major

terrorist incident against the united states, whether you're talking pan am 103, the world trade center, the "u.s.s. cole" bombing, the bombing in saudi arabia, rarely do you get notice. >> sorry to interrupt you. we have new information from the pentagon. >> reporter: katie, i don't want to alarm anybody right now, apparently it felt just a few moments ago like there was an explosion of some kind here at the pentagon. we're on the e-ring of the pentagon, we have a window that faces out toward the potomac, toward the kennedy center. we haven't been able to see or hear anything after the initial blast. i just stepped out in the hallway. security guards were herding people out of the building and i saw just a moment ago as i looked outside, a number of construction workers who have been working here have taken flight. they are running as far away from the building as they can right now. i hear no sirens going off in the building, i see no smoke.

but the building shook for just a couple of seconds, the windows rattled -- security personnel are doing what they can momentarily to clear this part of the building. i have no idea whether it was part of the construction work, whether it was an accident or what is going on. we're going to try to find out those details and get them to you as soon as possible. but interestingly enough, one intelligence official here in the building said, when he saw what appeared to be the coordinated attack on the world trade center, his advice was to stay away from the outside of the building today just in case. again, nobody has any indications of exactly what happened. but it appears that there has been some kind of -- it felt like a small blast of some kind. again, the windows shook. the building shook, the windows rattled. and people if i'm looking out

the window now, and the construction workers are still keeping a good -- i'm sorry? the construction workers are still keeping a distance. that's all i can see and i see no other extracurricular security activity right outside. but to get more information, i'm going to have to break away and walk down the hallway and see what it is exactly that happened here just a few moments ago. >> mik, see what you can find out. please be careful and let us know what's going on there. meanwhile, we're going to go back to david gregory who is in florida where president bush was earlier this morning. he was going to a school to talk with kids. david, what can you tell us? >> reporter: a little bit more about how this unfolded and what the president's going to do next. the president declared that this is an apparent terrorist attack and he offered a prayer for the families promised to hunt down in his words, people responsible for this. he will now travel back to

washington, and aides are telling us now he will immediately convene a national security meeting to see what steps are taken next. >> david, i'm sore troy interrupt you. but we're looking at live pictures of the pentagon where there is billowing smoke. jim miklaszewski reported that he heard an explosion. and now we are looking at an aerial picture of the pentagon mik, can you talk to us? >> reporter: officially, nobody noses exactly what happened. i think the picture is pretty clear. according to one u.s. army officer who went running past me at a full trot, he says that it appears that a bomb was detonated at the heliport. the heliport is a helicopter landing area next to the pentagon adjacent to the e-ring. the offices nearest the heliport area are u.s. army reserve officers and army receiver offices are located there.

but as you can see, it appears to be a pretty significant blast. to give you some perspective, we are almost on the opposite side of the building, the world's largest office building, and as i have reported to you, we could feel the building shake and the windows rattle. as i was in the hallway just a few moments ago, i could smell an acrid kind of smoke, the kind that almost what you would smell when a fluorescent light goes bad, that kind of ballast smell. authorities are clearing the building. >> u.s. intelligence sources are confirming the reports that one of the planes was a hijacked flight, an american flight from boston to los angeles. just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day

helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. why did you buy my husband a falcon? thanks for the falcon. i didn't buy anyone a falcon. sure, you did. you saved us a lot of money on auto insurance. i used that money to buy a falcon. ergo, you bought me a falcon. i should've got a falcon. most people who switch to state farm save on average about $480. what they do with it, well, that's their business. oh, that explains a lot, actually. [ chuckles ]

[ male announcer ] another reason people switch to state farm. aw, i could've gotten a falcon. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. [ falcon screeches ] [ male announcer ] get to a better state. on a recent trip to france we discovered the inspiration for a totally new yogurt. activia selects french yogurt. so silky and smooth with lots of juicy fruit. it was a grueling trip! try new activia selects french yogurt.

i don't know if you can hear the sirens outside right now, but it appears that in what -- i think that people here in the building are already describing as a highly sophisticated coordinated attack, not only against the world trade center, but against the pentagon and u.s. military right here in washington. >> mik, tell me again, i worked at the pentagon as well. and it is a huge building and miles and miles of offices. at what location did this seem to have detonated? >> it is at the heliport, the heliport which is as you sit in

the pentagon, you have the potomac river and washington, d.c., on one side, and the heliport is located almost exactly on the opposite side of the building. along one of the highways. easily accessible, even though they have increased security here significantly at the pentagon within the past couple of years, that area -- >> i want to mention to you that we are hearing, again, unconfirmed reports that this was the result of a plane crashing in the area as well. >> reporter: i have no idea, katie. all i know is that people who were in the building who came running from that part of the building thought it was a bomb of some kind. according to chris brown, my colleague who just came in, it appears that whatever it was, and perhaps it was a plane, katie, if those are the initial reports, crashed into or the damage is on the roof of the

building at the heliport side of the pentagon which is just opposite of the potomac river as i just said. >> we are looking at the white house, mik, because we're learning that there have been some evacuations from the white house. i'm assuming that everyone is being evacuated from the pentagon? >> reporter: well, nobody's given us the official word yet. but i think that is probably a safe bet. thank goodness that was a helicopter that just flew by. i'm just a little nervous right now when you hear aircraft go past. they have in fact, evacuated that portion of the building. usually they have sirens going off in the building alerting you to the fact that it's time to get out. i haven't heard those yet, but judging by the pictures, it is clear that that part of the building, that is not damaged at least, has been evacuated. like i said, in the hallway, it was pandemonium.

>> uh-huh. >> reporter: people were rushing from their offices, rushing outside. >> and you are in your office at the pentagon right now reporting to us? >> reporter: i am in the office, but i'm at the opposite side of where this crash occurred. >> all right. why don't you see if you can gather more information and please be careful, and we're going to go to matt who's going to be talking with jamie. >> yes, thank you. i am joined by tom brokaw and we are going to recap on what's been owe goggin in washington, and new york as well. we want to go to jamie with some more information. jamie? >> reporter: matt i just want to tell you that u.s. intelligence sources are confirming the reports that one of 6 of the the atlantas was a hijacked flight, american flight, from boston los angeles. they are also now looking into what is going on at the pentagon, and they don't have any details, but they have now put government buildings around the city of washington on a

heightened state of alert. i think that part of that is happening formally, but obviously people are seeing what is going on, and some people are leaving buildings as well simply because of the concern following these latest reports from the pentagon. >> we have this as a major development. the federal aviation administration has shut down all air traffic nationwide. this country has been immobilized by these terrorist attacks in terms of air travel today, and we don't know where it goes from here. we'll just ask that you stay with us so that as we get hard information we can share that with you.g's buyou do it anyway? that's me with the blow dryer and the flat iron until i see smoke. so pantene said, "breakage and split ends? no problem." they gave me this pantene called breakage to strength. [ female announcer ] the keratin protection pro-v system helps prevent then repair split ends.

zero fear of breakage, 100% more strength. no regrets, just health. i'm not giving up the heat. [ female announcer ] the breakage to strength system from pantene. i am an american. i am an american. i am an american. i am an american. i... i... i... i am... ...an american. i am an american. i am american. i am an american. voice: i'm an american.

voice: i'm an american. voice: i am an american. voice: i am an american. voice: i am an american. i am an american. i am an american. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] with the most advanced engine in its class, 50 horsepower, dual overhead cams and fierce acceleration, the gator xuv 825i will shatter your expectations. discover the fastest most powerful gator yet, at johndeere.com/gator.

let's try to recap. it is 9:47 eastern time and try to recap what's going on so far this morning. the news is terrible.

just before 9:00 -- >> at 8:42, actually. >> at 8:42 a plane crashed into the right-hand tower of the world trade center three- quarters of the way up. and you can see the smoke billowing from the building and then 18 minutes later a large plane, and we saw it on tape hit the left-hand tower of the world trade center about halfway up and enormous fireball on both sides of the buildings, and there is a tip of the second plane hitting the second building as people were trying to get out of the first building. we have confirmed reports right now that there was one hijacked flight, american airlines, from boston to los angeles and that is apparently one of the planes used in this crash. >> terrorism always has two prongs to it. the physical threat and now the psychological threat. this does seem to be surreal, but in fact, it is real when you have an explosion of undetermined origin at the pentagon and the most

conspicuous symbol of american capitalism, the twin trade towers here in new york, two deliberate attacks on those towers today and we don't know for sure who is responsible. >> and the u.s. capitol, also has been evacuated. there have been evacuations taking place at the white house. needless to say many people in the pentagon have left that building as well. >> airports in new york -- >> and in this building in midtown new york they have asked people at 30 rockefeller plaza to leave, which is another high-rise building which in new new york. i came down the length of manhattan and a lot of people were unaware of what happened. as you tuned into the radio, they began to get it. it is election day here in new york. >> primary day. >> and what we have is something that most americans thought could never occur. >> we have this as a major development. the federal aviation administration has shut down all air traffic nationwide. this nation has been immobilized by these terrorist attacks in terms of air travel today.

we don't know where it goes from here. we will ask that you stay with us so that, as we get hard information, we can share that with you. there's going to be a lot of speculation, and the president has described this apparently as a terrorist attack, and the fbi has confirmed that american airlines flight from boston to los angeles was hijacked and believed that is the first plane that went into the twin trade towers. >> let's go to james kallstrom, the former director of the fbi here in new york. i'm sure you have never seen anything like this. do you have any information that might be helpful to us? >> not particular information on this tragedy, but certainly what an incredible tragedy, and, you know, all of us in law enforcement and prior in law enforcement have talked for years, and the public have seen the hatred in the world and seen the bombing of the world trade center and the conspiracy to blow up the tunnels and the united nations and the fbi buildings and the bomb at the

"u.s.s. cole" and the bombings in the embassies in africa. and we have known for some time that the hatred exists, and now it looks like it has culminated in this absolutely horrendous, incredible ability. >> if you could stand by, because we have more information from the pentagon. mik? >> reporter: katie, my colleague, chris brown here at the pentagon, encountered some of those who survived whatever it united states, whether it was a bomb or an airplane crashing into the pentagon. one of the survivors who was reportedly injured had various lacerations, was on the second floor of the d-ring which is one ring inside of the outer ring of the pentagon, when suddenly, there was a horrific blast and he said that the second floor buckled upward, and then the third floor above him actually collapsed downward. the scene on the other side of

the building, as it is being described to us, there are people being removed on stretchers, and security forces are evacuating the building right now. and according to the officials here at the pentagon, they still don't know exactly what it was, but as you reported, katie, eyewitnesses reported that in fact it was a plane that crashed into the pentagon. >> and mik, any idea -- i wasn't quite sure if you said this about the number of people who might have been hurt or worse in this? >> reporter: no idea at all, katie. as you know having worked here on any given day, this is a small city and 25,000 to 30,000 people may be working here at any one time. that portion of the pentagon, by the way, had just been remodeled and just reopened. if the crash had occurred just a few months ago, that section of the pentagon would have been virtually empty. but at this time of day, early morning, or mid-morning, the pentagon is very busy and it is impossible to say how many

casualties there may be. but there have been a large number of sighted being removed on stretchers, and again, as one survivor said, the floor just buckled up under him, and the roof caved in on him. >> mik, thank you very much. we want to move a couple of miles away from you to the white house where bob kerr is standing by. we understand that the building is evacuated? >> reporter: yes, that is true. it is utterly surreal. as soon as word came from the pentagon incident we were forcefully removed from the white house. and the scene was one of administrators, cooks, running at fairly high speed, all the way out of the building through the top gates and then we stayed at lafayette park across the street and now we have been moved from there a block or so away.

the offices along jackson place, which are across the street from the white house and adjacent to lafayette park, also has been evacuated, and in the most surreal of this morning's scenes here at the white house, a white plane, a very big jet, was flying an unusual pattern near the white house over lafayette park and very slowly and made one circle, and then we have not seen it since. there was a lot of concern about what that plane might be, but again, it is only speculation, but most people say that since flights have been cleared from u.s. air space, and it was a totally white plane and looked unusual to all of us, that it was a government plane of some kind. >> we should point out that we are looking at pictures as you speak, bob, of the world trade center, because all of the camera crews have been evacuated from the white house as well. when do you expect president bush to arrive there, bob?

>> reporter: well, katie, he's coming back directly, and you figure it's a two-hour flight, so you can do the math. the reason i said that it was so surreal is that within just about 20 minutes ago, they were still conducting tours. you had hordes of tourists and others still in the white house on tour lining up outside to get in. there seemed to be absolutely no unusual activity outside of the white house until word came of the incident at the pentagon. so it has been quite a dramatic shift here. >> and we just saw a live picture of what seemed to be a portion of the building falling away from the world trade ce ♪ been torn apart

♪ got so many scratches and scars ♪ ♪ maybe time can mend us together again ♪ ♪ it's not what we've done but how far we've come ♪ ♪ i know that we will recover [ male announcer ] here when you need us most.

you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you want a firm bed you can lay on one of those, if you want a soft bed you can lay on one of those." we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. welcome to our biggest sale of the year. not just ordinary beds on sale, but the bed that can change your life on sale. the sleep number bed. it calibrates precisely to your body and your comfort zone. now you can feel what happens as we raise your sleep number setting and allow the bed to contour to your individual shape. oh yeah.

it's really shaping to my body. during our biggest sale of the year, every bed is on sale. queen mattresses now start at just $599. and during the final week, save 40% on our innovative limited edition bed set. but only while supplies last and only through sunday. you can adjust it however you want so you don't have to worry about buying the wrong mattress. once they get our bed, they're like, "why didn't i do this sooner?" don't miss the biggest sale of the year on the bed that can change your life. the sleep number bed. only at the sleep number store. this is a task for investigators of extraordinary magnitude to determine who did this and how they got away with it. you think about an american airlines flight that was on its way from boston to los angeles was hijacked in mid-air and now the citing transmission from the plane. and they have hard evidence of that and then brought down here and made to fly into the twin

trade towers. did one of the hijackers get control. >> did they shoot the pilot? it boggles the mind beyond the ability to figure out what was going on. >> you talked about transmissions and i am curious, have you had any evidence of what was said during those transmissions? >> they are citing transmissions to know that the plane had been hijacked. and that is all they're saying at this point. we want to remind everyone, once again, that this is an exceptional development that the faa has banned all takeoffs at all airports across america. this country in terms of air travel has been immobilized and a good portion of the nation's capital, the most powerful center in the world has been immobilized as well. >> we saw a live picture of what seemed to be a portion of the building falling away from the world trade center and if we can rerack that to 20 seconds ago, you will see something dramatic happening, and i don't know whether it is another explosion or a portion of the building

falling away, but something major just happened at that building. >> here we go to the tape. >> we have the tape. >> watch at the left-hand tower. i don't know if this is the correct tape. there. something there is about to happen. falling away right there. >> yeah, looks like a big chunk of it has peeled away. >> one can only hope that the area has been evacuated, but you wonder about the emergency vehicles and the people who were injured early in the morning. these pictures are beyond belief. >> we have a report that the second plane may have flown out of newark, new jersey. and this is and official speaking on the condition of anonymity, and again, no confirmation of that and we know there were two planes that went in and the first one was an american airlines flight from boston to los angeles. and we are now seeing it from the harbor view of this continuing damage and destruction to the world trade center.

we want to tell you that american airlines has confirmed that one of the flights from boston's logan airport scheduled to go to l.a.x. left at 8:00 a.m. this morning and 45 minutes later it was diverted into the world trade center. >> let's go back into a few seconds ago because this is now an hour after the first impact, and we saw dramatic footage of the portion of one of the twin towers appearing to fall away from the rest of the building. can we go to the tape now? this is -- when you look at it, the building has collapsed. that tower just came down. >> well, the consequences go on not just to the world trade center and to the poor people who were trapped and caught there. but of course, that is the heart of the world financial markets which have now been shut down effectively as well. so the ripple effect continues this morning as we all try to adjust psychologically and intellectually to what we are witnessing here. it is difficult to comprehend,

but this country, the strongest country in the world, has been the target of a major coordinated terrorist attack, and the end is not over yet even if it is confined to just these three targets. the ripple effect goes on. >> and of course, who knows the is human toll that would be the result of this action. matt and -- matt just pointed out to me that on any given day, 50,000 people, tom, work at the world trade center. >> and at 8:45 in the morning, if they are not in the building, they are around the building. that is a beehive of activity down there, and there is no more active area in terms of pedestrian traffic. >> one of the reporters for the "today show" was there and saw the collapse of one of the towers. >> hi, matt. >> tell us what you saw. >> on the corner of duane and west broadway and walking toward the twin towers and it just collapsed. it looked like the building demolished and smoke and clouds of smoke everywhere. people running towards me as i

was going toward the twin towers and people going away from the towards -- away from the towers. and it was just people running like i've never seen a scene like it. >> can you give me an idea of the reaction of people down there? pedestrians? >> everyone, everyone in tears. people who were -- i met some woman in the building to the right of where the first -- the first thing happened. and, just all crying and having -- wondering if the people they know in the buildings next door are okay. >> mina, take care of yourself. jamie gangel, our national swoernt, skoern is on the phone. jamie? >> katie, as you well know, buildings around town are being evacuated. the state department has been evacuated. the white house has been evacuated and the pentagon has been evacuated. intelligence officials tell me that they do believe at the pentagon that that was a third plane going down.

they have had -- the intelligence source that i have talked to say that they have not received any claim of responsibility yet. >> jamie, have you gotten any information from reagan national airport as to air traffic in the area this morning or anybody who might have somehow traced this plane or figured out from where it came or where it was going? >> reporter: they still do not have any of those details yet. it is almost impossible. they were confused for a long time, as to whether it is a bomb or a plane. they say now that it appears to be a plane. but they say that that is all the information that they have. >> all right. jamie, thank you very much. we will be talking with you. >> and you know, it goes without saying that this is the most serious attack on the united states in more than 100 years. and not since the war of 1812 and the damage we did to ourselves in the civil war has this country suffered this kind of damage within its interior and obviously pearl harbor which

triggered world war ii was a horrific event as well, but there has never been an event to match the magnitude of this one in which everything has been shut down in terms of air traffic. the national capital has been immobilized and the financial markets are shut down and there is an untold loss of life. >> the other tower of the world trade center has just collapsed. that i believe was the first tower that was struck this morning at 8:42 eastern time. >> so, ah, your seat good? got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming.

that's why we bought a subaru. maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit.

[ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com.

i'm melissa may burger. new york and washington, d.c., are on high alert for tomorrow's tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. a tip revealed wednesday that a car bomb plot may target one of two cities. the plot has not been confirmed. 2 out of the 3 men allegedly involved may have american

passports. a flight 93 memorial in shanksville you unveiled commemorating 42 passengers and crew who died when they fought hijackers on 9/11. now let's go back to "9/11 as it happened." >> it is 7:15 in the west obviously for those who are just joining us at 8:45 eastern time, 8:42 eastern time american airlines flight 11 from boston to l.a.x. crashed into one of the twin tower buildings and 15 minutes later another plane hit the other one. that building has now collapsed. and within an hour of those two attacks, the pentagon is now hit as we're told by a plane and an untold number of casualties. president bush has been on the air, he was saying apparently it is a terrorist attack and everyone believes that, carefully coordinated from the air, and the consequences of it in terms of human loss and the effect on this country are still to be determined.

katie, what we are worrying about is that the other building may come down, and they have evacuated that area because of the crash, and one world trade center and now we are told about the concern of the second one collapsing as well. we are told now that the spokesman for yasser arafat, the leader of the palestinian, and leader of the pla, the palestinian liberation organization, that he has -- arafat has condemned what has happened here in new york. he says that p.l.o. has no role in it whatsoever, and they are completely shocked and appalled by what is happening. there was one earlier report that the radical front of palestine claimed responsibility, but that is later denied as well. we don't know yet who is responsible for this, but it was very carefully planned and coordinated, and fair to say it has been devastating efficient and effective attack on the heart of this country. >> let's go to pat dawson who is down by the world trade center.

>> reporter: there are probably at this stage, i would say, hundreds, perhaps in the thousands of emergency workers who in the last hour and a half have managed to work their way down here to lower manhattan and basically tried to get into this fray. we are standing right here about 10 to 12 blocks north of the world trade center. these firemen that you can see, firefighters, firefighters are walking down towards the site now and they literally have been arriving by the dozens over the past hour or so as we say probably in excess of 1,000 or more emergency workers from new york city and surrounding areas converging on this site now to try to make some sense of it. as you can imagine, at this point, there is a certain level of chaos, because they are just trying to sort out who is alive and who is not. when i asked one of them why he was going back in as he suited up, since he could barely breathe, he said because it's my

job and there may be some of my brother officers in there. and as you can see from these pictures the amount of dust from the fire that is still burning, flames and ash is extraordinary at this point. at least a few emergency workers have said that they really are not so sure that other tower won't stay up now. they really didn't think that the first one was capable of coming down, but it did. so they are basically saying keep back as far as you can. on the other hand facing that danger as we have been telling you, many, many hundreds of these workers are heading over those lines down towards that burning building to try to rescue those people who are in there, be they emergency workers, be they civilians. >> we'll go to mik. mik, what is the latest from the pentagon? >> katie, security officials here at the pentagon have not only evacuated the building, but are clearing the entire area. security forces have reported that they have received information of another plane hijacked, and that it is about

20 to 25 miles out of washington, d.c., headed in this general direction. secretary of defense donald rumsfeld, a few moments ago was refusing to leave the building. there is no confirmation of the latest threat, but security officials here are taking it very seriously, and we were standing with secretary rumsfeld's security detail who, as soon as they got the report, were running into the building and we were herded away, but they have set up an alternative command site somewhere in the area. the pentagon set up a crisis team to deal with this situation. but, so far, the latest reports are that another plane of some kind may have been hijacked and headed in this direction. katie? >> yeah, we also should tell you, mik, this is tom brokaw, that the faa says that all international flights headed for the united states are being diverted to canada. this at a time when, as jim is telling us, there is an

unconfirmed report that there is another hijacking, and all takeoffs were stopped, but there were planes in the air obviously at the time of the first two attacks on the twin trade towers and then on the pentagon. >> let's look at the live pictures at the world trade center and the other tower of the world trade center has just collapsed. you are looking at live pictures of the second twin tower at the world trade center collapsing as a result of the crash of an airplane into its side. that, i believe, is the first tower that was struck this morning at 8:42 eastern time. that is now -- that has now fallen to the ground. >> the profile of manhattan has been changed. there is a declaration of war by terrorists on the united states. more than 100 stories of steel and concrete, electrical. there it is. that is a videotape replay.

>> many of the emergency workers basically just happy to be alive. certainly, that picture tells it all. [ man ] behind every business is a "what if." what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots,

and powerful devices like the motorola photon 4g. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. can help you find the answers.

possibilities are everywhere. multiply them with the premier rewards gold card from american express. with triple membership rewards points on airfare, double on gas, double on groceries, and a single point on everthing else, it's a fast way to earn more every day. plus, you can earn 10,000 bonus points. and the annual fee the first year is on us. call 800.axp.gold to apply.

we are back at 10:30 eastern time on this tuesday morning, this horrific, incredible, not- to-be believed tuesday morning. you are looking at live pictures of the world trade center where just a few minutes ago, within the last minute actually, the second twin tour collapsed. >> this is a declaration and execution of an attack on the united states. two of our most conspicuous symbols of the american system of capitalism, the pentagon which is the headquarters of the most mighty military in the world was attacked today and the

white house has been evacuate and the state department has been evacuate and the financial markets are immobilized and all flights taking off after these attacks are grounded. >> international flights have been sent to canada. >> transatlantic flights are sent to canada. so there is great chaos on this country to say nothing, as you pointed out so importantly, of the untold loss of life. and it's going to be horrendous. we don't know yet what the exact numbers are, but we can only tell you that by looking at the pictures you can guess as well as we can that there are a lot of people who are not able to escape. >> back in 1993 when the bomb blew up in the basement of the world trade center, so many survivors talked about how long it took them with no power in the elevators to walk down the smoke-filled stairways. you think of how many were trying to escape the buildings when the first one, and the second one collapsed. >> and the buildings important in so many ways, and now it has been attacks by terrorists at

world trade center and the damage is beyond our ability to tell you in great detail. >> let's go to pat dawson, if he can hear us. he's on the ground. >> quite extraordinary. these are the emergency workers who are coming back. it was ten minutes ago that we described to you the possibility of that north tower collapsing. about five minutes after we went off of the air, it did collapse. once again, we have no idea at this point the loss of life, but i can tell you that there were hundreds of emergency workers down there about five or six blocks. it took probably about, i would say, no more than 50 or 60 seconds for that dust cloud, dust and smoke to literally make it the five or six blocks up here and begin to envelope us at which point we started to move out of the way. there were literally dozens and dozens of firemen who were trying to run past us, and in fact, our cameraman put one of the captains in the car and drove him down to a command post. the people you see here are

pretty much all emergency workers, and many of them that i have seen in the last two to three minutes, quite frankly are coming out of here and remember this, these are professionals and they are coming out of there looking literally stunned, in shock, many of them, struggling for breath, obviously, in serious distress and breathing problems are the biggest problem for those who managed to make it safely out of that area down below us. you can't see much more than a block south of me right now. and the world trade center probably stands about ten blocks south of where i am at this moment. as you can see now, the dust is beginning to pick up here. it really depends upon which way the wind blows as to whether or not we get heavy dust or not. but at this point, i can tell you that in the first few minutes, emergency workers were trying just basically to get out of there and to survive. you could see it written in their faces. the situation was so desperate, they just wanted to get out of there.

now many are beginning to regroup. and a couple of them asked where the commander might be and they are trying to get together and go back in there and try to take care of the people who are obviously in serious trouble. no other way to describe it. the language here at times if i slip into language which seems a little melodramatic, forgive me. but this is a circumstance which is very, very difficult to describe in many ways without sounding melodramatic and certainly in 20 years of covering horrific events this is something i have never seen before. and many of the emergency workers just happy to be alive and certainly that picture tells it all. many are happy to be alive at this point. >> that is nbc's pat dawson who is standing about ten blocks from where the world trade center twin towers used to stand. you are looking at one of the collapse of those towers now. we have an alert out of pittsburgh that the officials at somerset county are confirming a crash of a large plane north of the airport 80 miles southeast of pittsburgh. and again, officials at the

somerset county airport confirm the crash of a large plane north of the airport which is located 80 miles to the southeast of the city of pittsburgh. we do not know whether that crash of that plane is related to what has become an obvious terrorist attack both here in new york city and washington, d.c., at the pentagon. >> we want to go to jim miklaszewski who is at the pentagon. jim? >> they are still clearing people from the pentagon and officials belief there is another incoming plane headed in the washington region, but there was a telling, dramatic moment a second ago when a u.s. air force f-16 flew at low level and did a wide sweeping turn around the pentagon and back over washington. and as one air force officer standing near me said, they are now flying air cover over washington. a very dramatic moment. a milestone in what tom has already described as a

declaration of war, terrorist war, against the u.s. katie? >> let's go back to show you the pictures of lower manhattan where the situation is only worse and not better. that is the financial district of the world and a great residential and commercial area and both twin trade towers have collapsed onto the ground. there is an untold loss of life and heroic rescue workers down there trying to get the people out of the building when the first building came down and then the second building did as well, without any sound and in looking at this, there is a kind of surreal quality, but that is the epicenter of a great, great national tragedy and a great loss of life. no question about it this morning. >> it is hard to overstate the consequences of all of this, and this is just the beginning. we will be living with this story and dealing with the consequences of it for some time. the united states will change as a result of all of this. we already thought that there was a lot of security in america at the airports and so on, and yet, there was a successful hijacking in boston airport today and the consequences of

that we're seeing on the screen here this morning. >> the building began to disintegrate and we heard it and looked up and started to see the elements of the building come down and we ran and honestly, it was like a scene out of "independence day." ♪ i'm a film star. well, i'm a film, left behind by a floor cleaner i thought was going to take me places. wait! now life is dull... darling! ♪ i believe in miracles [ male announcer ] swiffer attracts dirt. swiffer wetjet's new upgraded solution loosens and lifts off dirt to help prevent streaks and residue. and reveal more shine than a mop or your money back. you had me at "bzzzzz". or your money back. on a recent trip to france we discovered the inspiration for a totally new yogurt. activia selects french yogurt. so silky and smooth with lots of juicy fruit. it was a grueling trip! try new activia selects french yogurt.

♪ whoa! hey! [ dog barks, growls ] ♪ whoa, watch out, little man. ♪ [ male announcer ] when you take away the worry, it's easy to enjoy the ride. hey, bud. hey, dad. [ male announcer ] introducing cadillac shield. the most comprehensive suite of owner benefits offered by any luxury auto maker in the world. toi switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage has ginkgo for memory and concentration, plus support for bone and breast health. a great addition to my routine. [ female announcer ] one a day women's. the crib is already there. great. thank you so much. [ male announcer ] we provide great service, so you can stay you. holiday inn express. stay you.

[ tv announcer ] today's trivia question -- what's the hardest play in baseball? the unassisted triple play. the unassisted triple play. [ male announcer ] stay smart and book smart. book early and save up to 20% at any holiday inn express. stay you.

we have a report here that osama bin laden who is often identified as the world's leading terrorist warned three weeks ago that he and his followers would carry out an unprecedented attack because of their support of israel. >> editor of a london newspaper said that islamic fundamentalists led by osama bin laden is most certainly behind at take of the world trade

center in new york, most likely the work of islamic fundamentalists and he warned three weeks ago that he would attack american interests in an unprecedented attack. so that is the first report that we have had of osama bin laden may have been responsible. now we have word from american airlines that it had two aircraft in the tragedy, a boeing 868 and flight 77 they are saying a boeing 757 operating from washington dulles to l.a. with 58 passengers and four flight attendants and two pilots. that's from al hinkle who is one of our guys from the dallas area from american airlines. >> yeah, so now we know the identity of two of the flights involved in today's incidents. that leaves at least one more, and if the report of the crash in pittsburgh is accurate, that leaves two more.

>> here is the first confirmation from united airlines that it confirmed that one of it flights crashed in the pittsburgh area. flight 93 boeing 757 flight originated in newark and bound for san francisco and no information on how many people were on board. you know, there was a collapse obviously and not just of intelligence, but airport security that that many planes were hijacked almost simultaneously. >> we will go to bob ba zel who is at st. vincent's hospital and we are obviously very concerned about the people who were in the world trade center when these two planes crashed into them, bob, tell me about the scene at st. vincent's hospital. >> katie, the wounded are starting to come in with great regularity now and almost every 30 seconds, an ambulance pulls up. some are badly burn and several are dead. i have seen several dead bodies going in. cardinal eagen, the catholic archdiocese giving last rites and saying god help us many times over and a call out for

blood from all the new york hospitals, and people are lined up around the block and responding in large numbers and everyone is wanting to help in some way. new york's become surreal on the streets above lower manhattan because all of the subways and the commuter lines and bridges and tunnels have been shut down. so many people who are not injured are wandering around aimlessly, but in the hospitals there are so many injured coming in now that they have run out gurneys and brought down all of the office chairs and puts sheets on them to carry them in. it is an enormous amount of work for staff. people have come in -- everybody who's off has come in. calls out for specialists and plastic surgeons and burn specialists. and it's going to be a very grueling several days ahead. >> we have ron here in the studio, and ron, you were downtown at some point, because we see that you have basically soot and debris on your hair and on your jacket. what happened? >> well, one of the msnbc cameramen and i were trying to

get across the street having driven down to cover the event for nbc, but as we went across the street we were not terribly far from the world trade center, south tower, but as we cut across in a quarantined zone actually the building began to disintegrate and we heard it looked up and started to see elements of the building coming down. and we ran and it was honestly like a scene out of "independence day" and everything begin to rain down, and it was pitch black as wind were whipping through corridors in lower manhattan. i ducked around a corner and got into a car which was opened, and it was nighttime for several minutes before things cleared up. >> was this the first tower that collapsed? >> i believe it was the first tower that collapsed. it was the south tower. and as it was coming down, what that looks like is mild compared to what it was like to be there at the center. it was pitch black for blocks. >> and was it smoke as well as dust? >> smoke and dust and i assume part of the building coming down and pieces of a disintegrated building as well. >> once it began to clear after that, several minutes of pitch darkness, what did you see in the streets then? >> a deep gray smoke.

it looked like a nuclear winter and the thing you would see in the movies with ash over the ground and on top of cars and police cars and windows. i made my way into a building because it was the only light i could see and stayed there until a couple of police officers and a few people in the building were able to get in the vehicle. we picked up a few injured people and dropped them off at the hospital. >> what were their injuries? >> well, one policeman had a gash in the forehead and he was shocked and the young lady had shrapnel in the arm and we don't know if it was part of a building or glass from another building. it was truly the most intense and frightening experience i've ever had in my life. it was literally pitch black on the streets and people inhaling a great deal of the material as well, so many folks having difficulty breathing and wearing facial masks as well. >> we are glad you are all right. >> we're glad you are okay. >> we have united airlines confirming united flight 175 from boston to los angeles is down as well. no details yet.

it is confirmed that flight 93 we believe, from newark to san francisco is down and no details as of yet and that is the one we think went down in the pittsburgh area. i wish that we could be more specific. the information is as you might expect pretty chaotic, but there have been at least four airliners that have been hijacked today. >> and there's going to be an awful lot of scrutiny on the security in boston at logan airport because it now appears two of these flights originated there. and somehow someone managed to get on these planes and hijack them. >> this is an event -- ron, we're happy to see you. >> you have no idea how happy i am to be here. >> it is a relief. you think about the experiences of thousands of other people down there in the epicenter. we don't know what the numbers are. >> when you hear about the cardinal delivering last rites outside the hospital. >> the magnitude of this will go on for sometime.

it's not just a national tragedy but a national security event of an untold magnitude. this country is going to have to deal with. the president is coming back, and we are at war here, this country has suffered a devastating attack, will cost us in loss of life and cost us in terms of our psychological security that we have in this country. we will have to revisit a lot of our freedoms as a result of this kind of attack and the whole question of retaliation. this place remains an enormous target in the eyes of a lot of people. and we are so vulnerable because of all those things that make us so great. our freedoms and our sense of security that we have. but, america has been changed today by all of this.