--- title: See How the Bush Administration Responded to 9/11 in New Photos description: Bush, Cheney, Rice and others can be seen in the President's Emergency Operations Center canonical: https://time.com/3972185/bush-admin-911-photo/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-25T14:04:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:47.593Z article:section: Politics og:title: Photos: See How the Bush Administration Responded to 9/11 og:description: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and others in the President's Emergency Operations Center og:url: https://time.com/3972185/bush-admin-911-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb836985b7b247838/69885c7de20a87fd3aa8c716/new-9-11-photos-released-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2054 og:image:height: 1155 og:image:alt: Vice President Dick Cheney with President George W. Bush inside the President's Emergency Operations Center og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Photos: See How the Bush Administration Responded to 9/11 twitter:description: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and others in the President's Emergency Operations Center twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb836985b7b247838/69885c7de20a87fd3aa8c716/new-9-11-photos-released-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See How the Bush Administration Responded to 9/11 in Newly Released Photos > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: RISE [Watch (HLS stream): RISE](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YAAwl6nK.m3u8) (13:48)  _Published 2014-03-03. After 9/11 New York had an arduous task ahead: How to re-build. This is the story of of the World Trade Center's rise back into New York's Skyline, and the iron workers that made it possible_ by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jul 25, 2015 2:04 PM UTC  Vice President Dick Cheney with President George W. Bush inside the President's Emergency Operations Center Vice President Dick Cheney with President George W. Bush inside the President's Emergency Operations Center David Bohrer by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jul 25, 2015 2:04 PM UTC Americans have seen the photo of the chief of staff [whispering](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/student-recalls-classroom-moment-when-bush-heard-9-11-news-n201651) the news of 9/11 into George W. Bush’s ear the morning of the attack in an elementary school classroom, and they know the iconic images of the former president [speaking into a bullhorn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7OCgMPX2mE) amid the rubble at Ground Zero three days later. But now [new photos](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/24/new-images-show-bush-administration-911/30647057/) have been released that shed light on what was going on behind the scenes in the wake of the attack. A Freedom of Information Act request from a _Frontline_ producer has turned up a collection of images from the National Archives taken by former Vice President Dick Cheney’s staff photographer in the aftermath of the attack, as Cheney and others gathered in the President’s Emergency Operations Center underneath the White House. Then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell, First Lady Laura Bush, Second Lady Lynne Cheney and other prominent officials feature in the photos. See the full gallery of photos [here](https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/sets/72157656213196901).  Reports of the attack on the World Trade Center's twin towers played on television in Vice President Cheney's office on Sept. 11, 2001. David Bohrer  Vice President Dick Cheney with senior staff inside the President's Emergency Operations Center David Bohrer  Vice President Cheney with Laura Bush, Lynne Cheney and Senior Staff in the President's Emergency Operations Center David Bohrer  Vice President Dick Cheney with senior staff inside the President's Emergency Operations Center David Bohrer  Mary Matalin talks with Karen Hughes and Lynne Cheney in the President's Emergency Operations Center David Bohrer  Vice President Dick Cheney inside the President's Emergency Operations Center David Bohrer  Vice President Dick Cheney with senior staff inside the President's Emergency Operations Center David Bohrer  National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Colin Powell inside the President's Emergency Operations Center David Bohrer  CIA Director George Tenet, left, listens to President Bush's address in the President's Emergency Operations Center David Bohrer  Vice President Dick Cheney with President George W. Bush inside the President's Emergency Operations Center David Bohrer  Vice President Cheney and Lynne Cheney depart the White House on Marine Two David Bohrer  Vice President Cheney and Lynne Cheney aboard Marine Two David Bohrer ## Transcript >> My grandfather worked in the original [] of in '68 before the tower went up. My father's first job was here doing the tower. I'm a fourth generation [ unk ] worker from my father's side and third from my mother's. This is like four years on the job, the longest job I've been on. You-- I can't compare this job in all job. Never. This is like a one- time deal. >> If you see something, say something. Call 1888 NYC Safe to report suspicious activity. >> Wake up in the dark, get home in the dark, every day. Every day. -[ unk ] two hours toward the door. >> Almost seven days a week, 10 hours a day. Miss your family, you always see them. You don't see them. You give up five years of your life for this. -[ unk ] for that. They're coming all together. This place is home. It ain't home no more. >> The whole building is pretty much dictated by our speed. >> We got a couple of more weeks and now the [ unk ]. >> W Special Day is saying you're finally finished. Especially at this job, I mean, look at this, you know. They don't build like this I'll be going up. >> All right. >> My father worked on the original print out. My father also worked on seven World Trade Center, the original. 1985, he had an accident on that job. He fell and he was paralyzed on that-- on that job. And it changed-- it changed my life as a kid, you know. >> It is-- it is a strange story that your father built the buildings. They come down and you put them back up again. I don't know that that has happened ever before but, I'm- I'm glad, I'm part of it. I'm glad it's me that's doing-- >> I worked when I was 17 or I say I was 18. You know, 14 years doing it now. I'm 32. -[ unk ]? >> I don't know what years could have been in 20s. [ unk ] was my great grandfather. He got shot right here. My grandfather sitting right in a car. >> A lot of [ unk ] workers are guys who were adventurous kids. And these are the guys who just ski a 100 miles an hour. These are the guys who are jumping out of airplanes. And we take a lot of pride in what we do. >> I guess I had no choice, sucked in school. So, you know, I was put out here. But my father wants me to be out here to keep the name going. You know, I love fighting. So, I thought about being in boxing. I thought I was I was gonna be the next to Tyson, you know. And I still got, I-- I got the basement set up for kids. I was messing up in school and getting in trouble in streets. So, my father started paying for the gym. But, I'm glad I got in to business. But, I love it. And there might be a future here. [ unk ]. >> I've been doing it for a long time, you know. [ unk ] for that 17 years. >> Hello. >> Hi Bug. How are you? -[ unk ] you? >> Yeah. >> Yah. -[ unk ] working gets in your blood. You know, we all grow up around it. We listen to our fathers and our grandfathers and our cousins discussing it around the table. As a little kid you like to walk around in a piece of wood in the backyard. I have two sons. I know my wife wouldn't happy if they became [ unk ] workers. Kind of like my mother wasn't happy when my father when I decide I become an [ unk ] worker. This is, you know, nobody wants to see their family [ unk ] hurt. >> That's the Twin Towers. >> What? >> Now? >> Yeah, when they fell. >> They get twins? >> They we-- they were two Twin Towers. They were identical. Now they're gone. Right? -[ unk ]. -[ unk ] that? >> Air force [ unk ]. >> It was terrible. This was September 12th. The smoke, the smell, just everything about that day. >> What [ unk ]. >> The chills [ unk ] of that picture. >> 9 / 11, I was working. Two or three blocks away at White [ unk ]. Got the call over the radio that I better come outside. Everybody came down off the isle or out in the street like you're a [ unk ] looking in, you know, it went on. Roughly shortly thereafter, we actually felt like the plane was coming right to us. It went right over our heads. Kind of [ unk ] right over the building we were working with and we watched the crash right into the, into the Trade Center. >> I was working in the Empire State Building on the 65th Floor. We could see that there was hole in the building. And then when we saw the second plane I ran to my desk, grabbed my bag and ran down 65 flights of stairs. >> It also [ unk ] broad way second tower came down. And went all [ unk ] anything [ unk ] >> We all got together. And you know, our work is-- we headed down here to help clean up. >> We just came down here to help people. Just [ unk ]. That's what [ unk ] work is doing. We just want your help. And then I worked for two days [ unk ] straight. And I saw a kid as [ unk ] as old, I couldn't handle it. I don't wanna be part of it. I see a lot of stuff I didn't want see, you know. Things that, you know, no one should see. And I don't want talk those days. >> And I [ unk ]. That was terrible, terrible. >> I didn't see the future. You know, I never know we put up a building. I was blessed with this job. >> A lot of us were fortunate. My story is that, I should have been on the 82nd Floor of Tower I. And my oldest son said, " Dad, can you give me a ride to school ?" I succumbed to his pleas and made me late that day. And put me in a position by fate to be around to-- to build this so. I have personal need, a personal commitment to make this happen. >> At the circles come full around for me, obviously when we were down here cleaning and trying to rescue people was certainly not anything we have thought about rebuilding. But as time went on and they started talking about it, as an [ unk ] worker, every [ unk ] worker wanna be part of it. >> It's like living a lot like this when you get something because [ unk ] when your life. Then you start thinking about the past ahead of you. And it's pretty daunting. >> One of the first days, I got a call saying they believe they hit-- we were amazed it hadn't been uncovered initially by the clean- up. >> Yeah. We look, it started as a pile, all right. It started as a smoking, smoldering room from 9 / 11. And it was originally a rescue mission and then a recovery mission. >> We have 35000 people at the site each and every day working side by side. Rebuilding essentially five Empire State Buildings, well, greater than Empire State Buildings at the same time. 250, 000 people will be at the site each and every day. So, essentially we're building a city within a city. There is no book to look at. There's no book to refer to. You take your basic knowledge and you write the book as you go forward. >> It was a lot of plan in it to set that last few sets of spires. We we're stuffing the one of the most exciting days here, and satisfaction days here was also most stressful day. >> So the stress, doing so many things here to a firsts. Putting the crane up on top of a dog house. Jumping this crane to a heights that the crane never jump to. We were able to set this spire. We had about this much left between the top of the crane and the top of this bar. I mean, you know, on paper that's okay. When you're up there, it's 17101 feet waiting for that last piece of spire to come out there. And then the wind kicks in it a little bit. -[ unk ] to me? >> I'm always, you know, telling my kids about it. And let them know, tell it, you know, friends at school or their teachers that their dad sets this spire, it's on Tower I. It's a great, great feeling. Great feeling when you got to say that. Not many people get to say that. That's so awesome. >> We've finished [ unk ] ing the last piece of spire. You know, it's finally up. We've all put together every piece. >> You know, you look around at the-- the workers at the very front line working hard to make sure it's perfect. And you can see the pain on their face to make sure it's perfect. It's all about ordinary people doing extraordinary things that you see each and every day. >> We're wrapping things up now. You got and getting ready to move on. >> I came here and there was hole in the ground and I'm gonna leave here and people are gonna be working here. And people may not notice and may not know all we went through, but I know. >> I can you see this with your neighborhood where I live from Brooklyn, that I live far in Brooklyn now. I could see it from one block. >> And they [ unk ] no one the job, you step back, you look at it, you know. Wow man, I was, I was part of that. Makes it all worth it. >> This is where a lot of people died in this location. And this fill right here is like a landmark for them. They have to put them on back up. They have to, you know. And they put a crane one up. And I'm blessed to be to do it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3972185/bush-admin-911-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3972185/bush-admin-911-photo/"},"headline":"See How the Bush Administration Responded to 9/11 in Newly Released Photos","datePublished":"2015-07-25T14:04:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:47.593Z","description":"Bush, Cheney, Rice and others can be seen in the President's Emergency Operations Center","url":"https://time.com/3972185/bush-admin-911-photo/","keywords":["White House","George W. 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