Paul Ryan Remembers His September 11th Experience
I remember that day like it was yesterday. It's pretty amazing to think it was that long.
I was in the White House, in the White House Mess. There were about six of us having breakfast. I remember one of the legislative liaisons at the White House, and he said, "some guy flew a plane into the World Trade Center," meaning some guy in a Cessna accidentally crashed into the World Trade Center. Sort of the way he said it, that's what it sounded like. And so we just kept on with our breakfast.
He came in some number of minutes later, and he said, "Another plane hit the World Trade Center. It's clearly an act of terrorism."
So we got up and then we just dispersed and left and drove back to the Capitol and prayed. Looked at the TV and looked out the window and saw the smoke coming from the Pentagon.
Our entire thinking changed on all of these issues. That's why having the right foreign policy, the right homeland security, the right laws, the right budgets in place, are very, very important. Because if let our guard down at all, something like this could clearly happen again.