Several entries in the Complete 9/11 Timeline (copied below) describe what
appear to have been
individuals disguised as firefighters or military personnel, who were
involved in the rescue
and recovery efforts at the Pentagon following the attack there on
September 11, 2001. What
these individuals were doing is unknown, but possibilities need to be
investigated, such as
whether they were there to tamper with, plant, or remove evidence. That
this may have been the
case is given weight by the fact that some people who appeared to be
members of the military
were witnessed stealing crash debris from in front of the Pentagon.
Fairly early on in the firefighting operation at the Pentagon, what
appeared to be a crew of
firefighters was seen behaving completely at odds with how firefighters
are trained to act. An
Arlington County firefighter working on the building's second floor
witnessed the crew walking
past burning fires, apparently to get to fires elsewhere in the building.
But, as authors
Patrick Creed and Rick Newman have pointed out: "Firefighters are trained
never to go through a
fire without putting it out, since it might seal off your exit. You might
as well walk into a
burning room and lock the door behind you."
Then, on September 12, the Defense Protective Service (DPS), which guards
the Pentagon,
arrested three people at the Pentagon who were dressed as firefighters,
but were not firefighters.
Beginning that same day, a couple of firefighters involved in the recovery
effort were
repeatedly assisted by a mysterious man who appeared to work for the
military, but who wore no
identifying badge and was known to them only as "Johnny." This man said if
the firefighters
needed anything from the military, he could help them, and even introduced
them to some friends
of his who said they worked for Special Forces. But on the evening of
September 14, Johnny
suddenly disappeared. When the two firefighters asked around, they found
that no one at the
Pentagon knew who "Johnny" was, and none of the agencies involved in the
recovery effort said
he worked for them. The two firefighters started to wonder if he'd been an
imposter who'd
perhaps managed to gain access to the site before security had been
tightened there.
The presence of these fake personnel raises the question of why they were
at the Pentagon. Were
these men just "thrill seekers," as the chief of the DPS has claimed,
there for their own
misguided reasons? Or could they have been at the site for a more sinister
purpose, perhaps as
part of a coordinated operation to plant or remove evidence from the crime
scene?
This latter possibility has some evidence to sup****t it. Shortly after the
attack occurred, DPS
officer Lt. Robbie Turner saw people apparently stealing plane debris from
the road in front of
the Pentagon. Turner has recalled, "We had to try to stop other people
from pilfering the
wreckage because, believe it or not, there were people--military personnel
involved--you know,
included, rather, that was picking up the wreckage of the plane from off
the highway." Another
DPS officer, Roosevelt Roberts Jr., worked during the afternoon and
evening of 9/11 at the
heli****t near where the Pentagon was hit. He has recalled that, in that
time, "We had a lot of
people vandalizing, stealing evidence."
FAKE FIREFIGHTERS
(Between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.) September 11, 2001: Mystery
Firefighters Seen Behaving
Oddly inside Pentagon
A mysterious fire crew is witnessed inside the Pentagon, behaving
completely at odds with how
firefighters are trained to act. [Creed and Newman, 2008, pp. 137] Chad
Stamps is a firefighter
with Rescue 104 of the Arlington County Fire Department. [National Fire
and Rescue, 5/2002]
Along with his crew, he has been fighting fires on the second floor of the
Pentagon's outer E
Ring. With fires burning around him, he is astonished to see another crew
walk past, carrying
two packs of hose line, apparently on its way to fight fires elsewhere in
the Pentagon.
Describing this incident, authors Patrick Creed and Rick Newman will point
out: "Firefighters
are trained never to go through a fire without putting it out, since it
might seal off your
exit. You might as well walk into a burning room and lock the door behind
you. Yet there they
went." Seeing the crew passing by, Stamps thinks, "This is totally
disjointed." [Creed and
Newman, 2008, pp. 137] The odd behavior of this crew is perhaps notable
because there is at
least one re****ted incident of fake firefighters being caught at the
Pentagon following the
attack there: On September 12, three people will be arrested who are not
firefighters, yet who
are dressed in firefighting gear (see September 12, 2001). [Goldberg et
al., 2007, pp. 170]
Source
September 12, 2001: People Disguised as Firefighters Arrested at Pentagon
The Defense Protective Service (DPS)--the law enforcement agency that
guards the
Pentagon--arrests three people at the Pentagon who are dressed in
firefighting gear but are not
firefighters. Further details of who these people are and why they are at
the Pentagon are
unstated. John Jester, the chief of the DPS, later reflects: "When you
have a major event,
certain people are like moths around a light bulb. They come to the scene
as thrill seekers."
Re****tedly, incident command, DPS, and FBI officials are worried by the
"absence of an
effective identification system to control the large number of people that
[are passing]
through the outer perimeter fence to sup****t firefighting and recovery
operations" at the
Pentagon. [Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 170]
Source
MILITARY IMPOSTER
September 12-14, 2001: Apparently Fake Military Official Helps with
Pentagon Recovery, then
Disappears
A mysterious man, who is initially assumed to be working for the military,
assists firefighters
involved in the Pentagon recovery efforts, but then disappears without
trace and is thought to
have been an impostor who had managed to slip inside the Pentagon grounds.
"Johnny" - Arlington firefighter Bob Gray is introduced by his colleague
Bobby Beer to a man
wearing a hard hat. Beer introduces the man only as "Johnny," and adds,
"He's our go-between
with PenRen [the Pentagon Renovation Program], and he knows some of the
military guys too."
Although "Johnny" is not wearing any identifying badge or ID, he seems
knowledgeable, appears
"taut and serious, with a purposeful military stance," and even introduces
Gray and Beer to a
couple of friends of his who say they work for Special Forces. Johnny says
if Gray and Beer
need anything from the military, he can help. As a security perimeter has
now been set up
around the crash site, Gray assumes Johnny must be there officially.
[Creed and Newman, 2008,
pp. 367-368]
Disappears - Johnny turns out to be very helpful and assists Gray and Beer
repeatedly. But, on
the evening of September 14, he suddenly disappears. Gray and Beer ask
around, but no one at
the Pentagon seems to know exactly who Johnny is or what his last name is,
and none of the
agencies involved in the recovery effort say he worked for them. Johnny's
disappearance appears
to follow an error he had made after firefighters discovered two bodies
inside the Pentagon's E
Ring. Johnny mistakenly called the truck used to remove bodies to the
tem****ary morgue
prematurely, before FBI agents had the chance to photograph and do***ent
the remains. Gray and
Beer start to wonder if Johnny in fact had no official standing, and was
an impostor.
Clearance - According to authors Patrick Creed and Rick Newman, "It wasn't
unusual at
high-profile crime scenes for law-enforcement pretenders to show up and
insinuate themselves
into the work." Johnny would have required "some kind of clearance to get
through the
concentric security perimeters that sprung up around the building--unless
he'd been inside the
wire before security tightened. It was possible that he had wandered in at
the very beginning
and simply stayed--there was enough food, water, and basic sup****t on the
scene to survive for
days. Somebody who was determined enough to sleep inside one of the tents,
or even on the
grass, could easily have bypassed security."
Tighter Security - However, the FBI has now become stricter about
security, and is ushering out
volunteers and scrutinizing anyone without airtight credentials. Gray and
Beer conclude that
Johnny may have come to the attention of the FBI when he called the body
truck, leading agents
to inquire who he was, and this could have prompted his disappearance from
the Pentagon. [Creed
and Newman, 2008, pp. 416-418]
Source
STEALING EVIDENCE
(After 10:15 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Police See People, Including
Military Personnel,
Stealing Debris from Pentagon Crash Site
Two Pentagon police officers see people--some of them members of the
military--stealing crash
debris from in front of the Pentagon. After the Pentagon was hit, Lt.
Robbie Turner had been
helping the injured at a triage area. When, at around 10:15 a.m., re****ts
are received of a
possible second plane heading for the Pentagon (see (10:15 a.m.-10:38
a.m.) September 11,
2001), he sets about evacuating people away from there. As this is going
on, he later recalls:
"[W]e had to try to collect up evidence, as much of the evidence as we
possibly could. Take
pictures of it or whatever." However, some people are apparently trying to
steal plane debris
from the road in front of the Pentagon. According to Turner, "[W]e had to
try to stop other
people from pilfering the wreckage because, believe it or not, there were
people--military
personnel involved--you know, included, rather, that was picking up the
wreckage of the plane
from off the highway as we were running away." [Library of Congress,
12/3/2001] Later on in the
day, around 3:00 p.m., another Pentagon police officer, Roosevelt Roberts
Jr., is called to the
heli****t near where the Pentagon was hit, and remains there for the next
13 hours. He will
recall that, during this time, "we had a lot of people vandalizing,
stealing evidence." He does
not specify who these people are, or what this "evidence" is that is being
stolen and
vandalized. [Library of Congress, 11/30/2001]
Source
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a1015stealingdebris&scale=0
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