DEA Experiences the Pentagon Attack

A Beautiful Fall Day, Destroyed

The Pentagon is only about a quarter mile away from DEA Headquarters. DEA staff on the higher floors of the West building have a clear view of the Pentagon. The plane struck on the far-left side. DEA Photo. — Top: The Pentagon is only about a quarter mile away from DEA Headquarters. Bottom: DEA staff on the higher floors of the West building have a clear view of the Pentagon. The plane struck on the far-left side. DEA Photo.

The morning sky on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, was a clear, brilliant blue. DEA Headquarters staff in Arlington, Virginia, right across the highway from the Pentagon, settled into their workdays.

“Come in here. Something is going on in New York,” a DEA supervisor told their team.

People crowded around televisions for news coverage of the first tower being struck. Newscasters still thought it was an accident. Then the second plane hit. Not long after, some DEA staff saw a plane hit the Pentagon from office windows or the courtyard.

“Oh my God, get down!” DEA staff exclaimed.

Everyone felt the intense, earthquake-like shockwave from the plane’s fuel explosion on impact. It felt like a bomb had gone off. There were a loud boom and a strong blast of heat.

At first, people froze in shock. Floor wardens sprang into action. Soon, stairways were packed as people exited. Thudding footsteps and muttered prayers in the stairwells punctuated the otherwise quiet evacuation. Somehow, the glass on DEA Headquarters’ façade withstood the impact shockwave.

Black Smoke and Evacuations

DEA staff remembered seeing black smoke and flame as the Pentagon burned. National Archives.

Outside, DEA staff faced uncertainty: where to go, what was happening, and if a fourth plane would strike nearby. Phone lines were jammed. It was difficult to contact loved ones. Evacuees from the Pentagon streamed under the overpass towards DEA. Clouds of thick, black smoke engulfed the sky. Explosions continued as first responder vehicles poured in.

One group of DEA staff found themselves in a small deli nearby, where they regrouped, attempted phone calls, and brought provisions to first responders. Others left the area for home, navigating transit disruptions. The normally packed Interstate 395 that runs between the Pentagon and DEA Headquarters was closed to civilian traffic.

A dozen DEA staff hitched a ride in a station wagon from a still-open access road, thankful to get out. They spent hours at a colleague’s home in Springfield, Virginia, glued to the TV in silence. Staff could not return to DEA Headquarters until the building was inspected.