Vice President Dick Cheney was in his West Wing office when the Secret Service burst in, physically hurrying him out of the room. "We have to move; we're moving now, Sir; we're moving," the agents said as they took him to a bunker on the White House grounds. Once there, with members of the National Security staff and Administration officials, they told Cheney that a plane was headed for the White House. Mrs. Cheney and Laura Bush were brought in as well. Staff members in the Old Executive Office Building, across the street from the White House, were huddled in front of their TV screens when they heard from TV reporters that they were being evacuated. Then the tape loop began. "The building is being evacuated. Please walk to the nearest exit." "The looks were stone-faced," a staff member to the Vice President said. "They were just zombies," said another. 秘密行动组仓惶闯进进了副总统迪克·切尼白宫西翼的办公室，一边说：“先生，我们必须离开。现在就要离开，”一边将他拖进白宫地下的防空洞。在防空洞里，秘密行动组成员同国家安全局职员告诉切尼一架飞机正在撞向白宫。切尼夫人和劳拉·布什也一同被带进了防空洞。街对面老的行政大楼前，政府职员听到自己被疏散的消息后，都挤在大屏幕前看新闻报道。然后录相带中再一次响起：“请从最近的出口离开。大楼正在疏散中。”“大家脸上的表情都很痴呆，”一名职员这样对副总统形容，“就好像行尸走肉一样。”
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont was heading to the Supreme Court Building to speak to a group of appellate judges. He had already heard the news from New York City. As he walked into the court building, he heard a muffled boom outside. It was the plane attacking the Pentagon. "I've got to tell you before we start there's some horrible, horrible news coming in," Leahy told the roomful of judges. By the time he was leaving the building, there were already 20 cops surrounding it. As he neared the Russell Senate Office Building, a Capitol policeman walked up: "Senator, I don't know if you want to go back to your office," he warned. "They're evacuating the buildings." 佛蒙特州议员帕特里克·雷正走向最高法院大楼，在那儿他要向一些上诉法官做个演讲。他已经收到了纽约传来的消息。走进法院大楼的时候他听到外面一声闷响——正是来自撞向五角大楼的那架飞机。议员先生对一屋子法官说：“开始前我得说，我收到一些非常非常恐怖的消息。”他离开时，大楼已经被20个警察包围了。走进罗素议员办公楼时，一名国会山警察走过来说，“议员先生，不晓得你还要不要回办公室，”他警告说，“这几座大楼已经被疏散了。”
"I've got a lot of staff still working there," Leahy snapped. "I'm not going to leave them in the building." “我的手下还在这里干活，”雷打了个响指，“我可不会把他们丢在这楼里。”
Washington was supposed to have contingency plans for disasters like this, but the chaos on the streets was clear evidence that plans still needed work. By 10:45 a.m. the downtown streets around the Capitol, government buildings and White House were laced with cars pointing in every direction, unable to move. A security officer for one of the buildings sat on a park bench. He had been locked out of his building, so he didn't have a clue if the senior officials inside were out and in a safe place. "I'm not surprised at this," he said. "We aren't prepared. We were supposed to have a plan to evacuate our Cabinet officer to a place 50 miles out, but none of that has been done." Capitol police were slow to move as well. There was no increased security, no heightened alert around the Capitol for fully half an hour after the New York attack. Senate minority leader Trent Lott was drafting a press release to condemn the attack when he looked outside his window and saw black smoke billowing up from across the Potomac. He didn't wait for an evacuation order. He gathered up his top staff and security detail and headed out of the Capitol, shocked to find that tourists were still walking into the building while he was fleeing it. 对于这样的灾难，华盛顿应该有个应急预案的，不过大街上混乱的迹象表明这预案还要再完善。早上10：45时，市中心国会山，政府大楼以及白宫附近挤满了开向各个方向的车子，动弹不得。其中某座大楼的警卫人员呆坐在公园长凳上——他被锁在大楼外了，所以根本没有办法知道那些在这楼里办公的政府高官们有没有被转移到安全地带。“一点都不希奇，”他说，“我们完全没有准备。本来所有的内阁官员都应该被疏散至50英里以外的地方，现在看来根本就没有实施。”国会山警察行动也同样缓慢：安保人员没有增加，纽约被袭击之后整整半个小时都没有任何警报升级的迹象。少数派议员领导特伦特·洛特向窗外张望时看到了从坡特马克大街方向飘来的黑烟，然后接着起早谴责纽约恐怖袭击的新闻稿。不过他没有就这样坐着等疏散命令：他召集了自己的高层支援，自己收集安保洗劫，然后带头走出了国会山：看到还有游客走向他刚刚逃离的大楼，他吃惊不小。 链接标题
