#9 11 MOMENT OF SILENCE TIMES TV#

He came to the agency in 2000 after serving in the U.S. It was fortuitous that Tony Crowder, who retired from government work in 2018 after 18 years working as the Air and Marine Operations Center executive director, happened to be working for Customs that day. Of the Air and Marine Operations Center, in 11, 2001, not only unified these assets into one agency, but also how the attacks – and the events of the past 20 years – helped shape today’s CBP so that the agency is better integrated and aligned, with improved situational awareness across many domains.Ī Prescient Assignment Tony Crowder, the former executive director This is a story of how the horrendous events of Sept. Department of Agriculture, as well as trade inspectors. Customs Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service, the animal and plant inspection portions of the U.S. CBP combined the employees and assets of several legacy agencies, including the U.S. A big part of that change was the unification in March of 2003 of many separate entities at the time into one agency: U.S. 11, 2001, are certainly a tragedy and dark day for the U.S., they’re also seen as a catalyst for change that made this nation’s security stronger in the long run. “We have become one of the world’s premier law enforcement agencies,” he said. He knew it was the start of a whole new world for America and for what would become CBP. There are few things more difficult for a first responder than to realize there is nothing you could do to help save people.” You can still hear the frustration and exasperation in his voice, 20 years later. There was no one to save,” said McConachie, who now works as the CBP attaché in Beijing. “We were looking at a big hole in the ground where that plane crashed, and there was nothing we could do about it, nothing we could do to save anyone. Capitol but went down instead in this rural area after passengers fought back against their hijackers. Pennsylvania, Stephen “Mac” McConachie, would be in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, sorting through the wreckage of United Airlines Flight 93 – the ill-fated plane thought to be headed for the U.S. Customs Service inspector from Pittsburgh who also served as chief of the hazardous materials team and on the counter-terrorism task force for southwestern Scare that came just a short time after theĪ couple of hours later, a U.S.

Inspectors to protect them during the anthrax

Stephen “Mac” McConachie dons a protective This is no accident.’” In a more recent photo fromĪs CBP’s attache to China. Immediately, I thought, ‘We’re under attack. “Everyone gasped when they saw the second plane hit that tower. “The entire gate area just went silent,” compared with the chaos of all the people talking just an instant before, she said. Twenty years after first witnessing the terrorist attacks, Chavez still shudders thinking about the moment. Moments later, she watched in horror as a second plane hit the other tower. As she joined the other passengers from dozens of other flights filling the departure concourse, they were all drawn to the televisions broadcasting the news that a plane had hit one of the twin towers in New York. This has never happened to me before,’” Chavez said, still not realizing why the plane was being landed early. “You’re sitting in your chair in the airplane, thinking, ‘Why are we being diverted? The pilot did not say it was a mechanical problem. Halfway across the country, as then-Border Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez was flying in the early morning hours from south Texas, back to her home station in San Diego after a brief vacation, the pilot came on the intercom and let the passengers know they were being diverted to land in El Paso, Texas, where Chavez now serves as that sector’s chief patrol agent. “In law enforcement, this is what we would call a clue,” that this was actually an attack. Customs and Border Protection – as he watched a second plane strike the tower’s twin, he knew this was no accident. – which would become headquarters for today’s U.S. Customs Service situation room at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. How the heck did he not miss,’” such a huge object as a towering office building on that clear, blue September day? Moments later at the U.S.

#9 11 MOMENT OF SILENCE TIMES TV#

Twenty years ago, as former Air and Marine Operations Center executive director Tony Crowder stared at the TV screen showing the burning high-rise tower in New York City, he could only think of what a terrible accident it must have been. Graphic illustration by Janice Swan Jones. Customs Special Agent Andy Danchuk surveys the damage inside the Customhouse in New York City following the Sept.

9 11 moment of silence times