![]() ![]() 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. 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. ![]()
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