Witness: DC 9/11

At 9:37 a.m. on September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon at more than 500 miles an hour, tearing a jagged gash into the building’s western facade. In less than a second, the plane plowed through four of the Pentagon’s five rings, killing 189 people and injuring hundreds more. The sight of a smoldering wound in the side of the Pentagon became an instant symbol of an America made suddenly and shockingly vulnerable.

For many Americans, however, the story of the attack on the Pentagon begins and ends there. Overshadowed by the carnage in New York City, the impact of 9/11 on Washington D.C. faded into the background. Yet all the while, news crews, tourists, amateur videographers, security cameras, and government agencies were recording the sights and sounds of the day.

Through raw sound and video, Witness: DC 9/11 reconstructs the morning of September 11, 2001 and its aftermath in Washington D.C., as first the nation, and then the nation’s capital, came under assault. This one-hour documentary captures the mix of confusion, fear, panic, and chaos that shook the city, and in turn, profoundly affected America’s response to the day’s events.