Why Didn't The Secret Service Protect The President On 9/11?

From the 9/11 Report, pages 38, 39.

The President and the Vice President
The President was seated in a classroom when, at 9:05, Andrew Card whispered to him: "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack." The President told us his instinct was to project calm, not to have the country see an excited reaction at a moment of crisis. The press was standing behind the children; he saw their phones and pagers start to ring. The President felt he should project strength and calm until he could better understand what was happening. 203

The President remained in the classroom for another five to seven minutes, while the children continued reading. He then returned to a holding room shortly before 9:15, where he was briefed by staff and saw television coverage. He next spoke to Vice President Cheney, Dr. Rice, New York Governor George Pataki, and FBI Director Robert Mueller. He decided to make a brief statement from the school before leaving for the airport. The Secret Service told us they were anxious to move the President to a safer location, but did not think it imperative for him to run out the door. 204


Not only did they not "run" him out the door, they didn't walk, crawl, or carry him out the door.

If you believe what Andrew Card said, "America is under attack", then it's only logical to think that the President is a target. If the President is a "target", then, according to the Secret Service's website, it's their job to, "protect the President, the Vice President, (or other individuals next in order of succession to the Office of the President), the President-elect and Vice President-elect".

Were they protecting the President of the United States, in a highly publicized location, as America was "under attack"?

No. They did nothing. Why not?

And why did the secret service act differently towards Cheney?

He called President Bush in Florida and spoke with top aides. Then his door burst open.

"My [Secret Service] agent all of a sudden materialized right beside me and said, 'Sir, we have to leave now.' He grabbed me and propelled me out of my office, down the hall, and into the underground shelter in the White House," Cheney said.

In White House terminology, it is the PEOC, short for the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.


Why did they protect Cheney and not Bush?

It's their job to answer OUR questions, and we must hold them to it.