Brazos Matters: Inside the White House Situation Room on 9/11 with Dean John Sherman

On the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America, host Jay Socol sits down with John Sherman, dean of Texas A&M's Bush School of Government and Public Service, for a firsthand account of that day from an extraordinary vantage point: the White House Situation Room. Sherman, a 1992 Texas A&M graduate, former Corps of Cadets commander, Army veteran and CIA duty officer who went on to become chief information officer for the entire U.S. intelligence community, was serving in the White House when the attacks began.

Sherman walks through his path from Aggie cadet to Army officer to CIA imagery analyst to a chance rotation in the Situation Room, then narrates the morning of Sept. 11 in vivid, minute-by-minute detail: including witnessing Vice President Dick Cheney and other high-ranking officials being rushed into the White House bunker,  joining his colleagues in signing a "dead list" roster sent to CIA headquarters in case the West Wing itself was destroyed, and the tense, muddled reports following the Pentagon attack and Flight 93's downing in a Pennsylvania field.

He also recounts the resolve that defined “Every day is Sept. 12" at the CIA. Sherman closes with reflections on hope for the future, rooted in the students he now sees preparing for public service at the Bush School.

Brazos Matters is a production of Aggieland's Public Radio 90.9 KAMU FM & KAMU-TV, members of Texas A&M University's Division of Community Engagement