How the Intrepid turned into an emergency command center after 9/11

In the hours following the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the FBI in Manhattan needed to set up a secure emergency command center.

They looked to the water, using the Intrepid Museum to help conduct the massive investigation.

The FBI's New York field office is located at 26 Federal Plaza, just blocks away from where the twin towers stood.

"The first plane went by my window," said Mark Codd, who was assistant special agent in charge of the administrative division of the New York office on 9/11.  

"Ironically, that morning I was reviewing evidence from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing," said Jerry Roberts, who was an FBI special agent at the time.

"I thought it was an explosion in our building," said Steven Surowitz, who was an FBI supervisory agent on 9/11. "The south tower came down while I was standing in front of the north tower, and I got covered."

The FBI's New York headquarters was evacuated.

"The other thought was or concern was that 26 Fed was going to be a target, and they didn't want to be in that building if that was going to also get hit," FBI Special Agent Robert M. Cappadona said.

"As the north tower collapsed later that morning, debris hit the telephone company switching building right adjacent to the World Trade Center site, and simultaneous with that, our ability to run our communication system began to fade," Codd said.

Surowitz says he was asked to help find a location for a command center.

"I said, 'How about we use the Intrepid?' ... I knew they had a lot of space," he said. "I later learned that other people were setting up at the Intrepid. I guess that other people had same idea."

Within hours of the terrorist attacks, the World War II aircraft carrier Intrepid, now a museum and national historic landmark, was set up.

"I remember the hull and that's really where a lot of us were at the time," Roberts said. "If you can imagine a massive room with folding tables and wires dropped and makeshift networks."

"Everything was put on pause. No matter what you were doing and working on, took a back seat because 9/11 was the focus of the entire bureau," Cappadona said. "My squad was the Russian organized crime squad at the time, and our job was actually the perimeter security of the Intrepid, just making sure that we weren't going to get attacked from the sea."

At the same time, the FBI's garage at 26th Street was being set up as a command center, but they had to tow about 500 cars out.

"We would often split our time between both," Roberts said.

In addition to the FBI, the Intrepid Museum says the complex also supported FEMA, state and local emergency responders. The flight deck was also used as a temporary helipad.  

For a few weeks, about 500 FBI agents working around the clock used the Intrepid as an emergency command post.

"The entire West Side Highway was just continuously lined with people waving flags and expressing support and heartfelt concern," Codd said. "It was one of the most memorable things of my career."