Diary Prequel Package — page 33

he Weapons Conference. The paper takes a high road approach about how to handle this problem, while recognizing that much of what was contained in previous agreements was unenforcible. John La Montagne and I had contributed to the scientific components of the white paper. August 23, 2001 - Secr.Thompson on a visit to NIH again offered me the position as NIH Director and said that the President wanted me and that I could indeed be NIH Director, NIAID Director, and keep my Lab. I told him that I wanted to remain doing what I was doing at full speed and so refused his offer. He was extremely gracious and quite complimentary to me. He said that I was the most outstanding person that he had ever met ....really. He said that he would not ask me again unless I brought it up. Sept. 11, 2001 - Day of infamy. I was in New York City at the time of the attack on the World Trade Center. Below is a note that I sent to Andy Saxon (in response to his concern for the safety of me and my family) after returning to Washington, D.C. that explains what happened: Dear Andy: Thanks for the note. I was actually in New York City about 30 blocks from the World Trade Center in a taxi cab getting ready to go to a meeting of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation at the precise time that the first plane hit. By the time I got to the meeting in mid-town Manhattan and went into the building, I saw on TV the second plane hit. It was the most horrible day of my life. I was not hurt nor was I ever in any danger; however, it is an experience that I will never forget. As you know, my father lives alone in New York, but his apartment is about 70 blocks uptown from the WTC and he is fine. Also, as you know, my girls go to school in Washington, D.C; however, they are reasonably far from the Pentagon. They saw the smoke from their classrooms on the grounds of the National Cathedral and as expected were emotionally traumatized. All DC schools were immediately dismissed and the children went home. However, Jenny, Megan, and Alison (not to mention Chris) were very frightened since they knew that I had just left for New York City that morning. I could not phone to tell them that I was OK since all of the cell phones and fixed phones were jammed. Finally, I got through to them and they were obviously very relieved. I feel very fortunate. I was stranded in NYC for a while, but finally caught a late night train out to DC. Washington is an eerie town right now. Military police are all over downtown, National Airport is closed INDEFINITELY, and F-16 jets are flying in combat formation all day and night over the city. The NIH has concrete barricades at every entrance and if your car does not have an NIH sticker and you do not have an NIH ID, you could be the Pope and you will not get on campus. This is true of all Federal Buildings. As you probably know from the News, the FBI now knows that there are several cells of terrorists still in the USA with plans to execute terrorist attacks, and Washington, D.C. is the prime target. I do not think that things will be the same around here. What a terrible situation for us and the world. Again, thank you for your concern. Best regards, Tony