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Because of its proximity to the U.S. Capitol, (Whitten
is the only building on the Memorial Mall to house a Cabinet member),
the USDA had to be evacuated. Security personnel wielding bullhorns
went hallway to hallway clearing out offices as people clogged the underground
passageway leading to the more remote and less accessible South building.
By 5:30, key personnel had established a situation room
where they could run the department if the "highest alert"
status were to be carried over to the next day.
By nightfall, all of Washington was a ghost town. By
all accounts, the evacuation plan had worked, although Moseley downplayed
his role.
"It all worked, not for anything we did, but because
there was planning and foresight by the trauma team," Moseley says.
"They prepared for the future, and that is the legacy we would
like to leave here, that we helped prepare for the future."
Moseley headed home at midnight to deal with the growing
fears of his family. He drove by the Pentagon, where floodlights illuminated
America's worst nightmare, attacks on U.S. soil. Huge plumes of black
smoke that darkened the skies now darkened his heart.
Nobody ever told Jim Moseley that serving his country
would be like this.
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