Quantcast

WikiLeaks Posts Alleged 9/11 Pager Messages

2009_11_wtcgz.jpg Yesterday, WikiLeaks began posting "half a million US national text pager intercepts," saying, "The archive is a completely objective record of the defining moment of our time. We hope that its entrance into the historical record will lead to a nuanced understanding of how this event led to death, opportunism and war."

WikiLeaks also says, "Messages in the archive range from Pentagon, FBI, FEMA and New York Police Department exchanges, to computers reporting faults at investment banks inside the World Trade Center." CBS News' Declan McCullagh wrote yesterday, "It's impossible to tell whether the logs have been faithfully reproduced in their entirety. But there's evidence they have been: I spoke to three journalists working on September 11, 2001 whose correspondence appeared in the logs or who were familiar with the messages circulated in their newsrooms that day. All three say the logs appear to be legitimate." Here's an index of the messages—and of course there are questions as to how these messages, which start at 3 a.m. on September 11, 2001, were collected.

The messages include missives like "DO NOT GET ON THE PATH TRAIN...THE WORLD TRADE CENTER IS ON FIRE" to "President has been rerouted wont be returning to washington but not sure where he will go," as well as more personal messages, "THIS IS MYRNA, I WILL NOT REST UNTIL YOU GO HOME, THE SECOND TOWER IS DOWN, I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO KEEP CALLING YOU AFTER EVERY EVENT. PLS JUST GO HOME." The Post also prints numerous messages—"09:06:31 airplane just crashed into the world trade center. F---- huge hole and huge-er fire."

The AP says that the NYPD and FDNY "said they could not confirm that any of the messages were actual department communications. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Emergency Management Administration declined to comment on the messages."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

Comments [rss]

  • Tower18

    Can you imagine if we had Twitter in 2001?

  • keepdiscoevil

    Reading these messages is like reading the "Ithaca" episode in "Ulysses."



    It's frightening; it's chilling; it's art.



    Also, check out all the messages reminding someone to take their medications.

  • FutureMan83

    2001-09-11 08:45:05 Metrocall [0526329] C ALPHA

    U KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN U WEAR THOSE WHITE PANTS..... I GET A B/P RISE [BECT1]



    lolol

  • longacre
    2001-09-11 08:46:46 Arch [1612975] D ALPHA
    PAGE FROM lifeline: alert 8933585 ETS appl nbetpsd27.fi.gs.com ETS RTCE: - Market data inconsistent...Cantor API problem Trading system offline on nbetpsd27.fi.gs.com, run by etsuser on nbetpsd27, pid = 24277


    I find this one the most chilling for some reason, maybe for its instantaneousness and because the computers don't know what's going on but are still trying to do their jobs.





    (The message is sent six seconds after the official time of the first plane hitting WTC 2 and indicates a Goldman Sachs trading computer going offline because it is unable to contact a computer at Cantor Fitzgerald, which was headquartered on the 101st-105th floors of the building.)

  • Locke

    Wow man, I'm glad you pointed that out. That is extremely chilling- the reliance our society has on technology...the way you explained that makes it so freaking real.



    Jeez, I just reread it and what you put in parenthesis about the computer being unable to locate it's target is really, really scary. Everything was linked to that one event, more so than we realize.

  • longacre

    Sorry, WTC 1.

  • Kevin P.

    This is such old news!

  • ennuipoet

    I can't tell you if this makes me happy or sad but at 9:12:44 AM 09/11/01, Randall signed up for a porn site.

    2001-09-11 09:12:44 Skytel [002359010] A ALPHA

    webmaster@sweet16.org|CCBill Sign Up --> 1017391251| This message is to inform you that CCBill has processed a sale at your site. This transaction was processed for account 913314-0000. Customer Name: Randall



    I'm guessing Randall probably didn't hear about the tragedy for an hour or so.



    Either way, reading some of the messages kind of brings it back again in a way that is a little to "real".

blog comments powered by Disqus

send a tip

tips@gothamist.com