Center, in the basement of the Pentagon, according to veteran military journalist Richard Whittle. [31] Jumper eventually settled in the Operations Center, where he was able to respond to the attacks. [32] But when his meeting ended, he first headed to the office of James Roche, the secretary of the Air Force, which was on the fourth floor of the Pentagon. Jumper did this, he said, because he wanted to bring Roche down to the Operations Center. [33] But surely, as the Air Force's most senior uniformed officer, he should have stayed in the Operations Center when his meeting ended, so he could immediately become involved with monitoring events and helping to organize the Air Force's response to the attacks. Someone of lower rank could easily have arrangedfor Roche to be brought down to the Operations Center.

The Operations Center would certainly have been a more appropriate place than Roche's office for Jumper to be at such a critical time. The fact that it was located deep underground in the basement surely made it one of the safest parts of the Pentagon to be in during an attack on the U.S.--much safer than an office on the fourth floor. Additionally, the Air Force's Crisis Action Team (CAT) at the Pentagon was operating from there. [34] The CAT was a "disaster response group," which, according to the Dover Post, "coordinates Air Force reaction to anything that might be a threat to the United States." [35] As it responded to the crisis, the CAT became "the eyes and