9/11 and Every-day Heroism, Heather Penney, TEDx Chelsea Park, 2020. (Primary). Heather "Lucky" Penney was one of the fighter pilots scrambled out of nearby Langley AFB during the 9/11 attacks. During this 12-minute video, she describes how she and her F-16 wing man took to the skies with little clarity about what the rules of engagement were, aside from a lingering dread that they might be directed to fly their jet into a commercial airliner that was deemed to be a threat, since they had no weapons on board, and thus agreed that one of them would aim for the plane's cockpit, and one for the plane's tail. A key theme of her talk is the heroic acts taken by people such as the United 93 passengers, and how we all have the capability to summon our inner hero.

Air Traffic Control Recording -American Airlines Flight 77, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), 2001. (Primary | Backup). Provides a transcript of all conversations between Departure, Tower, and Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) positions that communicated with AA 77, which was created by consolidating the recordings from each location.

Arlington County After Action Report on the Response to the September 11 Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon, Prepared for Arlington County, VA by Titan Systems Corporation, 2002. (Primary | Backup). Provides a comprehensive summary of the response to the attack, focusing on first responder actions in and near Arlington County (Arlington County had incident command responsibilities).

FBI Famous Cases and Criminals - 9/11 Investigation. Summarizes the events that occurred on 9/11/2001, with particular focus on FBI activities, including a collection of video interviews (at the bottom of the page) with FBI agents who describe their recollections.

FBI Records: The Vault - 9/11 documents. Provides links to general FBI materials related to the 9/11 investigation, most of which were declassified and approved for release in response to the 2021 Executive Order 14040.

FBI Records: The Vault - 9/11 Videos. Includes links to videos that in particular show the emergency response to the attack on the Pentagon.

Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11, Patrick Creed & Rick Newman, Ballantine Books, 2008. The only book about the attack on the Pentagon which focuses on first responder perspectives, in particular the obstacles they faced and how they overcame them during the first several days when the fire was still burning.

Flight Path Study-American Airlines Flight 77, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), 2002. (Primary | Backup). Provides illustrations showing the flight path of AA77 based on data recovered from its Flight Data Recorder and from ground radar stations.

It was a Tuesday, not a cloud in the sky. Julie Beckman, TEDx/UTK, 2008. (Primary). During this 17-minute video, one of the two designers of the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial reflects on her memories of being in Manhattan on the day of the attack, describes the design choices that she and her husband made, describes the construction techniques their team used, and initial reactions to the Memorial shortly after it opened. 

Pentagon 9/11, Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Historical Office, 2007. (Primary | Backup). Provides one of the most detailed summaries of events, focusing on telling the story of the attack on the Pentagon from a DoD perspective.

Pentagon & Boeing 757 Wheel Investigation. Aerospace Web (Primary)  Among the claims that conspiracy theorists make motivated by the belief that a plane did not crash into the Pentagon on 9/11 is that a wheel shown in the photos of the wreckage does not match the wheel of a Boeing 757. This article debunks that claim via photographic analysis.

The 9/11 Commission Report, 9/11 Commission, 2004. (Primary | Backup). The definitive description of events preceding, during, and after the attacks on September 11, 2001, based on analysis of thousands of documentation artifacts and interviews with 100s of people.

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, Lawrence Wright, Penguin/Random House, 2005. A Pulitzer-Prize winning account that travels back decades to outline the series of events which influenced the initial formation of Al-Qaeda and other radical Islamist organizations, and providing  historical context for the other terrorist attacks that preceded 9/11.

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11, Garrett Graff, Simon & Schuster, 2019.  A collection of narratives based on previously unpublished transcripts, declassified documents, and original interviews and stories from nearly five hundred government officials, first responders, witnesses, survivors, friends, and family members.

Then Came the Fire: Personal Accounts from the Pentagon 11 September 2001, edited by Stephen J. Lofgren, US Army Center of Military History, 2011. (Primary | Backup). The best compendium of first-hand accounts of those that were on the scene on the day of the attack, which was produced during the first decade after the events unfolded.

The Pentagon: A History, Steve Vogel, Penguin/Random House, 2008. An authoritative narrative about the Pentagon's history from the decisions preceding its construction, the key players involved in its construction, and key events that happened in an around the Pentagon over the course of its history, including 9/11.

The Pentagon Building Performance Report, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)/Structural Engineering Institute (SEI), 2003. (Backup [no primary available]). The most in-depth analysis available which describes the unique structural features of the Pentagon and ways in which those mattered when AA 77 struck the building.

Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama in the Skies over America on 9/11, Lynn Spencer, Free Press, 2008. Describes what happened just before and during 9/11, from the perspective of pilots, ground controllers, and other personnel working for agencies such as the FAA and NORAD.