US EditionAs Vice President During 9/11, Cheney Is at the Center of an Enduring Debate over US Spy Powers
Cheney authorized shoot-down orders for rogue planes and promoted the 2003 Iraq invasion, shaping US counterterrorism policies despite controversy over intelligence and interrogation methods.
- On September 11, 2001, Dick Cheney took operational control in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center and ordered shoot-downs of threatening planes, including United Airlines Flight 93, with President George W. Bush concurring aboard Air Force One.
- Believing multiple hijacked planes threatened Washington, D.C., President George W. Bush, airborne on Air Force One, authorised military engagement and gave Dick Cheney authority to shoot nonresponsive planes.
- Cheney pushed U.S. spy agencies to find evidence justifying the Iraq invasion and championed expanded surveillance, including NSA warrantless wiretapping and the Patriot Act.
- His decisions led to the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq under the Cheney Doctrine, and Cheney championed enhanced interrogation techniques, defending their use after leaving office.
- Cheney's legacy leaves enduring tools like Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with elements invoked by later leaders even as he opposed Donald Trump and voted for Kamala Harris in 2024.
19 Articles
19 Articles
As Vice President During 9/11, Cheney Is at the Centre of an Enduring Debate Over US Spy Powers
An unabashed proponent of broad executive power in the name of national security, Cheney placed himself at the centre of a polarising public debate over detention, interrogation and spying that endures two decades later.
Associated Press News
As vice president during 9/11, Cheney is at the center of an enduring debate over US spy powers
Dick Cheney was the public face of the Bush administration’s boundary-pushing approach to surveillance and intelligence collection in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Bill Sniffin: For A Time, Wyoming’s Dick Cheney Was The Most Powerful Person In The World
Columnist Bill Sniffin writes, "You could hear a pin drop as the former Vice-President, the late Dick Cheney, described what it was like to be at the White House during the 9-11 crisis that occurred Sept. 11, 2001."
Richard "Dick" Cheney was considered one of the most powerful vice presidents of US history. He was the face of the American "War on Terror" – against Iraq's Saddam Hussein as well as against al-Qaeda. Critical objections from Germany led to violent reactions.
How Dick Cheney, one of the most powerful and influential US Vice Presidents, took control of the country on 9/11
Then-US Vice President Dick Cheney was at the White House when the passenger jets hit the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. Cheney, who was immediately taken to a secure bunker deep under the White House, took charge of things as George W Bush was hustled aboard Air Force One in Florida. Here’s what happened that fateful day
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