19 YEARS AGO TODAY: I was CNN’s military affairs correspondent, sitting at my desk in the Pentagon, as the twin towers burned in New York. My office on the outer E ring of the Pentagon was filled with people watching the CNN coverage on several television monitors — because back then, not everyone had a TV on their desk or a way to watch videos on their computer.

Suddenly, I began getting messages over CNN’s internal computer system. “Are you all right?” “Is everything OK?” I was momentarily puzzled. Why were people in the newsroom asking me if I was OK? The story was in New York. Then, I looked up at CNN and saw that my producer, Chris Plante, was reporting that an aircraft had struck the west side of the Pentagon. He had arrived at work around 9:40 a.m., seen the smoke, driven to the other side of the building, and was describing the scene by cellphone.