(WSVN) – On Sept. 11, 2001, a group of FBI agents and staff from South Florida to New York, at different stages in their careers, knew everything had changed.
Jeffrey Koch and several other FBI agents are now looking back at that day, as the nation observes the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
“This was the worst crime against humanity,” said Koch.
Koch, based in Manhattan, was forced to evacuate the FBI’s New York office.
“We found a pay phone, put a quarter in it, and we called our boss from the pay phone,” he said.
In the hours following the attack, with the nation knocked to the ground, still unaware of who had thrown the punches and waiting for the next blows, FBI agents across the country had to get to work fast.
“My first thought was, ‘I have to get ready to go to New York,’” said Willie Creech, FBI agent based in Miami.
A phone call to the FBI’s Miami office changed Creech’s plans.
“The gist of it was, ‘Hey, I think there’s some people that may be interested in,’ and it was about the flight schools,” said James Kaelin, a new FBI agent in Miami.
With that, Creech would stay in Florida. His job was to help search homes, apartments and anywhere the hijackers reportedly stayed to look for clues that would lead to answers.
“Hairs, fibers, so that we could – things to identify them, but also anything they may have left behind — plans, contacts,” Creech said.
Back in New York, Koch eventually found himself at the FBI’s temporary headquarters set up on the docked aircraft carrier, the Intrepid.
The FBI now had to tackle an investigation unlike any it had encountered before.
“They set up computer systems in there. We were there for probably four to six weeks,” Koch said. “Our job was to address all leads; thousands of leads came in from the public.”
Kaelin was dispatched to the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which was deserted following the attacks.
“There was planes abandoned, just on the tarmac, just everywhere, and there was no passengers,” he said. “It was very surreal, and all of the flights internationally were grounded.”
In New York, metal from the towers, crushed cars, concrete, jewelry, wallets and human remains were all taken to the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island to be combed through by investigators, many of whom were local to New York.
Jeff Green, community relations coordinator from the FBI’s Miami office, was sent there to help the helpers.
“They couldn’t believe that we, as a nation, were experiencing this, what our country was going to look like, they mentioned that they had families, just, I think, at times overwhelmed,” he said. “We were there just to support them, and oftentimes that meant, ‘Hey, what do you need? Do you need a cup of coffee? Do you need a glass of water?’”
For decades, the FBI focused on violent and white-collar crime, until the 19 hijackers changed that. The bureau began a National Security Division in 2006, and according to the Department of Justice, started hiring analysts and linguists to focus on prevention.
“I think it changed the mindset of the FBI, and it caused the FBI to evolve, because we had to,” said Brett Skiles, then FBI applicant who is now the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami office.
Over time there has been debate and controversy, but for those working that day, the weight of responsibility was overwhelming.
“I saw human beings jumping. I mean, can you imagine making a decision whether to just be incinerated in the fumes and the heat and the fire? I saw neckties kind of like the one I’m wearing wrapped around these steel pillars,” Koch said. “I’ll never forget that smell, the smell of ground zero, the metallic smell. You know, it was just something I’ll never forget.”
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