October 10, 2001
Rumsfeld requests a daily report on the location of Osama bin Laden.
September 12, 2001
The first known snowflake after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
September 18, 2001
Rumsfeld requests that he be able to sit down during TV interviews “so I can lean forward.”
September 24, 2001
Rumsfeld complains that the NSC is tactically, not strategically oriented.
September 24, 2001
Rumsfeld excoriates staff for sending him papers less than 24 to 36 hours before his meetings. “They really ought to stop doing work for me if I won’t have time to read it.”
September 28, 2001
Rumsfeld bemoans that the life sentence received by retired army Colonel George Trofimoff for spying for the Soviet Union was “too light.”
October 1, 2001
Rumsfeld discusses Information Ops with General Myers
October 15, 2001
Rumsfeld pushes for the military to adopt drones.
October 22, 2001
Rumsfeld requests a copy of a Washington Times cartoon depicting himself, President Bush, Vice-president Cheney, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice as cowboys searching for Osama bin Laden.
October 26, 2011
Rumsfeld instructs that the DOD needs “to avoid having briefers react to every single event.”
October 27, 2001
Rumsfeld suggests that the correct pronunciations of “Islam” and “Muslim” be sent to President Bush.
November 13, 2001
Rumsfeld is less than thrilled to receive Newt Gingrich’s advice on Afghanistan.
December 3, 2001
Rumsfeld instructs Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to “get a team together” to “make our next case on anything we do after Afghanistan.”
Rumsfeld tells Undersecretary Doug Feith and Generals Myers and Pace of the Joint Chiefs that the terrorist attacks on the USS Cole and Khobar Towers must be factored into any “way ahead.”
Rumsfeld pontifications with his generals about how the US “footprint” will be arranged in the Middle East “after things settle down.”