Former Lt. Governor and Air Guard officer supported Department of Defense aid for FEMA at Ground Zero, in skies over NY

2016 video produced by the Air Force National Security Emergency Preparedness Agency.

The Vermont Air National Guard played a key role in the U.S. Department of Defense response in New York following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, according to a 2016 Air Force documentary produced with the Vermont Air National Guard and featuring Lt. Col. Brian Dubie.

Dubie will be a guest on WVMT’s Chronicle Conversations Friday, September 11 at 12:30 PM. Listen at AM 620, FM 101.3, and on wvmtradio.com.

“I work for American Airlines, and I was notified that a plane that was being flown by a friend of mine was in the process of being hijacked,” Dubie said in the film. “And that’s how I first heard about the beginnings of the World Trade Tower tragedy.”

The friend was Capt. John Ogonowski, pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, the first hijacked plane to strike the World Trade Center. Dubie had spent years flying as Ogonowski’s co-pilot and was preparing to fly an American Airlines flight out of Boston’s Logan Airport that morning.

Dubie, who later served as Vermont lieutenant governor from 2003-2011, was assigned to the Air Force National Security Emergency Preparedness Agency. His job was to serve as a link between the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Air Force.

“When FEMA wants an asset that the Air Force has, it’s my job to inform FEMA of what the Air Force can bring to the fight,” Dubie said in the film. He also worked with the Air Force to get those resources where they were needed.

After the World Trade Center towers collapsed, destroying New York City’s emergency management headquarters, Dubie was ordered to help establish a regional operations center. He was later reassigned to New York City and visited Ground Zero.

Dubie said the military helped airlift 17 urban search-and-rescue teams, provided communications gear, medical and mortuary teams, specialized search equipment, demolition experts and security forces.

He also recalled seeing Vermont fighter aircraft flying combat air patrols above New York.

“It was a privilege to be a small part of a huge DoD team that responded to the people of the City of New York,” Dubie said.