Red alert
From Brian Todd
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The alerts came suddenly and almost simultaneously.
At just about the stroke of noon, word came that Washington's centers of power were being evacuated.
CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux called in as she was rushed across the street to Lafayette Park.
"There's been quite a bit of commotion that just occurred over the last couple of minutes ... One of the secret service agents told me, 'Run, this is no joke. Leave the grounds,'" Malveaux reported.
White House officials got word of a threat just minutes earlier.
"At approximately 11:59 the threat level here at the White House was raised to yellow. There was a Cessna plane within 15 miles of the White House. It was north of the White House," White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters.
After what seems like seconds later, a roar was heard over the city.
"Around noon, fighter jets were scrambled. At approximately 12:01, the threat level was raised to orange. The plane was within 10 miles and an evacuation and moving of people began at that point," said McClellan.
Within a few minutes, the White House, Supreme Court, the Capitol and its adjacent office buildings were all cleared out.
"We began the evacuation of the Capitol about four minutes after 12 p.m. It took about five or six minutes to evacuate the Capitol. There were no serious injuries," U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said.
All this time, two F-16s and a Black Hawk helicopter were tracking a small private plane that eventually came within three miles of the White House.
"The pilot was not responding to efforts to communicate with the plane. And then at 12:03, the alert level was raised to red," McClellan said.
It was an eventful eight minutes.
Former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw witnessed the scene.
"What I saw were two F-16 jets and they were circling overhead a single-engine plane and other jet fighter pilots were banking very quickly. And I saw them fire two warning flares in the direction of the single-engine plane," Shaw told CNN.
The U.S. military said four flares were fired. The fighter jets had finally gotten the pilot's attention.
"At approximately 12:11, the alert level went back down to yellow. The plane, at that point, was turning west and traveling away from the White House and Capitol," said McClellan.
The all-clear was given roughly 15 minutes after the first alerts.
The plane was escorted to a small airport in Frederick, Maryland. The pilot and a student pilot were taken into custody.
White House officials say the president was not at the White House at the time. He was biking with a security detail in suburban Maryland. Vice President Dick Cheney, the first lady, and former first lady Nancy Reagan were in the building and all were moved to secure locations.
