Thanks to some extra precautions - and spending - Pentagon officials believe the number of casualties from the September 11 terrorist attack was much lower than it could have been, according to Brett D. Eaton, information and communications team leader of the Pentagon Renovation Program, who addressed the American Society of Safety Engineers' (ASSE) Emergency Preparedness & Response symposium Nov. 14-15 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 that slammed into the west face of the Pentagon that fateful day entered Wedge 1 (of the building's five "wedges"). Fortunately, Wedge 1 had been the first fifth of office space to be renovated under the Pentagon Renovation Program, the first major renovation for the nation's military headquarters since it was built in the early 1940s.