Reminiscences of Alan Reiss : oral history, 2002.

Biographical Note

Deputy Direct, Aviation Department, Port Authority.

Scope and Contents

Background: childhood Oceanside, Long Island, New York; education: Northeastern University; career:, Port Authority [PA] electrical engineer for World Trade Center [WTC], supervising engineer at WTC, special assignment rebuilding infrastructure after 1993 WTC bombing, capital redevelopment at WTC, general manager of operations life safety and security WTC, main director of WTC, PA Director of Aviation; pre-9/11: account of 1993 WTC bombing and response; WTC operations; 9/11: at meeting in coffee shop on WTC concourse level during first plane impact, bringing plane part to police, answering phone calls from people trapped in Windows on the World, watching South Tower plane impact on videotape, assisting evacuation, escaping to street, meeting with police, return to site, setting up command post in New Jersey, accounting for PA employees; post-9/11: Director of Aviation for PA, American Airlines Flight 587 plane crash in Queens, tightening security at airports, discussion of civil liberties and security; work with victims' families, emotional strain.

Subjects

• Farber, Myron, interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr
• Interviews.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Port Authority of New York and New Jersey--Officials and employees--Interviews.
• Reiss, Alan--Interviews.
• September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001--Personal narratives.
• September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001.
• World Trade Center Bombing, New York, N.Y., 1993--Personal narratives.

Access Conditions

Copyright by The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2007. Permission required to cite, quote, and reproduce. Contact repository for information.