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"I certainly wouldn't rely on the word of some schmoe on the other end of a phone. If you find yourself asking "should I evacuate", evacuate. Better to ask later "should I have evacuated" and be alive, then to listen to a scmoe and be dead. I don't blame the schmoe. They tried their best. Just don't rely on em"

There is a temporal judgement effect here as well - a lot of people in that building worked or traded on the commodity, bond, and equity markets. At that time of the morning, just walking out of your office if is isn't clearly necessary is the last thing anyone wants to do. At this point in time terrorism wasn't on the top of everyones' mind, and it had been years since the last attempt. I am not defending the mindset, just saying that when the threat is not very clear there is a strong instinct not to close your markets without cause.

Obviously in the future, under dubious circumstances, there would be immediate evacuation with no questions

Believe me. I am not judging anyone for how they reacted. I was just a few blocks away. I was right across the street when the first plane hit, and believe it or not, you couldn't tell a plane had hit. It's so far up in the sky. It could have been a traffic copter crash for all we on the street knew right then at 8:46am. I look back and think I should have headed straight back to the ferries and gone back to NJ right then and there. But who knew? I am just saying, lesson learned, get out first, ask questions later. Even so, I stuck around until the first tower fell, the South Tower. Then I fled Manhattan for Brooklyn. Eventually got back to Manhattan and got home to NJ by 8 or 9 pm. It was crazy. I am just saying when your life is in danger, take ownership of it.