Bush White House Feared It Had Been Hit By Biological Weapon

(By PETER BAKER, NYTimes.com) - Just about a month after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the White House feared it had been struck by a biological weapons attack and that everyone in the building, including at the time Vice President Cheney, had been exposed and would die, former President George W. Bush writes in his new memoir.

Mr. Bush was away at the time, visiting Shanghai for an Asian summit in his first trip since the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. But when he called back to the White House using a secure video monitor in a blue tent set up to block Chinese eavesdroppers, the president was informed that a monitor had indicated the presence a deadly biological material.

“As soon as I saw Dick, I could tell something was wrong,” Mr. Bush writes, referring to the vice president. “His face was as white as his tie.”