On the morning of September 11, 2001 Myers was on Capitol Hill to meet Georgia Senator Max Cleland for his scheduled courtesy calls before his Senate confirmation hearings to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. While waiting for the senator, Myers watched a television news network in the outer office of Senator Cleland that a plane had just hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. A few minutes later Myers was informed by his military aide Captain Chris Donahue about the hijacked plane that just hit the second tower of the World Trade Center. Later on General Ralph Eberhart, the Commander-in-Chief of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, managed to contact Myers and inform him about the recent hijacking situation. Myers then immediately left Capitol Hill to proceed back to The Pentagon, where he was informed that this time another commercial airplane had just hit the western side of The Pentagon. During the crisis, Myers became the Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, since General Hugh Shelton was en-route to Europe for a NATO Summit. Upon arriving at The Pentagon and after a rendezvous with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Myers then conferred with Secretary Rumsfeld about the current situation and the next steps to be taken. Myers took command as the Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for half of the day during the September 11 crisis, until General Shelton arrived back in Washington after he aborted his flight to Europe at 5:40 P.M. local time.