Port Authority Police Lieutenant Discusses 9-11 Recovery

Blair’s Society of Skeptics lecture series resumed on Tuesday, September 18, in Armstrong-Hipkins Center for the Arts – one week after the sixth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks – with a program by Lt. William Keegan, author of Closure.

The Web site for the book explains its premise: “On the morning of September 11, 2001, the Port Authority Police Department was the first uniformed service agency to respond to the attack on the World Trade Center. As night commander of the WTC Rescue and Recovery Operation, Lt. William Keegan, alongside representatives from the NYPD, FDNY, the Office of Emergency Management, as well as the Medical Examiner’s Office, operating engineers, ironworkers and others, began the most intense experience of their lives: the recovery mission at Ground Zero. Closure documents Keegan’s unique experiences at the site, bringing to light some of the stories that have never been told. It tells the unforgettable story of their sacrifice and valor. It is also the story of a man who returned to the site, day in and day out, until it closed on May 30, 2002, when there were no more bodies to be found and the dust began to settle, as he learned to make his own peace with all that he had seen there.”

A highly decorated lieutenant in the Special Operations Division (S.O.D) and a 20-year veteran of the Port Authority Police Department, Keegan was operations commander of the WTC Rescue/Recovery Teams and awarded the highest medal for the WTC 9/11 assault. His other awards include the 1993 WTC Bombing Medal of Valor for his rescue of school children trapped in a stalled elevator; the Hanratty Medal of Valor, 14 meritorious medals, and 36 excellent police duty medals.

Keegan is a member of the NYPD and New Jersey Honor Legion. He is still actively helping workers who suffered injury or trauma during the rescue and recovery operation. He is also active in the International Rett Syndrome Association; this illness affects one of his three children.

Before joining the Port Authority Police Department Keegan spent 10 years as a trucking business entrepreneur operating on the piers of New York and New Jersey. He has an associate degree from St. Peter’s College and was varsity quarterback at Hudson Catholic High School in Jersey City for three years. He and his wife Karen reside in New Jersey with their three daughters, Kristine, Tara and Rory.

A full listing of the fall term Skeptics programs is available here.

Updated 9/19/07

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