Q: Do you remember any image in particular? Or something that stands out from that first experience?

PR: The image that sticks out in my mind from that first walk was not just the destruction, but seeing the remnants of the two towers and especially tower one sticking up into the sky some 200 feet. What used to be the lobby in the area that I worked in and that classic shape of the tower and the steel was so distraught and bent. It had kind of a surrealistic look, almost like a bombed-out image from World War Two. That's what struck me initially when I walked around the site.

Q: Could you describe, very generally, what you do at Ground Zero? What is your responsibility?

PR: My responsibilities at Ground Zero really were to manage, direct and head the engineering program and efforts associated with the issues of going from an above-ground scenario to below ground. So, I was responsible for all the coordination of the engineering efforts and logistics working with the recovery teams, the contractors and our other engineers. I managed the logistical effort of the slurry wall, such as tying it back, and how to do that; [I also worked on] the stabilization program, as well as defining the underground spaces, what was intact, what was not intact, what was stable. That information was used as we went forward. So, I managed that effort and directed that effort from day to day, literally out in the field as well as some work in the office.

Q: Are you like kind of on loan to the DDC?

PR: Actually, I am on loan. I'm a Port Authority employee, and I still am a Port Authority employee, but I was loaned to the DDC on assignment to work for Mike Burton under DDC. I directly report to him on the responsibility for this whole underground, below- grade effort. Mike realized early on, within the first couple of weeks, that he really needed someone to focus on that concerted effort. As we removed debris from around the streets in these large piles, it was going to be clear that we had a whole different set of issues from the surrounding buildings and the structures, and he needed a focus, and someone to focus on that below-grade area.

And I happen to have experience, being an engineering manager with a background in foundations and sub-grade engineering. So, it kind of blended. I had the management skills as well as the technical background. And that's why I think the Chief Engineering's Office decided to send me over to work with the DDC.

Q: Now, did you know much about the DDC, by the way, before you came here?

PR: It's interesting. When I arrived here in September, I had been working with people at the Port Authority for years and actually, we had just lost all our offices in the collapse of the World Trade Center. I arrived on site in this chaotic site, [amid] a frenetic pace of work that was going on here at Ground Zero. I had to adjust not only to what the circumstances were and what was going on, but I was kind of thrown into working with a group of people, the DDC, that I didn't know and I didn't have familiarity with.

I knew the agency from what it did and what their function was. But, it was a challenge because I didn't know the people. So, not only did I have to walk in and manage this entire effort, but I had to understand who was who, and what was what, and how their structure was set up. So, that was very unique. It added one more challenge to this whole effort.

Q: But you figured it out eventually?

PR: I'm a fast learner. I figured it out. It worked well. I can work well with people, so I kind of assimilated. I understood and that seemed to work out pretty well.

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