Robert Darling

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Robert Darling
Biography

In October 2007, Lieutenant Colonel Darling retired from the United States Marine Corps with just over twenty years of active-duty service. He flew attack helicopters in Desert Shield and Desert Storm during the first Gulf War and in Somalia, Africa, in support of Operation Restore Hope. In June 1998, he was selected to fly as a presidential pilot with Marine Helicopter Squadron One and in October 2000, was handpicked to work for the White House Military Office, Airlift Operations Department. It was in that capacity that Lt. Col. Darling supported the President, Vice President and National Security Advisor in the President's Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) on September 11, 2001.

As a public speaker on crisis leadership and decision making, Bob has addressed numerous academic, government, and military organizations to include

Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and as a guest lecturer on the subject of Crisis Leadership and Counterterrorism at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Bob is the author of 24 Hours Inside the President’s Bunker, 9/11/01: The White House. He is the President and CEO of Flash Emergency Management, a crisis leadership training and technology company located in Stafford, Virginia.

Robert Darling
Featured Videos

Current: 24 Hours inside the President's Bunker

Time 02:14

Robert Darling
Featured Book

24 Hours inside the President's Bunker: 9-11-01: The White House

by Robert Darling

After Maj. Robert J. Darling organizes President Bush’s trip to Florida on Sept. 10, 2001, he believes the next couple of days will be quiet. He has no idea that a war is about to begin. The next day, after terrorists crash airliners into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, Maj. Darling rushes to the president’s underground chamber at the White House. There, he takes on the task of liaison between the vice president, national security advisor and the Pentagon. He works directly with the National Command Authority, and he’s in the room when Vice President Cheney orders two fighter jets to get airborne in order to shoot down United Flight 93. Throughout the attacks, Maj. Darling witnesses the unprecedented actions that leaders are taking to defend America. As Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and others make decisions at a lightning pace with little or no deliberation, he’s there to lend his support. Follow Darling’s story as he becomes a Marine Corps aviator and rises through the ranks to play an incredible role in responding to a crisis that changed the world in 9-11-01: The White House: 24 Hours Inside the President’s Bunker.

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