Shortly after his inauguration , President George W. Bush appointed Haynes to be General Counsel of the Department of Defense . Donald Rumsfeld was the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush . In his capacity as general counsel , Haynes oversaw some 10,000 lawyers , and advised on the department 's internal affairs and its relations with other government and non-government agencies at home and abroad . Because of the position 's wide-ranging responsibility for overseeing thousands of ongoing cases , legislative matters , and policy decisions , the DoD 's general counsel has been described as " one of the most powerful and influential lawyers in the entire federal government . " Haynes was in one of the Pentagon 's command centers on September 11 , 2001 , when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the western face of the building . At the time , Haynes was on the far side of the Pentagon . Later , during the 2008 Lewis F. Powell , Jr . Lecture before the American College of Trial Lawyers , he recalled feeling " a shudder pulse the monstrous concrete structure , " and that he sent a deputy of his to a survival site , in case any additional attacks were to affect the Pentagon
American Airlines Flight 77
American Airlines Flight 77
William J. Haynes II