Deborah Knight and former prime minister John Howard have reflected on the three September 11 terror attacks which struck the US 20 years ago. 

Mr Howard was holding a press conference at the Willard Hotel, where Deborah was in attendance as a young reporter, when a third plane struck the Pentagon just kilometres away.

“It seemed for a moment as if time had stopped,” Mr Howard recalled.

“It was so audacious, unexpected, lethal, horrifying, all of those things.

“When the news conference was over, we wound up the blinds, which had been pulled down for the TV lights, and you could see smoke rising from the direction of the Pentagon.

“I immediately thought of my wife and son – they’d gone out early sightseeing.”

Press PLAY below to hear Deborah and Mr Howard describe the harrowing events

Deborah went on to deliver rolling coverage of the aftermath as the world grappled with the enormity of the event.

Watch Deborah Knight on the ground in Washington DC on September 11

Footage: Network 10 

Image: Network 10, Nine News