A phone call from his son saved his life on 9/11

Thomas Battillo was at ground zero when the twin towers fell on 9-11.

Now, he dedicates his life to keeping our airports and skies safe and secure.

Batillo is the assistant federal security director for Maryland TSA, but he didn't start his career in security.

On September 11th, 2001, he was a stockbroker, heading to the World Trade Center for a meeting, when a phone call from his son saved his life.

"When I got to the entrance of the one of the buildings of the trade center, my phone rang," said Battillo.

"It was my son. Just wanted to tell me a quick story about where he was going on a field trip that day, because I was on my way to a meeting up on the top floor of the world trade center called Windows of the World, which, of course, was, you know, above the impact area of the of the planes. With that, as I was talking to him, the first jet went right over my head and right went into the north tower."

The rest of his colleagues who went into the trade center died that day. A few years later, Batillo started his career in the TSA.

He says many survivors do the same, and that it gives him closure to see the hard work being done in security every day and know his family's safe when they fly.