Shoestring 9/11

Monday, 18 June 2012

Laura Bush on 9/11: Why Was the President's Wife Left Vulnerable and Unprotected?

The wife of the U.S. president is considered one of the nation's "most visible targets," and is therefore provided with a detail of Secret Service agents whose job is to protect her and keep her out of harm's way. And yet on September 11, 2001, Laura Bush, the wife of then-President George W. Bush, was left vulnerable all through the terrorist attacks.

She was allowed to head to her scheduled destination¸ the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, even after a second plane hit the World Trade Center and it was obvious the U.S. was under attack. She was allowed to spend time there, even though her Secret Service agents should have taken her away to a "secure site." She even appeared live on CNN, thereby revealing her location to any terrorist who might be watching television. And when people were ordered to evacuate, due to reports that a suspicious plane was heading toward Capitol Hill, Bush remained in the Russell Office Building, even though this could have proved fatal had a plane crashed into it. She was only driven away to a "secure location" at 10:10 a.m., after the attacks had ended. And all this time, she was accompanied by her Secret Service detail.

The failure of those agents to properly protect Bush was extraordinary. Examination of their actions raises serious questions. We need to discover what caused these skilled professionals to repeatedly leave the first lady in serious danger.

LAURA BUSH WAS SET FOR HISTORIC APPEARANCE BEFORE CONGRESS ON SEPTEMBER 11
September 11, 2001, had events gone as originally planned, would have been an historic day for Laura Bush. That morning, she was scheduled to become only the fourth first lady to testify before Congress. [1] At 10:00 a.m., Bush was going to appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and talk about early childhood education. [2] She was set to arrive at the Russell Senate Office Building, located just north of the Capitol building in Washington, DC, at 9:15 a.m. for the hearing. [3]

According to Noelia Rodriguez, the first lady's press secretary, with Laura Bush set to appear at the hearing that morning, "We expected it to be a big news day for us." [4] The forthcoming event had been well publicized. It had been reported in advance by the Associated Press and in major newspapers such as USA Today and the New York Daily News. [5] This meant that had terrorists wanted to attack an important person representing the U.S. government as part of the 9/11 attacks, they could have targeted the wife of the president. They could easily have found out her plans for September 11, simply by reading a newspaper or checking on the Internet.

BUSH CONTINUED TO CAPITOL HILL AFTER LEARNING OF ATTACKS IN NEW YORK
On September 11, Laura Bush learned that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center at around 9:00 a.m., as she was about to be driven from the White House to Capitol Hill. She did not see the initial coverage of the crash on television. Instead, the head of her Secret Service detail, Ron Sprinkle, told her what had happened as she was getting into her limousine. Bush has said she didn't initially think the crash was an act of terrorism. She speculated about what could have happened with Andi Ball, her chief of staff, and Margaret Spellings, the White House domestic policy adviser, who were with her. But "at that time," Bush has recalled, "we thought it was just some weird freak accident." [6]

Nevertheless, Bush thought the Senate hearing should perhaps be canceled, because New York Senator Hillary Clinton was supposed to attend it. Bush has said that after learning of the first crash, "I thought we probably should cancel, because Mrs. Clinton was on the [Senate education] committee and she's from New York, and she'd probably want to rush home at that time." [7] But, despite her reservations, Bush continued to Capitol Hill. Most of her staffers traveled there with her, while the others stayed behind at the White House. [8]

At 9:03 a.m., a second plane crashed into the WTC. It was then clear that the U.S. was suffering a serious and unprecedented terrorist attack. [9] According to a National Geographic Channel documentary about the Secret Service, "In a state of emergency, the Secret Service's plan is to get every protectee to a secure site." [10] But, in this obvious emergency, the first lady's Secret Service agents made no attempt to rush their "protectee" to a secure site, and they appear to have raised no objections to her continuing to her planned destination.

Bush's limousine and the vehicles accompanying it drove off from the White House for the two-mile journey to Capitol Hill at 9:07 a.m., four minutes after the second crash took place, according to Noelia Rodriguez, who was traveling in the staff van. At that time, Bush and the members of staff accompanying her were apparently unaware of the second crash. [11] Bush was traveling with four Secret Service agents that day, according to journalist and author Ronald Kessler. [12] It is unclear if these agents learned of the second crash right after it happened. If they did, why did they fail to pass on the news to the first lady immediately? If not, this would be extraordinary: Surely their colleagues would have seen the crash live on television and should have contacted them at once to pass on the critical news.

Instead, it was several minutes before the first lady was told about the second crash. Bush has recalled, "As we approached Capitol Hill, the Secret Service said that another plane had hit the second tower." She "knew then that it was terrorism" and not an accident. [13] Bush's limousine arrived at the Russell Senate Office Building at 9:16 a.m., according to Rodriguez. [14] And Bush has written that she was told about the second crash two minutes before then, meaning around 9:14 a.m. [15] If correct, this means the wife of the U.S. president only learned of the crash 11 minutes after it happened.

SENATE HEARING CANCELED, BUT BUSH NOT TAKEN TO A SECURE SITE
Laura Bush's limousine pulled up outside the Russell Senate Office Building just one minute behind schedule, at 9:16 a.m. Senator Edward Kennedy, the chairman of the education committee, came to greet the first lady after she entered the building, as planned. [16] In light of the events in New York, Bush and Kennedy immediately agreed to postpone the hearing and then headed to Kennedy's office, accompanied by the first lady's staff. [17] After a time, they were joined by Senator Judd Gregg, a longtime Bush family friend. It appears the group stayed in Kennedy's office for around 20 minutes. Bush's Secret Service agents allowed this, even though they should surely have taken the first lady away to a "secure site."

Although a television in a corner of the room was showing the catastrophe taking place in New York, Kennedy, rather than focusing on the attacks, took the first lady on a tour of his office and, Bush has recalled, the two talked about "mundane things." [18] They were "talking about some other items" besides the terrorist attacks, according to Gregg. [19]

Meanwhile, Bush's Secret Service agents and senior staff reportedly "frantically worked their earpieces and cell phones to get a handle on the unfolding attacks." Although the first lady and those with her weren't catching all of the television coverage of the events in New York, Bush has recalled that they "knew what was happening because people kept coming in." [20]

BUSH APPEARED LIVE ON TV DURING THE ATTACKS
Bush and Kennedy decided they should offer some words of reassurance to the American public. [21] Therefore, at around 9:41 a.m., Bush, Kennedy, and Gregg went to the Caucus Room in the Russell Senate Office Building, where they appeared before reporters and television cameras. Kennedy and Bush announced that the planned Senate education committee hearing had been postponed and commented on the attacks in New York. [22] (Although the Pentagon had been hit a few minutes earlier, Bush and the two senators were at that time unaware of this. [23])

The beginning of the appearance was actually broadcast live on CNN. [24] This means the location of the wife of the U.S. president was revealed to any terrorist who might have been watching television. So why did the Secret Service, whose job was to protect the first lady, let Laura Bush make this appearance, thereby putting herself in greater danger?

Furthermore, Bush, Kennedy, and Gregg's appearance was unnecessary. People would have guessed that the Senate hearing was canceled, so there was no need for these prominent individuals to announce the fact in front of television cameras. At most, all that would have been needed was for someone to contact the TV networks and inform them of the cancelation. Fox News correspondent Brian Wilson, who was reporting from Capitol Hill at the time, has noted this oddity, saying, "They were (incredibly) trying to set up a brief photo opportunity" for Bush and the senators. [25]

However, the appearance did end up serving a significant purpose for Laura Bush. After she and Kennedy had given their statements and were turning to leave the room, USA Today reporter Laurence McQuillan said: "Children are kind of struck by all this. Is there a message you could tell to the nation's ..." Before he could finish the sentence, Bush replied, "Parents need to reassure their children everywhere in our country that they're safe." [26]

The first lady's answer to McQuillan is, according to Noelia Rodriguez, "what people remember her for that day." [27] With her words of advice for American parents, according to Ronald Kessler, Laura Bush "became the comforter in chief, calmly reassuring the nation and dispensing advice on how parents should deal with the tragedy." [28] September 11 was therefore a turning point for her. A few weeks later, Us Weekly magazine described, "The former librarian from Midland, Texas, has transformed her image from the behind-the-scenes presidential wife most comparable to Mamie Eisenhower to the nation's comforter in chief." [29]

BUSH NOT EVACUATED, DESPITE REPORT OF A SUSPICIOUS PLANE APPROACHING WASHINGTON
As Laura Bush was leaving the Caucus Room, John Meyers, her advance man, received a call on his cell phone from a friend of his, who said CNN was reporting an attack on the Pentagon. [30] It was now clear that Washington, and not just New York, was being targeted. And yet Bush's Secret Service agents still did not take the first lady away from Capitol Hill to somewhere secure and less prominent.

At 9:48 a.m., an evacuation of the Russell Senate Office Building and the nearby Capitol building began, apparently because of concerns that a suspicious plane was heading toward Capitol Hill. Capitol Police officers were hearing in their radios that there was "another plane in the air, likely headed for the Capitol," according to CNN. [31] Andi Ball has recalled: "Our agents thought another plane was coming toward Washington. The Capitol was being evacuated." [32]

Ann Gerhart, a Washington Post reporter, was actually warned to stay away from a window of the Russell Senate Office Building in case a plane crashed into there. Gerhart had just left the Caucus Room, where she had watched Bush and the senators make their brief appearance. She has recalled, "As I moved closer to one of the building's tall, beautiful leaded glass windows to get better cell phone reception, a Capitol Police officer practically tackled me." The officer yelled, "Get away from the window!" When Gerhart asked why, the officer replied: "Because we're under attack! There's still one plane up there and it's headed right for us!" [33]

And yet, despite these concerns, Bush's Secret Service agents allowed the first lady to stay in the Russell Office Building.

BUSH AND HER STAFF TOLD THEY COULDN'T LEAVE
After leaving the Caucus Room, Bush and her staff initially started making their way down to the cars that would take them back to the White House. But, according to Ball, Bush's Secret Service agents then told them, "We can't go right now." The agents said, "We need to go back and wait a few minutes." [34] Bush has recalled that her lead agent told her and her staff that they needed to head to the basement immediately. Her agents told John Meyers "that they were waiting for an emergency response team to reach the Capitol."

Judd Gregg suggested that they all go to his office, which was an interior room and was on a lower floor of the Russell Office Building. Whether it was in the basement, however, is unclear. Nevertheless, that is where Bush and her staff went. [35] In Gregg's office, according to Edward Kennedy, they "kept the television set off and simply talked for a while." [36]

CAPITOL WAS A LIKELY TARGET FOR TERRORISTS
The fact that, in the middle of a major terrorist attack on the United States, Laura Bush and her staff were allowed to go to the Russell Senate Office Building and then spend so much time there is particularly alarming considering that the Capitol building, located just south of there, was an obvious target for terrorists. As USA Today has commented, "Democracy's most important icons are also terrorists' most likely targets." [37]

The 9/11 Commission in fact claimed that had United Airlines Flight 93--the fourth hijacked plane--not crashed in rural Pennsylvania on September 11, its hijackers would have aimed for "symbols of the American Republic, the Capitol or the White House." [38] Laura Bush has written that in the years since 9/11, she "and many others were left to contemplate what if Flight 93 had not been forced down by its passengers into an empty field; what if, shortly after 10:00 a.m., it had reached the Capitol dome?" [39]

Not only was Bush allowed to stay in the Russell Senate Office Building during the attacks, it also appears there was no increase in security after she arrived on Capitol Hill. Fox News correspondent Brian Wilson has recalled that when he was reporting from the Capitol building that morning, he had been "on the air talking about the first lady being in the Capitol and saying that I had not seen any signs of tighter security in the building." [40]

ARMED AGENTS TOOK BUSH TO SECURE LOCATION
Bush has recalled that she stayed in Judd Gregg's office until "sometime after 10:00 a.m.," when she was finally evacuated from the Russell Senate Office Building. She was collected from Gregg's office by her Secret Service agents, who, she has recalled, were joined by "an additional Secret Service detail and an emergency response team, dressed in black tactical clothing like a SWAT force and moving with guns drawn." [41] Presumably these armed agents were members of the Secret Service emergency response team (ERT), which guards the president at the White House. This unit's "primary mission" is "to provide tactical response to unlawful intrusions and other protective challenges related to the White House and its grounds." [42] Its members are "sharpshooters assigned to respond to any terrorist strike," according to U.S. News & World Report. [43] They are "equipped with the very latest in armor and weaponry, and receive advanced gun and defense training." [44]

Bush has described being escorted from the building, writing: "As we raced through the dim hallways of the Russell Building, past panicked staffers emptying from their offices, the ERT team shouted 'Get back' and covered my every move with their guns. We reached the underground entrance; the doors on the motorcade slammed shut, and we sped off." [45]

Bush and her staff left Capitol Hill at 10:10 a.m., according to Noelia Rodriguez. Secret Service agents protected them with their guns as they were driven away. Ashleigh Adams, Bush's deputy press secretary, has described, "It felt like we were in a war, because the Secret Service was driving next to the motorcade and they were hanging out of the windows with their machine guns out." [46]

This urgency exhibited by the ERT is surely what would be expected when protecting a person as important as the president's wife during a terrorist attack. What is remarkable is that such urgency was not evident earlier that morning among those responsible for protecting Laura Bush.

It is unclear why the ERT only arrived to collect the first lady after 10:00 a.m., and what it was doing before then is unknown. But by the time Laura Bush left Capitol Hill, Flight 93 had already crashed and so the terrorist attacks were over.

Bush's Secret Service agents said they were going to take the first lady and her staff to a secure location. This turned out to be the Secret Service headquarters. [47] The nine-story office building had been reinforced to survive a large-scale blast after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. It is in Washington, just a few blocks away from the White House. [48] However, Andi Ball has recalled, the traffic at the time "was so bad that everything was stopped." [49] Therefore, the drive to the headquarters took 45 minutes, according to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, meaning the first lady would have arrived there at around 10:55 a.m. [50]

BUSH AND HER STAFF SPENT AFTERNOON AT SECRET SERVICE HEADQUARTERS
After they arrived at the Secret Service headquarters, Bush and her entourage were taken to the office of Secret Service Director Brian Stafford, which was on an upper floor of the building. [51] There, Bush made phone calls to her two daughters and to her mother, and her staffers called their families to let them know they were alright. [52]

After a time, Bush and her staff were moved to the basement. This was because the agents responsible for the first lady realized that, since the attacks in New York had involved planes being crashed into tall buildings, having Bush on an upper floor was "perhaps not such a hot idea," according to journalist and author Robert Draper. [53] Again, the behavior of the Secret Service was extraordinary. If the 9/11 attacks were a surprise to the U.S. government, as is officially claimed, and the targets unknown beforehand, then these agents had taken the first lady somewhere--an upper floor of a government building--where there was a greater risk of her becoming a victim of the attacks.

In the basement, Bush and her staff were taken to a windowless conference room, which had a large display screen across one wall, showing a constant TV feed. They remained in the conference room for much of the rest of the day and spent time watching the television coverage of the attacks. [54]

At some point in the afternoon, Laura Bush and those with her learned that the president would be coming back to Washington that day, and so it was decided that the first lady could return to the White House. At 6:30 p.m., the Secret Service drove her there. Bush found the White House surrounded by "heavily armed men in black" when she arrived. Upon entering the building, she was taken to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a secure bunker below the East Wing, where she remained until the president arrived back at the White House. [55]

SECRET SERVICE IS MEANT TO KEEP FIRST LADY 'OUT OF HARM'S WAY'
The first lady is regarded as one of the nation's "most visible targets," and so the Secret Service is responsible for protecting her. [56] As one of the agency's "permanent protectees," she, like the president, has a detail of special agents assigned to her. [57] These agents' mission is to keep the first lady "in sight and out of harm's way," according to a book about the Secret Service by author Philip Melanson. [58]

Secret Service agents are highly trained, and according to Jeffrey Robinson, co-author of another book about the Secret Service: "The Secret Service has an esprit de corps like the Marines. They are very proud of what they do." [59] Laura Bush praised the agency in her memoir, Spoken From the Heart, calling it "a remarkable institution" whose "men and women are willing to risk their lives to guard the president's." Secret Service agents, she wrote, "wait in broiling sun and subzero cold; their mission is to protect the first family from harm." [60]

Furthermore, the Secret Service makes extensive preparations before one of its protectees visits a location. The agency stated on its website: "The advance team surveys each site to be visited. From these surveys, the members determine manpower, equipment, hospitals, and evacuation routes for emergencies." Before the visit, the Secret Service establishes a command post with full communications facilities for the security operation. What is more, "Intelligence information is discussed, identification specified, and emergency options outlined." The work of the Secret Service when someone it protects visits a particular location is clearly a sophisticated operation. [61]

Additionally, the Secret Service had capabilities that should have meant its response to the 9/11 attacks was particularly prompt and effective. Notably, it was able to monitor U.S. airspace. Richard Clarke, the White House counterterrorism chief on September 11, mentioned in his book Against All Enemies that the "Secret Service had a system that allowed them to see what FAA's radar was seeing." [62] According to Secret Service agent Barbara Riggs, "Through monitoring radar and activating an open line with the FAA [the Federal Aviation Administration], the Secret Service was able to receive real-time information about ... hijacked aircraft." Riggs, who was in the Secret Service headquarters on September 11, added, "We were tracking two hijacked aircraft as they approached Washington, DC, and our assumption was that the White House was a target." [63]

In light of these facts, it would be difficult to claim that the Secret Service's failure to adequately protect Laura Bush on the morning of September 11 was due to incompetence. It seems that something must have happened to hinder the first lady's Secret Service agents. While a new investigation of 9/11 is necessary to properly look into this matter, we can at least speculate about factors that may have been involved.

DID THE SECRET SERVICE HAVE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF 9/11?
One possibility to consider is that key individuals in the Secret Service knew in advance what the 9/11 attacks would involve and what the targets would be. Consequently, they knew it would be safe for Laura Bush to go to the Russell Senate Office Building, as planned, and remain there until the attacks ended.

Any such individuals would presumably have included whoever was responsible for directing the actions of the first lady's Secret Service detail. The identity of that person (or persons) is currently unknown. In her memoir, Bush mentioned that on September 11, the head of her Secret Service detail was Ron Sprinkle. She named another of her agents, Dave Saunders, who she said drove her to the White House that evening. And she named four more of her "closest agents"--Wayne Williams, Leon Newsome, Ignacio Zamora, and Karen Shugart--but did not say whether any of them were with her on September 11. [64] It is unknown which, if any, of these agents was responsible for the failure to properly protect the first lady on September 11, or whether Laura Bush's Secret Service detail was instead directed by someone else, perhaps one of these agents' superiors.

COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS HINDERED GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO ATTACKS
Another possibility is that the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks sabotaged communications in the Washington area on September 11, so as to limit the flow of information and impede the ability of honest and principled individuals to effectively respond. If this happened, Secret Service agents protecting the first lady may have had only a limited awareness of the crisis taking place, and were therefore slowed in their response to it.

There is in fact considerable evidence indicating that communications were sabotaged on September 11. [65] A classified report was produced that, reportedly, "does not paint a favorable picture of the government's overall crisis management capabilities" during the attacks. A government official told author Dan Verton that the U.S. was "deaf, dumb, and blind" for much of that day. [66]

More specifically, there is evidence that communications may have been sabotaged on Capitol Hill. Noelia Rodriguez recalled that when Laura Bush and her staff were in Edward Kennedy's office, "Nobody could get a cell [phone call] to get through," and so "we took turns using the office phone." [67] Tom Daschle, the Senate majority leader on September 11, has stated that after the Capitol building was evacuated: "People were punching their cell phones to no avail. The lines were jammed." [68] And CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley described: "The cell phones went down. Eventually ... the personal BlackBerrys that bring your e-mail to you, they went down." Landline phones were also affected. Crowley added: "Inside the Capitol, remember [there are] still switchboard operators there. Inside the Capitol, the phones worked only on and off." [69]

Even the president and the first lady were affected. They finally spoke over the phone at around 11:45 a.m., when President Bush was descending into Barksdale Air Force Base on Air Force One and Laura Bush was at the Secret Service headquarters. George W. Bush has recalled that before then, he "had been trying to reach Laura all morning." He described: "I placed several calls, but the line kept dropping. I couldn't believe that the president of the United States couldn't reach his wife." Laura Bush recalled, "I tried to reach George, but my calls could not get through." She commented, "It is stunning now to think that our 'state-of-the-art' communications would not allow him to complete a phone call to Secret Service headquarters, or me to reach him on Air Force One." [70]

WERE ROGUE AGENTS DELIBERATELY NEGLIGENT?
Another possibility is that rogue Secret Service agents in key positions were deliberately negligent, so as to impair their colleagues' responses to the attacks. Some evidence indicates this could have happened. For example, U.S. News & World Report noted, "On the morning of the September 11 attacks, Secret Service executives did not implement an 'emergency call-up' of all personnel until the third plane crashed, into the Pentagon." [71]

And some agents appear to have failed to pass on critical information to their colleagues. Shortly after the second plane hit the WTC, Nelson Garabito, the Secret Service agent in charge of protecting the White House airspace, called his contact at the FAA. The FAA employee told Garabito there were two unaccounted for planes that had possibly been hijacked, in addition to the two planes that had crashed into the WTC. Garabito told a colleague "to convey this information to the Secret Service's operations center," according to the 9/11 Commission Report. However, the information "either was not passed on or was passed on but not disseminated." [72]

The U.S. military is known to have been conducting a number of training exercises when the 9/11 attacks began, and evidence indicates that its response to the attacks was hindered as a result. [73] A possibility to consider is that the Secret Service was similarly conducting a training exercise on the morning of September 11, and this led to confusion and delayed the agency's response to the attacks. Secret Service agents could have mistaken reports of the real-world attacks for simulations incorporated into the exercise. Or agents could have been unable to respond to the attacks immediately because they were busy participating in the exercise.

SECRET SERVICE FAILED TO PROTECT THE PRESIDENT
It is worth noting the similarities between the actions of Laura Bush and her Secret Service detail, and the actions of President Bush and his Secret Service detail on September 11. The president, like the first lady, was allowed to proceed to his scheduled destination that morning--in his case, an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida. (His destination, like the first lady's, had been publicly announced several days earlier.)

He was allowed to stay at the school after the second plane hit the WTC and it was obvious that America was suffering a major terrorist attack. And, as it did with the first lady, the Secret Service let the president appear live on television in the middle of the attacks: Bush gave a brief statement in the school's library at 9:30 a.m., thereby revealing his location to any terrorist who might have been watching TV. He only left the school at around 9:35 a.m., more than half an hour after the second attack in New York. [74]

There are many serious questions that need to be investigated. For example, why did the Secret Service allow Laura Bush to go to her planned destination on September 11 when it was apparent that the United States was under attack and she could have been a target? Why did it fail to get her away from the Russell Senate Office Building, even when it was thought that a suspicious plane was heading toward Capitol Hill? Why did it instead allow her to stay there for almost an hour, so that by the time she was taken away to a "secure location," the terrorist attacks had ended?

Laura Bush's Secret Service agents would have been highly trained professionals. Something must surely have happened that led to them being unable to provide the first lady with the usual level of protection, at a time when that protection was most critically needed. The question is what was it?

Thursday, 22 March 2012

'Real-World or Exercise': Did the U.S. Military Mistake the 9/11 Attacks for a Training Scenario?

NORAD exercise Amalagam Virgo 01 concept proposal

"I've never seen so much real-world stuff happen during an exercise."
- Major James Fox, Northeast Air Defense Sector, September 11, 2001

Key military personnel who were responsible for protecting the U.S. against the 9/11 attacks may have been seriously hindered in their ability to respond because of a large-scale air defense exercise they were participating in when the attacks occurred. Evidence indicates that the personnel, whose responsibilities included ordering fighter jets into the air to intercept the hijacked planes, were unclear about what was "real-world" and what was "exercise." They may have been led to believe that the terrorist attacks were just simulated scenarios.

These individuals worked at the Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) in Rome, New York. Audio recordings of the operations floor at NEADS reveal staffers suggesting that the catastrophic events of September 11, 2001 could have been part of the exercise. They sometimes even made jokes and laughed about what was taking place, further indicating that they were mistaking actual events for exercise simulations. Even senior commanding officers have admitted wondering if the terrorist attacks were part of the exercise.

And while staffers sometimes apparently made clear that an event was unconnected to the exercise by referring to it as being "real-world," there is evidence that the term "real-world" may in fact be a way to describe live events played out within an exercise, perhaps involving real aircraft getting airborne, rather than just hypothetical scenarios.

Furthermore, NEADS personnel previously participated in exercises that included scenarios resembling the 9/11 attacks, such as plane hijackings and aircraft being crashed into skyscrapers in New York, and this could have increased the likelihood that they would mistake the events of September 11 for exercise simulations.

Although much remains speculative, the available evidence raises serious questions about whether the exercise at NEADS on September 11 was a deliberate tactic used to hinder skilled and dedicated professionals, thereby preventing them from stopping the terrorist attacks.

NORAD'S 'SIMULATED AIR WAR' ON SEPTEMBER 11
A key agency responsible for protecting the U.S. from an airborne attack, like what happened on September 11, is NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command. NORAD is the military organization responsible for monitoring and defending the airspace over the United States and Canada. Within the U.S., it is divided into three sectors. The 9/11 attacks took place in the airspace monitored by its Northeast Air Defense Sector, NEADS. It was therefore personnel at NEADS who were responsible for trying to coordinate the U.S. military's response to the hijackings. These individuals, however, were in the middle of a major training exercise when the attacks began.

"Vigilant Guardian" was an annual exercise conducted by NORAD that was several days underway on September 11. All of NORAD took part in it. [1] Vigilant Guardian has been described as a "simulated air war" and as "an air defense exercise simulating an attack on the United States." [2] Remarkably, it was scheduled to include a simulated hijacking at around 9:40 a.m. on September 11. The exercise "was designed to run a range of scenarios" that day, according to Vanity Fair, "including a 'traditional' simulated hijack in which politically motivated perpetrators commandeer an aircraft, land on a Cuba-like island, and seek asylum." [3]

It has been claimed that Vigilant Guardian was terminated shortly after United Airlines Flight 175 became the second plane to crash into the World Trade Center, at 9:03 a.m. on September 11. [4] However, evidence indicates it may have continued long after that time. It has also been claimed that the participation of military staffers in the exercise had little effect on their ability to protect America against the attacks, and that Vigilant Guardian may even have had beneficial effects. For example, in its final report, the 9/11 Commission claimed that the response to the attacks "was, if anything, expedited by the increased number of staff at the sectors and at NORAD because of the scheduled exercise." [5] However, a significant amount of evidence casts doubt upon this claim.

NEADS STAFFERS THOUGHT ATTACKS WERE PART OF THE EXERCISE
From the outset, personnel at NEADS wondered if reports they received about the 9/11 attacks were part of the exercise. Their first notification of the crisis came just before 8:38 a.m. on September 11, when Joseph Cooper, an air traffic controller at the FAA's Boston Center, called NEADS and reported, "We have a hijacked aircraft headed towards New York, and ... we need someone to scramble some F-16s or something up there, help us out." The response of Technical Sergeant Jeremy Powell, who answered the call, was to ask, "Is this real-world or exercise?" Cooper replied, "No, this is not an exercise, not a test." [6] According to Vanity Fair, "Powell, like almost everyone in the room, first assumes the phone call is from the simulations team on hand to send 'inputs'--simulated scenarios--into play for the day's training exercise." [7]

However, despite Cooper's statement that the hijacking was "not an exercise, not a test," NEADS personnel continued to question whether information they received about the attacks was real or just simulation. For example, at 9:03 a.m., NEADS received a phone call informing it that a second aircraft had been hijacked, and personnel also saw the live television coverage of the second plane, Flight 175, crashing into the World Trade Center. A minute or two later, recordings of the operations floor reveal, several members of staff discussed these developments among themselves. One of them asked, "Is this explosion part of that that we're looking at now on TV?" Someone replied: "Yes. And there's a possible second hijack also--a United Airlines." Another person then commented, "I think this is a damn input, to be honest." An "input" is a simulations input, as part of a training exercise. Someone else said, "Then this is a damned messed-up input." [8]

It is unclear whether, on this occasion, when the NEADS personnel mentioned an "input," they were suggesting that the second hijacking was simulated, or they thought it possible that the television coverage of the attack on the WTC was simulated video footage, intended to make the exercise more realistic. What is remarkable, either way, is that at a time when it should have been obvious to them that the U.S. was in the middle of a major terrorist attack, these key personnel were uncertain whether what was happening was real or simulated.

NEADS PERSONNEL THOUGHT THE EXERCISE WAS CONTINUING, WELL AFTER THE ATTACKS BEGAN
Although it has been claimed that Vigilant Guardian was terminated shortly after Flight 175 hit the WTC, evidence shows that NEADS personnel thought it was continuing after that time, and wondered whether subsequent events were part of the exercise.

At 9:09 a.m., one of the NEADS ID technicians complained, "I hope they cancel the exercise, because this is ridiculous." [9] Then at 9:15 a.m., an off-duty member of staff called in and asked someone in the ID section about the exercise. They said, "I've been watching [the news] for about 10 minutes, and I said, 'I wonder if they're, did they suspend the exercise?'" The person at NEADS answered, "Not at this time, no, but I think they're going to." He then laughed and added, "I don't know." [10]

If the exercise was still being conducted at 9:15 a.m., as this call indicated, the question arises as to why it had not been canceled. If NORAD and/or NEADS personnel were clear that the terrorist attacks were real, rather than simulated, surely those in command should have called off the exercise well before this time. If, alternatively, the exercise had already been terminated, why were those on the NEADS operations floor allowed to think it was still taking place?

The confusion continued. At around 9:20 a.m., one of the ID technicians commented, "This was pre-planned, I bet you, for 9 o'clock." A colleague of hers replied, "Oh, I bet you it was." [11] It is unclear exactly what these staffers were talking about. But it seems possible they were referring to actual events that they mistakenly thought were simulated. They thought these events had been "pre-planned" by those who designed the exercise.

Remarkably, there was uncertainty over whether the exercise was still taking place more than 45 minutes later. At 10:08 a.m., Master Sergeant Joe McCain, the mission crew commander technician, responded to Master Sergeant Maureen Dooley, the leader of the ID section, after she provided details of a bomb that was being reported on United Airlines Flight 93, the fourth hijacked plane, which supposedly crashed in Pennsylvania that morning. McCain commented, "If this is an exercise input, this is a good one." [12] (As previously mentioned, an "input" is a scenario simulated for the exercise.) In other words, several minutes after Flight 93 crashed, and the terrorist attacks were effectively over, someone at NEADS still considered it possible that information about the attacks was part of the exercise.

COMMANDERS THOUGHT HIJACKING WAS PART OF THE EXERCISE
Even some of the most senior officers at NORAD and NEADS have admitted mistaking actual events for part of Vigilant Guardian. Colonel Robert Marr, the battle commander at NEADS on September 11, has recalled that when he saw personnel on the operations floor huddled together after they learned of the first hijacking, he assumed it was related to the exercise. Presumably based on an interview with Marr, author Lynn Spencer described that moment, writing: "Marr has participated in enough training missions to know this is something out of the ordinary. Clearly, he thinks, the simex [simulated exercise] is kicking off with a lively, unexpected twist. ... His bet is that his simulations team has started off the exercise by throwing out a 'heart attack card' to see how the troops respond to a first-aid call from a fellow soldier, testing their first responder training." [13]

Major General Larry Arnold, the commander of the Continental United States NORAD Region on September 11, has recalled that when he was informed of the first hijacking, the first thing he thought was: "Is this part of the exercise? Is this some kind of a screw-up?" [14] He explained, "Because quite honestly, and frankly, we do do hijacking scenarios as we go through these exercises from time to time." [15]

According to Spencer, Arnold was "not privy to everything concerning the exercise." Vigilant Guardian was "meant to test commanders also, to make sure that their war machine is operating as it should." [16] Marr has similarly commented that despite his senior position at NEADS, "You just never knew really what was going to happen in those exercises." [17]

OFFICER WHO HELPED DESIGN EXERCISE MISTOOK ATTACKS FOR SIMULATION
Another officer who, despite his senior position, apparently mistook the 9/11 attacks for an exercise simulation was Major Kevin Nasypany. Nasypany was the mission crew commander at NEADS on September 11, and in that role, according to Marr, was "basically in charge of the entire operations floor." Nasypany, Marr said, was "the most senior guy on the floor." [18] Furthermore, Nasypany had helped design the exercise taking place that day.

And yet, Nasypany has said, "When they told me there was a hijack, my first reaction was, 'Somebody started the exercise early.'" Nasypany knew that the exercise was scheduled to include a simulated hijacking, and so, he recalled, he "actually said out loud, 'The hijack's not supposed to be for another hour.'" [19]

Additionally, audio recordings reveal that at around 9:00 a.m. on September 11, Nasypany joked with his colleagues about what happened when NEADS was alerted to the first hijacking, of American Airlines Flight 11. He said: "And where was I? I was on the shitter!" He continued, "When I heard, it was like, 'Oh my God!'" He added, "I knew that was an exercise." [20]

If Nasypany--"the most senior guy on the floor"--was openly suggesting that actual events were part of the exercise, then surely members of staff under his command could have mistakenly thought they were dealing with simulated scenarios.

NEADS PERSONNEL JOKED ABOUT THE ATTACKS
Further evidence that NEADS personnel mistook actual events for simulation, as part of the exercise, is the inappropriate emotions some of them exhibited in response to the hijackings and other aspects of the terrorist attacks. Staffers sometimes reacted in a light-hearted manner, and even joked openly about the catastrophic events taking place.

For example, recordings of the operations floor reveal that at 8:57 a.m., around 20 minutes after NEADS was alerted to the first hijacking, Kevin Nasypany was discussing the first plane hitting the World Trade Center with a colleague. He then joked, "Think we put the exercise on a hold, what do you think?" and laughed heartily. [21]

A number of staffers joked about the day's events just after NEADS was informed that a second plane had been hijacked, at 9:03 a.m. One staff member announced to his colleagues: "Okay guys, listen up. Possibly a second hijack." One of them responded, "Bring it on." The person that announced the possible hijacking then added that the hijacked plane was "United Air." In response, a colleague said: "That's it. I'm not flying with United or American [Airlines] anymore."

The men then started joking among themselves. One of them commented: "I'll say they're all supposed to be on the same plane. They just got mixed up." (Presumably he was talking about the hijackers.) In response, another of the men laughed and said, "Half of them got on one plane, the other half ..." One man commented, "I never thought I would have wished for ValuJet to come back," and another laughed and replied, "I'm still not wishing for ValuJet." A couple of minutes later, one of the men said, "I'm glad I'm not flying today," and then laughed. One of his colleagues replied: "Don't worry, Jim. We'll carjack you on the way home." [22]

Such jovial conversation would have been extraordinary if these men realized that the U.S. was in the middle of the worst terrorist attack in its history. Their behavior would, however, be more understandable if they mistakenly thought the information they had been given about hijackings and planes crashing into the World Trade Center was part of the exercise.

One more such incident occurred at 9:47 a.m., after Jeremy Powell called a military unit to inform it of the possible hijacking of another aircraft, Delta Airlines Flight 1989, and said that NEADS needed "somebody airborne." (The suspicion that this flight had been hijacked turned out to be mistaken.) After he ended the call, Powell or someone else at NEADS, presumably referring to the suspected hijacking, joked, "Are you sure this isn't an exercise?" and then laughed. [23]

NEADS PERSONNEL INDICATED THAT 'REAL-WORLD' REFERRED TO LIVE-FLY EXERCISE EVENTS
Often, recordings reveal, NEADS personnel appeared to make clear that an event was unrelated to the exercise by referring to it as being "real-world" or "live-world." However, there is evidence that their use of the term "real-world" meant something different.

We know that when NORAD holds what is called a "live-fly" exercise, this will involve actual civilian planes and military fighters getting airborne, instead of just being simulated. [24] For example, a NORAD exercise called "Amalgam Virgo 02" that was held in June 2002 involved a Delta Airlines Boeing 757 and a Navy C-9 taking to the air to act as hijacked planes. Furthermore, FBI agents and members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police played the parts of the hijackers on the planes, and military personnel acted as the civilian passengers. [25]

Some evidence indicates that when NEADS personnel used the term "real-world" on September 11, they were referring to a particular event being part of the exercise. But they meant that they thought it was being played out live, like the hijackings in Amalgam Virgo 02, rather than just simulated.

Lieutenant Colonel Dawne Deskins, the aircraft control and warning officer at NEADS on September 11, supported this possibility when she was interviewed by the 9/11 Commission in October 2003. She said that, before 9/11, when NEADS held exercises that included simulated plane hijackings, it "would not do these hijack exercises real-world." Instead, it "had a cell that would play the FAA in the exercise." Deskins commented that "there really were not the assets to do a large-scale real-world exercise to practice hijack response." [26]

Major James Fox, the leader of the NEADS weapons team on September 11, similarly told the 9/11 Commission that he did "not recall any real-world, actual flying exercises coordinated with FAA to practice hijack procedures." He added, "Any live exercises would happen over the off-coast airspaces." [27] Both Fox and Deskins, therefore, appear to have taken the term "real-world" to be a way of describing an exercise that includes live-fly activities.

NEADS OFFICER HAD 'NEVER SEEN SO MUCH REAL-WORLD STUFF HAPPEN DURING AN EXERCISE'
Recordings of the NEADS operations floor show personnel apparently taking the term "real-world" to be a reference to live-fly exercise events while the 9/11 attacks were taking place. For example, in the ID section, technicians Stacia Rountree, Shelley Watson, and Maureen Dooley overheard Jeremy Powell on the phone with the FAA's Boston Center, being notified of the first hijacking. Rountree reacted to the news by saying, "Is that real-world?" Dooley answered, "Real-world hijack." Watson then reacted as if she were pleased at this news, exclaiming, "Cool!" [28]

In a recent documentary, Dooley gave an explanation for her colleague's apparently inappropriate reaction. She claimed that Watson said "Cool!" because a hijacking "was usually not something that was very devastating." [29] However, might the reason for Watson's reaction have been that she thought the hijacking was part of the exercise, but, as it was a "real-world hijack," she thought it involved a real plane playing the hijacked aircraft, which meant NEADS had the opportunity to launch real fighter jets in response to it? Watson was therefore looking forward to dealing with a live-fly exercise event.

Minutes after this incident, at 8:43 a.m., while NEADS personnel were busy responding to the reported hijacking of Flight 11, James Fox commented, "I've never seen so much real-world stuff happen during an exercise." [30] Here again it seems that the term "real-world" was being used as a reference to live events within an exercise, rather than to actual, non-exercise events.

Robert Marr, too, appears to have understood "real-world" to be a term that is used to describe a live-fly exercise event. When he saw personnel on the operations floor gathered around a radar scope after they learned of the first hijacking, Marr sent Dawne Deskins to find out what was happening. [31] After Deskins then learned about the hijacking, she returned to the NEADS battle cab and reportedly told Marr: "It's a hijacking, and this is real life, not part of the exercise." According to the account of Lynn Spencer, which was presumably based on an interview with Marr, Marr then thought: "This is an interesting start to the exercise. This 'real-world' mixed in with today's simex will keep them on their toes." [32]

EXERCISE RESEMBLED 9/11 IN DAYS BEFORE ATTACKS
Some aspects of Vigilant Guardian that NEADS personnel had been dealing with in the days just before September 11 bore a remarkable resemblance to the situation these personnel were faced with when the 9/11 attacks occurred. This similarity could surely have increased the likelihood that the events of September 11 would be mistaken for exercise simulations.

For example, on September 9 Vigilant Guardian included a scenario in which terrorists hijacked a large commercial jet plane and threatened to use it for an attack on New York. In the scenario, members of a terrorist group armed with explosives were on a regular United Airlines flight from London, England, to New York, with the intention of detonating their explosives over New York. After the fictitious terrorists realized their plane had been diverted and was nowhere near New York, they detonated their explosives, leaving no survivors. [33] Considering the similarity between this scenario and the 9/11 attacks (terrorists on a commercial jet plane, planning an airborne attack on New York), might NEADS personnel have mistakenly thought the attacks on September 11 were a follow-up to this simulation?

MOCK AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER IN EXERCISE USED NAME OF KEY CONTROLLER WHO RESPONDED TO 9/11 ATTACKS
Another remarkable aspect of Vigilant Guardian is that in the days just before September 11, the actor playing the air traffic controller who gave NEADS information about the simulated events said their name was "Colin Scoggins," even though it was unusual for a mock controller to give their name during an exercise. And then, on September 11, the real Colin Scoggins--an employee at the FAA's Boston Center--happened to be the key person calling NEADS with information about the actual attacks, even though it was not his usual role to perform such a duty. This curious apparent coincidence could surely have made it more likely that NEADS personnel would mistake the 9/11 attacks for part of the exercise.

Colin Scoggins was the Boston Center's military operations specialist. [34] He was responsible for managing operating agreements between the Boston Center and the military, and consequently had personal relationships with most military units in the region. [35]

In the two days before 9/11, an actor playing Scoggins in the exercise made calls to NEADS, giving it information about the simulated events. Recordings from the operations floor reveal, for example, that shortly before 10:00 a.m. on September 9, NEADS was called by the actor, who said his name was "Colin Scoggins." The actor said a group called the "Palan Resistance Movement" had two of its members on United Airlines Flight 558, a flight out of London, who intended to detonate a bomb over New York City.

The real Colin Scoggins has confirmed that the voice of the person calling himself "Colin Scoggins" on this occasion was not his. Scoggins suggested that the NEADS simulation cell used his name in the exercise probably because he was a known contact at the Boston Center. Scoggins also said it was unusual for NEADS to use a specific name like this in an exercise, and added that the actor should have just referred to himself as being from the Boston Center. [36]

CONTROLLER WAS 'THE ONLY ONE' GIVING NEADS INFORMATION DURING 9/11 ATTACKS
While an actor calling himself "Colin Scoggins" gave NEADS information about simulated exercise events in the two days before 9/11, apparently by coincidence, the real Colin Scoggins served as a key liaison between the Boston Center and NEADS on September 11. Scoggins has said he made "about 40" phone calls to NEADS that day. [37] Robert Marr said Scoggins was in fact "about the only one that was feeding us information [during the attacks]. I don't know exactly where he got it. But he was feeding us information as much as he could." [38] According to Lynn Spencer, other than the calls from Scoggins, NEADS's only source of information on the hijacked planes was "the coverage on CNN." [39]

And yet Scoggins would not normally have been performing the role of keeping NEADS updated with relevant information, as he did on September 11. Daniel Bueno, the traffic management supervisor at the Boston Center, told the 9/11 Commission that as a military operations specialist, Scoggins was "usually not on the [air traffic control] floor." [40] Scoggins has said that he didn't "normally sit at that position"--manning the military desk at the Boston Center--"but I write all the procedures for it. So I understand the position probably better than anybody else who works the position." [41]

After arriving at the Boston Center at around 8:25 a.m. and being told by a colleague that a plane had been hijacked, Scoggins in fact first headed to the center's in-house credit union rather than to the operational floor, because, he has said, "when hijacks do occur, sometimes too many people try to get involved but instead they just get in the way." [42] However, shortly after he arrived, Scoggins has recalled that Bueno "asked me to come downstairs and sit at the military desk if I could." [43]

Therefore the unlikely and unusual situation arose that during the exercise on September 9 and September 10, and also during the attacks on September 11, NEADS was given key information by someone calling himself Colin Scoggins. The question arises as to whether this created any confusion during the 9/11 attacks, causing some NEADS personnel to think information coming from the real Colin Scoggins was part of the exercise. While the person answering calls from Scoggins on September 11 may have recognized that the caller had a different voice to the actor playing Scoggins on the previous days, other NEADS personnel could have been unaware of the different voices, and only have heard from their colleagues that a particular piece of information came from "Colin Scoggins."

PREVIOUS EXERCISES INCLUDED SCENARIOS SIMILAR TO 9/11 ATTACKS
It was not just exercise events during the previous few days that may have resulted in confusion at NEADS on September 11. What could also have increased the likelihood that NEADS personnel would mistake the 9/11 attacks for part of the exercise is the fact that during the previous two years, these personnel had participated in other exercises based around scenarios closely resembling what happened on September 11.

For example, the previous Vigilant Guardian, held in October 2000, included a scenario in which a pilot planned to deliberately crash an aircraft into a skyscraper in New York. The simulation involved an individual stealing a Federal Express plane with the intention of using it for a suicide attack on the 39-story United Nations headquarters building. [44]

Another exercise NEADS took part in, called "Falcon Indian" and held in June 2000, was based on the possibility of a "Communist Party faction" hijacking an aircraft bound from the western to the eastern United States. The fictitious hijackers intended to crash the plane into the Statue of Liberty, located close to the Twin Towers, in New York Harbor. [45]

Remarkably, one NORAD exercise, held at an unspecified time in the two years prior to 9/11, was based on the possibility of a hijacked aircraft being used as a weapon and deliberately crashed into the World Trade Center. [46] Furthermore, NORAD has stated that most of the four major exercises it held each year before 9/11 "included a hijack scenario." [47] So, although most of the personnel on the NEADS operations floor were unaware beforehand what the exercise was going to entail on September 11, they might surely have wondered if the plane hijackings and the attacks in New York that day were simulated, since these events so closely resembled scenarios played out in previous exercises.

EXERCISES INCLUDED MOCK TV NEWS REPORTS
One might think that television coverage of the 9/11 attacks would have convinced those at NEADS that they were dealing with actual terrorist attacks rather than simulated ones. However, there is evidence that casts doubt on this assertion.

It is known that simulated television news reports had been used in training exercises before 9/11. For example, a two-day exercise was held at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, in June 2001, called "Dark Winter," based on the scenario of a smallpox attack on the United States. This exercise, according to New York magazine, included "simulated news clips from an imaginary cable news network called NCN." [48] Whether NORAD exercises prior to 9/11 included simulated television footage is unknown. But this possibility should certainly be investigated.

The possibility should also be investigated that NEADS personnel mistakenly thought television news reports of the 9/11 attacks were video created to make their exercise seem more realistic. Unlikely as it might seem, evidence shows this scenario is plausible.

It has been reported that volunteers taking part in another military exercise on the morning of September 11 did incorrectly think that television coverage of the attacks in New York was video footage created for their exercise. That exercise, called "Timely Alert II," was held at Fort Monmouth, an Army base about 50 miles south of New York City, and was based around a simulated biochemical terrorist attack at the base. Exercise participants later recalled that "when they first saw live footage of the events unfolding at the World Trade Center, they thought it was some elaborate training video to accompany the exercise." One training officer was told by a participant, "You really outdid yourself this time." [49] If workers at Fort Monmouth could make this error, surely those at NEADS could have done so too.

WAS CONFUSION CAUSED BY THE EXERCISE INTENDED TO PARALYZE THE MILITARY?
Officials have claimed that the U.S. military was unaffected in its ability to respond to the 9/11 attacks by the Vigilant Guardian exercise. During one of the 9/11 Commission's public hearings, commissioner Timothy Roemer asked whether the exercise delayed the military. He suggested that, in response to reports of the attacks, personnel might have thought, "No, there's no possibility that this is real-world; we're engaged in an exercise." But General Ralph Eberhart, the commander of NORAD on September 11, replied that "it became painfully clear ... that this was not an exercise." He said the situation Roemer referred to "at most cost us 30 seconds." [50]

The evidence described above, however, suggests that Vigilant Guardian could have seriously impaired the military. It may have caused significant confusion, because those at NEADS were unclear whether the events of September 11 were real or part of the exercise. There is therefore a need for a close examination of this exercise, as well as other exercises that took place on September 11 and in the years before then.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ABOUT VIGILANT GUARDIAN
As part of a new investigation of 9/11, those who served at NEADS on September 11 need to be given the opportunity to talk openly about their experiences that day. Evidence already available raises many questions. For example, which events on September 11 did NEADS personnel think might be part of the exercise? And at what time did these personnel know for certain that the exercise had been terminated?

We need to know which individuals were responsible for designing the Vigilant Guardian exercise that was taking place in September 2001, and who designed the earlier exercises that included scenarios resembling the 9/11 attacks. We also need to know who was responsible for running Vigilant Guardian on September 11, along with full details of the simulations planned for that day.

The fact that some previous NORAD exercises closely resembled the 9/11 attacks, and the fact that the Vigilant Guardian exercise taking place in September 2001 included scenarios similar to the 9/11 attacks, should be of serious concern. Such facts suggest the possibility that training exercises were used to deliberately paralyze the military on September 11, thereby ensuring that the attacks in New York and at the Pentagon were successful.

NOTES
[1] "Vigilant Guardian 01-2." Northeast Air Defense Sector, August 23, 2001; William M. Arkin, Code Names: Deciphering U.S. Military Plans, Programs, and Operations in the 9/11 World. Hanover, NH: Steerforth Press, 2005, p. 545; "Vigilant Guardian." GlobalSecurity.org, May 7, 2011.
[2] Leslie Filson, Air War Over America: Sept. 11 Alters Face of Air Defense Mission. Tyndall Air Force Base, FL: 1st Air Force, 2003, pp. 55, 122.
[3] Michael Bronner, "9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes." Vanity Fair, August 2006.
[4] Jason Tudor, "Inner Space." Airman, March 2002; Leslie Filson, Air War Over America, p. 59.
[5] 9/11 Commission, The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004, p. 458.
[6] Ibid. p. 20; Lynn Spencer, Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama That Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11. New York: Free Press, 2008, p. 25.
[7] Michael Bronner, "9/11 Live."
[8] Ibid.; Lynn Spencer, Touching History, pp. 82, 84.
[9] NEADS Audio File, Identification Technician Position, Channel 4. North American Aerospace Defense Command, September 11, 2001; "The Hunt for American Air Eleven After WTC 1 is Hit." 9/11 Commission, n.d.
[10] NEADS Audio File, Identification Technician Position, Channel 7. North American Aerospace Defense Command, September 11, 2001; Miles Kara, "Exercise not a Detractor; the Definitive Story." 9/11 Revisited, September 1, 2011.
[11] NEADS Audio File, Identification Technician Position, Channel 4; "Transcripts From Voice Recorder, 11 September 2001 1227Z-1417Z, Northeast Air Defense Sector, Rome, NY." North American Aerospace Defense Command, September 11, 2001.
[12] NEADS Audio File, Mission Crew Commander Position, Channel 3. North American Aerospace Defense Command, September 11, 2001; Miles Kara, "Exercise not a Detractor; the Definitive Story."
[13] Lynn Spencer, Touching History, p. 26.
[14] "9/11: Interviews by Peter Jennings." ABC News, September 11, 2002.
[15] National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Public Hearing. 9/11 Commission, May 23, 2003.
[16] Lynn Spencer, Touching History, p. 38.
[17] The 9/11 Tapes: Chaos in the Sky. Discovery Channel, February 12, 2012.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Michael Bronner, "9/11 Live."
[20] NEADS Audio File, Mission Crew Commander Position, Channel 2. North American Aerospace Defense Command, September 11, 2001; Miles Kara, "NEADS Mission Crew Commander; a Valiant Effort, Ultimately Futile, Part I." 9/11 Revisited, June 4, 2011.
[21] NEADS Audio File, Mission Crew Commander Position, Channel 2; Michael Bronner, "9/11 Live"; Miles Kara, "Exercise not a Detractor; the Definitive Story."
[22] NEADS Audio File, Air Surveillance Technician Position, Channel 15. North American Aerospace Defense Command, September 11, 2001.
[23] Miles Kara, "Exercise not a Detractor; the Definitive Story."
[24] Gail Braymen, "NORAD Personnel Hone Response Skills in Amalgam Arrow Exercises." North American Aerospace Defense Command, February 22, 2007.
[25] Nick Wadhams, "Joint U.S., Canadian Hijacking Drill Takes off With Whidbey Flight." Associated Press, June 4, 2002; "Airborne Anti-Terrorist Operation Getting Underway." Live Today, CNN, June 4, 2002; "Memorandum for the Record: Interview With Major Paul Goddard (Canadian Forces) and Ken Merchant." 9/11 Commission, March 4, 2004.
[26] "Memorandum for the Record: Interview With Lt. Col. Dawne Deskins." 9/11 Commission, October 30, 2003.
[27] "Memorandum for the Record: Interview With Major James Fox." 9/11 Commission, October 29, 2003.
[28] Michael Bronner, "9/11 Live"; "NEADS CDs." 9/11 Commission, n.d.
[29] The 9/11 Tapes.
[30] NEADS Audio File, Mission Crew Commander Position, Channel 2; NEADS Audio File, Mission Crew Commander Position, Channel 3; Michael Bronner, "9/11 Live."
[31] Leslie Filson, Air War Over America, p. 55.
[32] Lynn Spencer, Touching History, p. 26.
[33] "Event: Terrorist on Board a Regular Flight From London to JFK." North American Aerospace Defense Command, n.d., p. 74; "NORAD Exercises: Hijack Summary." 9/11 Commission, n.d.
[34] "Memorandum for the Record: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Boston Center Field Site Interview With Colin Scoggins, Military Operations Specialist." 9/11 Commission, September 22, 2003.
[35] Lynn Spencer, Touching History, p. 33.
[36] Miles Kara, "NEADS; Exercise Vigilant Guardian in Perspective, Sep. 9." 9/11 Revisited, January 19, 2011; Miles Kara, "Exercise Vigilant Guardian; Sep. 10." 9/11 Revisited, February 11, 2011.
[37] "Q&A With Boston Center Air Traffic Controller." 9/11 Guide, October 28, 2007.
[38] Chasing Planes: Witnesses to 9/11. Directed by Michael Bronner. London: Working Title Films, 2006.
[39] Lynn Spencer, Touching History, p. 82.
[40] "Memorandum for the Record: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Boston Center Field Site Interview 1 With Daniel D. Bueno, Traffic Management Supervisor, Boston Center." 9/11 Commission, September 22, 2003.
[41] Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001. C-SPAN, September 11, 2010.
[42] "Chronology of Events at Mission Coordinator Position." Federal Aviation Administration, September 20, 2001; Albert McKeon, "Nashua FAA Controller Played Role in Tracking Flight 11." Nashua Telegraph, September 8, 2011.
[43] Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001.
[44] Senate Committee on Armed Services, Implications for the Department of Defense and Military Operations of Proposals to Reorganize the United States Intelligence Community. 108th Cong., 2nd sess., August 17, 2004; "NORAD Exercise a Year Before 9/11 Simulated a Pilot Trying to Crash a Plane Into a New York Skyscraper--The United Nations Headquarters." Shoestring 9/11, July 27, 2010.
[45] Ibid.
[46] Steven Komarow and Tom Squitieri, "NORAD Had Drills of Jets as Weapons." USA Today, April 18, 2004.
[47] Barbara Starr, "NORAD Exercise Had Jet Crashing Into Building." CNN, April 19, 2004.
[48] "Dark Winter: Exercise Overview." Center for Biosecurity, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 2001; Tucker Carlson, "Pox Americana." New York, October 8, 2001.
[49] Debbie Sheehan, "Force Protection Plan a 'Timely Alert.'" Monmouth Message, September 21, 2001; Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, A Concise History of the Communications-Electronics Command and Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Fort Monmouth, NJ: Fort Monmouth, 2003, p. 71.
[50] National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Twelfth Public Hearing. 9/11 Commission, June 17, 2004.

Friday, 10 February 2012

New Evidence Reveals Half of Pilots Were Only Assigned to 9/11 Flights at the Last Minute

Thomas McGuinness, the Co-Pilot of Flight 11

Thomas McGuinness, the co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 before it became the first plane to be hijacked in the 9/11 attacks, only assigned himself to be on the flight the afternoon before September 11, 2001, and pushed from it the original co-pilot, who had put his name down for the flight less than half an hour earlier. This new information means that, curiously, half of the pilots and co-pilots originally at the controls of the four aircraft involved in the attacks are now known to have been assigned to the doomed flights at the last minute, very shortly before September 11. Additionally, more than half of the flight attendants and many of the passengers are known to have, similarly, not originally been booked onto those flights.

The details of McGuinness's late assignment to Flight 11 were revealed recently by Steve Scheibner, who was originally going to be the plane's co-pilot. In a short film released on the Internet just before the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Scheibner described how McGuinness came to replace him on Flight 11 and thereby saved his life.

FLIGHT 11 HAD 'NO PILOT ASSIGNED TO IT YET'
At the time of the 9/11 attacks, Scheibner was a fundamentalist Baptist pastor and a commander in the Naval Reserves, but he also worked part-time as an on-call pilot for American Airlines. [1] He had been available to fly on September 11. "So at about three o'clock in the afternoon of September 10," Scheibner recalled, "I sat down at the computer and I logged in like I normally do, to check to see if there was any unassigned flying for the next day. And sure enough there was one trip that was available on September 11. It was American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston's Logan Airport to Los Angeles." Scheibner looked at the flight and could see that "there was no pilot assigned to it yet."

Scheibner checked if there were any reserve pilots available to take the flight. But, he said, "It just so happened [that] on September 11, 2001, there was only one guy available to go flying on that day and that was me." He therefore put his name down for Flight 11. He told his wife he would be flying the following day and packed his bags ready for the trip.

Once a particular pilot signed up for a flight, as Scheibner had done, there would follow a "30-minute window of opportunity" during which, if another pilot wanted to take their place, it would be possible for that pilot to push them from the flight. But at the end of that 30-minute period, Scheibner said, the "final assignment" of the pilot to the flight would be made when someone from American Airlines called them and said, "Hey, we wanna let you know you've been assigned a trip." "Once you have that phone conversation," Scheibner said, "even if a line pilot wants to, they can't bump you off that trip." However, on September 10, Scheibner recalled, "I waited for the phone call and the phone never rang." Later on, during the evening, Scheibner had concluded, "You know, they never assigned that trip to me."

ORIGINAL CO-PILOT PUSHED FROM FLIGHT 11
What happened, according to Scheibner, was that in the minutes after he signed up for Flight 11, Thomas McGuinness pushed him from the flight. McGuinness was one of American Airlines' "line holding pilots" who was a "little bit senior" to Scheibner. Scheibner said that, unknown to him, at "about three o'clock in the afternoon" of September 10, McGuinness "went over to the computer and he logged in, and he looked and he saw that [Flight 11] was open, but my name had been penciled in." Since McGuinness was "still in that 30-minute window of opportunity," he called American Airlines and asked: "Am I legal to take this trip? In other words, can I bump Scheibner off that trip?" American Airlines replied, "Yep, you're legal for that trip, but you gotta give us a call back in the next 20 minutes, or else we're gonna finalize the assignment."

Having decided to take the flight, McGuinness called the airline again and said, "Yeah, I'll take that trip." At that moment, Scheibner said, American Airlines "erased my name off the trip [and] they assigned it to Tom [McGuinness]." As a result, McGuinness was the co-pilot of Flight 11 when it took off from Boston the following morning and became a victim of the 9/11 attacks, while Scheibner's life was spared. [2]

For one pilot to take another's place, as McGuinness did, is a rare event. Scheibner recently noted, "I can count three times in 20 years at American Airlines that I've been bumped from a trip the night before." [3]

On September 11, although Scheibner knew about the terrorist attacks, it did not initially click that one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center had been the flight he'd signed up for the day before. He only realized this fact that evening. He had been thinking, "I wonder who was on that flight?" and so went on his computer and logged in with American Airlines. He recalled: "I logged in and when the screen came up in front of me, it looked exactly like it did the day before when it had that trip and it had my name penciled in. Except this time it had this trip sequence, my name wasn't there, and it said these three words: 'Sequence. Failed. Continuity.'" These words are the code the airline uses to say, "The trip never made it to its destination." [4]

THREE OTHER 9/11 PILOTS REPLACED ORIGINAL PILOTS AT LAST MINUTE
While Scheibner's account is remarkable, it is not unique. Several other pilots are known to have similarly narrowly avoided becoming victims of the 9/11 attacks. As well as Thomas McGuinness, at least three more of the eight pilots initially at the controls of the four aircraft involved in the attacks were only assigned to those flights very shortly before September 11.

John Ogonowski, the pilot of Flight 11, was not originally supposed to be on that flight. The original pilot had been Walter Sorenson. But Sorenson was replaced by Ogonowski, who, according to the Georgetown Record, had seniority over him "and requested to fly that day." Sorenson's life was therefore spared by the "last-minute change of pilots." [5]

Either the pilot or the co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, which reportedly crashed into the Pentagon, was not originally scheduled to be on that flight. But, the New York Times reported: "Bill Cheng, an American Airlines pilot who normally flies Flight 77, changed his plans in late August and applied for time off on [September 11] so he could go camping. When another pilot signed up for the slot, Mr. Cheng's application was accepted." Whether Cheng was replaced by Captain Charles Burlingame or by First Officer David Charlebois was unstated. [6]

And Jason Dahl, the pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania, was not originally supposed to be on the doomed flight. But he reportedly wanted to put in extra hours so he could take time off for his wedding anniversary on September 14. [7] Therefore, "At his request, [his wife] Sandy Dahl traded for the flight on their home computer." Days after the request, Dahl "would pilot Flight 93 to San Francisco, having traded a trip later in the month for this one," journalist and author Jere Longman wrote. [8]

MANY FLIGHT ATTENDANTS AND PASSENGERS ONLY BOOKED ONTO 9/11 FLIGHTS AT LAST MINUTE
What is more, over half of the flight attendants--13 out of a total of 25--were not originally scheduled to be on the four targeted aircraft, and many of the passengers--including almost half of those on Flight 93--were not originally booked to be on those flights. [9]

Furthermore, these statistics are based only on information that has been reported to the public. It is quite possible that others of the pilots originally at the controls of the aircraft involved in the 9/11 attacks were only assigned to the flights at the last minute, and took the place of another pilot. Similarly, there could have been additional passengers and flight attendants who were only booked onto the four flights at the last minute, but this fact has not yet been reported. Certainly, further investigation is needed to look into this possibility. The fact that Thomas McGuinness was only revealed to have been a last-minute replacement for the original co-pilot of Flight 11 in August 2011 shows that important new information about 9/11 can surface even now, more than 10 years after the attacks.

What, though, is the reason for the bizarre and inexplicable finding that so many crew members and passengers on Flights 11, 175, 77, and 93 on September 11 were not originally supposed to be on those flights? An unrestrained new investigation of 9/11 needs to examine this matter thoroughly. The official account of 9/11 cannot explain this oddity. The answers investigators find could therefore fundamentally change our understanding of what exactly happened during the terrorist attacks.

NOTES
[1] Margaret Talbot, "A Mighty Fortress." New York Times, February 27, 2000; Dennis Hoey, "Prayers Answered, and a Church Finds Land for New Home." Portland Press Herald, March 1, 2003.
[2] Peter Scheibner, In My Seat: A Pilot's Story From Sept. 10th-11th. August 30, 2011.
[3] "Pilot Reflects on Being Spared From 9/11 Cockpit." WYFF 4, September 10, 2011.
[4] Peter Scheibner, In My Seat.
[5] Sally Applegate, "Flight 11 Crew Not Forgotten." Georgetown Record, September 18, 2003; "A Time to Reflect." Georgetown Record, September 7, 2005.
[6] Elaine Sciolino and John H. Cushman Jr., "A Route out of Washington, Horribly Changed." New York Times, September 13, 2001.
[7] "Pilot: Jason Dahl." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 28, 2001; Jane Pauley, "No Greater Love." NBC News, September 11, 2006.
[8] Susan Besze Wallace, "Legacy of Sept. 11 Pilot Comforts Widow." Denver Post, December 16, 2001; Jere Longman, Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew Who Fought Back. New York: HarperCollins, 2002, p. 1.
[9] "Last-Minute Pilots, Passengers, and Flight Attendants: The Unexplained Oddity of 9/11." Shoestring 9/11, March 31, 2008.

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