9/11 FEITEN: toevallige oefeningen?

9/11 er komen steeds meer nieuwe feiten boven water naarmate de jaren verstrijken.

Bijgaand een overzichtje van oefeningen die zijn gehouden in de aanloop naar 9/11

Let op Bin Laden in JUNI 2001




Van véél van deze oefeningen werd in eerste instantie het bestaan ontkend, en pas na verklaringen van betrokken medewerkers werd er langzaam maar zeker meer informatie openbaar.


een overzichtje van FEITEN:



Between 1991 and 2001: NORAD Exercise Simulates Crash into Famous US Building


At some point between 1991 and 2001, a regional NORAD sector holds an exercise simulating a foreign hijacked airliner crashing into a prominent building in the United States, the identity of which is classified. According to military officials, the building is not the World Trade Center or the Pentagon. The exercise involves some flying of military aircraft, plus a “command post exercise” where communication procedures are rehearsed in an office environment. [CNN, 4/19/04]

People and organizations involved: North American Aerospace Defense Command





1991: White House Is Protected From Airplane Attack During Gulf War


Time magazine reports in 1994, “During the Gulf War, uniformed air-defense teams could be seen patrolling the top floor [of the White House] with automatic rifles or shoulder-mounted ground-to-air missiles.” [Time, 9/26/94] While a battery of surface-to-air-missiles remains permanently on the roof of the White House, the rest of these defenses are apparently removed after the war is over. [Daily Telegraph, 9/16/01] Yet even though counterterrorism officials later call the alerts in the summer of 2001 “the most urgent in decades,” similar defensive measures will apparently not be taken. [9/11 Congressional Inquiry Report, 9/18/02]





May 19, 1997: Military Review Suggests Cutting Fighter Protection Over US; Several Bases Are Discontinued


Secretary of Defense William Cohen issues a comprehensive assessment of America's defense requirements, called the Report of the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). This is a six-month analysis of the “threats, risks and opportunities for US national security,” and reviews all aspects of the US defense strategy. [Department of Defense, 5/19/97] Amongst other things, the 1997 QDR outlines the conversion of six continental air defense squadrons to general purpose, training or other missions. It calls for there being just four “alert” air defense sites around the US: at Otis, Massachusetts; Homestead, Florida; Riverside, California; and Portland, Oregon. [Report of the Quadrennial Defense Review, 5/97; Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, p. 34] Major General Larry Arnold, who is commanding general of NORAD's Continental Region on 9/11, later says, “The QDR didn't make any sense at all. � [T]here was a fight just to maintain the number of alert sites that we had. We felt we could operate fairly reasonably with about 10 sites and thought eight was the absolute highest risk we could take.” NORAD Commander in Chief General Howell M. Estes III has written to the Joint Chiefs of Staff that a minimum of seven alert sites are needed to maintain America's air sovereignty. In the end, three extra alert sites are added to the four suggested in the QDR. These are at Hampton, Virginia.; Panama City, Florida.; and Ellington, Texas. Larry Arnold later says: “I didn't feel particularly comfortable with seven [alert sites] because there are great large distances between the alert sites.” [Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, p. 36] Other bases will lose their NORAD air defense functions over the next year, including those in Fresno, California; Fargo, North Dakota; Duluth, Minnesota; Burlington, Vermont; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Great Falls, Montana. [Report of the Quadrennial Defense Review, 5/97] Of these closed bases, the most critical loss on 9/11 will be the Atlantic City, New Jersey, base, located about halfway between New York City and Washington. Boston air traffic control, apparently unaware the base has lost its air defense function will try and fail to contact the base shortly after learning about the first hijacking of the morning, Flight 11 (see (8:34 a.m.)).

People and organizations involved: Howell M. Estes III, William S. Cohen, Larry Arnold





1998: Training Exercise Held at the White House, Based Around Militants Using a Plane as a Weapon


Counterterrorism “tsar” Richard Clarke chairs a tabletop exercise at the White House, involving a scenario where anti-American militants fill a Learjet with explosives, and then fly it on a suicide mission toward a target in Washington, DC. Officials from the Pentagon, Secret Service, and FAA attend, and are asked how they would stop such a threat. Pentagon officials say they could launch fighters from Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, but would need authorization from the president to shoot the plane down, and currently there is no system to do this. The 9/11 Commission later states: “There was no clear resolution of the problem at the exercise.” [Slate, 7/22/04; 9/11 Commission Final Report, 7/24/04, pp. 345 & 457-458]

People and organizations involved: Federal Aviation Administration, US Department of Defense, Secret Service, Richard A. Clarke, Langley Air Force Base





Between 1999 and September 11, 2001: NORAD Practices Live-Fly Mock Shootdown of a Poison-Filled Jet


At some point during the two-year period preceding 9/11, NORAD fighters perform a mock shootdown over the Atlantic Ocean of a jet loaded with chemical poisons heading toward the US. [USA Today, 4/18/04]

People and organizations involved: North American Aerospace Defense Command





1999-September 11, 2001: NORAD Exercise Simulates Crashes into US Buildings; One of Them Is the World Trade Center


According to USA Today, “In the two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the North American Aerospace Defense Command conduct[s] exercises simulating what the White House [later] says was unimaginable at the time: hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into targets and cause mass casualties.” One of these imagined targets is the World Trade Center. According to NORAD, these scenarios are regional drills, rather than regularly scheduled continent-wide exercises. They utilize “[n]umerous types of civilian and military aircraft” as mock hijacked aircraft, and test “track detection and identification; scramble and interception; hijack procedures; internal and external agency coordination; and operational security and communications security procedures.” The main difference between these drills and the 9/11 attacks is that the planes in the drills are coming from another country, rather than from within the US. Before 9/11, NORAD reportedly conducts four major exercises at headquarters level per year. Most of them are said to include a hijack scenario (see Before September 11, 2001). [CNN, 4/19/04; USA Today, 4/18/04]

People and organizations involved: World Trade Center, North American Aerospace Defense Command





Between October 24 and 28, 2000: Military Holds Exercise Rehearsing Response to a Plane Crash at the Pentagon


Pentagon and Arlington County emergency responders assemble in the office of the Secretary of Defense�s conference room in the Pentagon for a mass casualty exercise (“MASCAL”). The exercise involves three mock-scenarios. One is of a commercial airliner crashing into the Pentagon and killing 342 people, while the other two involve a terrorist attack at the Pentagon�s subway stop and a construction accident. The exercises are conducted using a large-scale model of the Pentagon with a model airplane literally on fire in the central courtyard of the building. An Army medic who participates in the mock attack calls it “a real good scenario and one that could happen easily,” while a fire chief notes: “You have to plan for this. Look at all the air traffic around here.” [9/11 Commission Final Report, 7/04, pp 314; UPI, 4/22/04; MDW News Service, 11/3/00; Daily Mirror, 5/24/02]

People and organizations involved: US Department of Defense, Pentagon





April 17-26, 2001: Joint Chiefs of Staff Holds Exercise for Continuity of Government if US is Attacked; Proposal to Simulate Airliner Crash into Pentagon Rejected


The Joint Chiefs of Staff holds a large, worldwide exercise called Positive Force, which focuses on the Defense Department's ability to conduct large-scale military operations and coordinate these operations. [CJCSI, 8/14/00] The 2001 Positive Force exercise is a “continuity of operations exercise,” meaning it deals with government contingency plans to keep working in the event of an attack on the US. [Guardian, 4/15/04] Over a dozen government agencies, including NORAD, are invited to participate. The exercise prepares them for various scenarios, including non-combatant evacuation operations, cyber attacks, rail disruption, and power outages. [Provider Update, 10/01; GlobalSecurity [.org], 6/09/02] Apparently, one of the scenarios that was considered for this exercise involved “a terrorist group hijack[ing] a commercial airliner and fly[ing] it into the Pentagon.” But the proposed scenario, thought up by a group of Special Operations personnel trained to think like terrorists, was rejected. Joint Staff action officers and White House officials said the additional scenario is either “too unrealistic” or too disconnected to the original intent of the exercise. [Guardian, 4/15/04; Boston Herald, 4/14/04; New York Times, 4/14/04; Washington Post, 4/14/04 (G); Air Force Times, 4/13/04]

People and organizations involved: Bush administration, US Department of Defense, Pentagon





May 2001: Medics Train for Airplane Hitting Pentagon


The Tri-Service DiLorenzo Health Care Clinic and the Air Force Flight Medicine Clinic, both housed within the Pentagon, train for a scenario involving a hijacked 757 airliner being crashed into the Pentagon. It is reported that the purpose of the training is “to fine-tune their emergency preparedness.” [US Medicine, 10/01]

People and organizations involved: Tri-Service DiLorenzo Health Care Clinic, Pentagon, Air Force Flight Medicine Clinic





May 11, 2001: New York City Practices for Biological Terrorist Attack


New York City's Office of Emergency Management (OEM), which is located in World Trade Center Building 7, organizes a bio-terrorism drill where militant extremists attack the city with bubonic plague and Manhattan is quarantined. The “tabletop exercise” is called RED Ex—meaning “Recognition, Evaluation, and Decision-Making Exercise” —and involves about seventy different entities, agencies, and locales from the New York area. Federal legislation adopted in 1997 requires federal, state, and local authorities to conduct regular exercises as part of the Domestic Preparedness Program (DPP). The US Defense Department chose New York City as the venue for RED Ex due to its size, prominence, and level of emergency preparedness. Various high-level officials take part, including Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, OEM Director Richard Sheirer, Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, and Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik. Agencies and organizations that participate include New York City Fire Department, New York City Police Department, the FBI, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The exercise is supposedly so intense that, according to one participant, “five minutes into that drill, everybody forgot it was a drill.” [New York City Government, 5/11/01; New York City Government, 9/5/01, pp 74; New York Sun, 12/20/03; 9/11 Commission, 5/18/04] According to OEM Director Richard Sheirer, “Operation RED Ex provided a proving ground and a great readiness training exercise for the many challenges the city routinely faces, such as weather events, heat emergencies, building collapses, fires, and public safety and health issues.” [New York City Government, 5/11/01] In his prepared testimony before the 9/11 Commission, Bernard Kerik later states: “The City, through its OEM, had coordinated plans for many types of emergencies; and those plans were tested frequently.” The types of emergencies they prepared for, he states, included “building collapses” and “plane crashes.” [Kerik Testimony, 5/18/04] Considering Richard Sheirer's comments, RED Ex appears to be one example where the city tests for building collapses. Details about training for airplanes crashing into New York City remain unknown. The second part of this exercise, called Tripod, is scheduled to take place in New York on September 12, 2001, but is cancelled due to the 9/11 attacks.

People and organizations involved: Rudolph ("Rudy") Giuliani, Bernard Kerik, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York City Fire Department, New York City Police Department, US Department of Defense, National Air College, World Trade Center





Summer 2001: Pentagon's Police Force Holds Various, Unknown Emergency Drills


The Pentagon's police force, the Defense Protective Service (DPS), conducts emergency drills throughout summer 2001. Some members of the DPS subsequently assist in directing rescue efforts at the Pentagon on 9/11. [Los Angeles Times, 9/13/01 (C)]





June 1-2, 2001: Military Conducts Exercises Based on Scenario in which Cruise Missiles Are Launched against US


Bin Laden is pictured on the cover of the first Amalgam Virgo exercise.
The US military conducts Amalgam Virgo 01, a multi-agency planning exercise sponsored by NORAD involving the hypothetical scenario of a cruise missile being launched by “a rogue [government] or somebody” from a barge off the East Coast. Bin Laden is pictured on the cover of the proposal for the exercise. [American Forces Press Service, 6/4/02] The exercise takes place at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. [Global Security, 4/14/02] The next Amalgam Virgo exercise, scheduled to take place the following year, will involve two simultaneous commercial aircraft hijackings. Planning for the exercises begins before 9/11 (see Before September 11, 2001).

People and organizations involved: Osama bin Laden, US Department of Defense, North American Aerospace Defense Command





June 16, 2001: Major Simulated Terrorist Attack Exercise is Held in Pennsylvania


A major training exercise based upon a simulated terrorist attack is held in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, which neighbors Somerset County where Flight 93 crashes on 9/11. The exercise, called Mall Strike 2001, is conducted in Greengate Mall, Hempfield, and involves over 600 emergency first responders and emergency managers responding to the simulated release of a toxic chemical agent and the simulated release of radiation and radiological contamination. [Westmoreland County Annual Financial Report, 2001; Connellsville Daily Courier, 9/11/02] Mall Strike is organized by the Pennsylvania Region 13 Working Group: a 13-county organization that began preparing for terrorist attacks in 1998. When Flight 93 crashes on September 11, the Region 13 Working Group's chair immediately contacts other members of the group and emergency teams are quickly deployed to the crash site. The group's four years of preparing and working together “allowed them to develop and train teams that could work efficiently together during an event of this magnitude.” [Department of Homeland Security, 3/12/03]

People and organizations involved: Mall Strike 2001





July 2001: MASCAL Training Exercise Held at Fort Belvoir


A MASCAL (mass casualty) training exercise is held at Fort Belvoir. It is “designed to enhance the first ready response in dealing with the effects of a terrorist incident involving an explosion.” [MDW News Service, 7/5/01]

People and organizations involved: Fort Belvoir





Early August 2001: Mass Casualty Exercise at the Pentagon Includes a Plane Hitting the Building


A mass casualty exercise, involving a practice evacuation, is held at the Pentagon. General Lance Lord of US Air Force Space Command, one of the participants in the exercises, later recalls: “[It was] purely a coincidence, the scenario for that exercise included a plane hitting the building.” Lord will also say that on 9/11, “our assembly points were fresh in our minds” thanks to this practice. [Air Force Space Command News Service, 9/5/02]

People and organizations involved: Lance Lord, Pentagon





Late August-Early December 2001: Fighters from Langley Air Force Base Deployed to Iceland for Operation Northern Guardian


In late August 2001, two-thirds of the 27th Fighter Squadron are sent overseas. Six of the squadron's fighters and 115 people go to Turkey to enforce the no-fly zone over northern Iraq as part of Operation Northern Watch. Another six fighters and 70 people are sent to Iceland to participate in “Operation Northern Guardian.” The fighter groups will not return to Langley until early December. [Flyer, 7/1/03] (Note that the word “operation” specifies that Operation Northern Guardian and Northern Watch are not exercises, but actual military actions or missions. [Defense Department, 11/30/04; CJCSM, 4/23/98] ) Operation Northern Guardian is based at Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland, the host command for the NATO base in that country. The US sometimes assists Iceland with extra military forces in reaction to Russian military maneuvers in the region. Approximately 1,800 US military personnel and 100 Defense Department civilians are involved. [GlobalSecurity [.org], 4/9/02; Iceland Defense Force website, 6/30/04; Flyer, 6/4/04] The 27th is one of three F-15 fighter squadrons that make up the 1st Fighter Wing, the “host unit” at Langley Air Force Base in Langley, Virginia. The other two are the 71st and 94th Fighter Squadrons. [GlobalSecurity [.org], 8/02/04; Langley Air Force Base, 11/03] Langley is one of two “alert” sites that can be called upon by NORAD for missions in the northeast region of the US. [9/11 Commission Report, 6/17/04] Langley's 71st Fighter Squadron also participates in Operation Northern Watch and Operation Northern Guardian at some (unstated) time during 2001. [Air Combat Command News Service, 6/13/02] Whether this deployment of fighters diminishes Langley's ability to respond on 9/11 is unknown. However, Air Force units are cycled through deployments like operations Northern and Southern Watch by the Aerospace Expeditionary Force (AEF) Center, which is at Langley Air Force Base. [GlobalSecurity [.org] Aerospace Expeditionary Force page, 04/26/05; CJCSM, 4/23/98] And according to NORAD Commander Larry Arnold, “Prior to Sept. 11, we'd been unsuccessful in getting the AEF Center to be responsible for relieving our air defense units when they went overseas.” [Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, pp 99]

People and organizations involved: US Department of Defense, 27th Fighter Squadron, 71st Fighter Squadron, Operation Northern Guardian, Operation Northern Watch, 94th Fighter Squadron, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Langley Air Force Base





September 5, 2001: US Army Bases Implement ‘Full Access Control’


Fort Myer and Fort Lesley J. McNair, both within two miles of the Pentagon, implement “full access control,” which means they increase the level of military police surveillance of those who enter them. These measures, being taken throughout the US Army, allow commanders to know who is entering their installations 24 hours a day and adjust their security measures immediately as needed. [MDW News Service, 8/3/01]

People and organizations involved: Fort Lesley J. McNair, Fort Myer





September 8, 2001: High Level Air Force Discussions Call for Dismantling NORAD's Alert Sites


The future of “continental air sovereignty” over America is in doubt. Discussions at the Air Force's highest levels call for the dismantling of NORAD's seven “alert” sites around the US and its command and control structure. [Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, p. 149] Earlier in the summer of 2001, “a reduction in air defenses had been gaining currency in recent months among task forces assigned by [Defense Secretary] Rumsfeld to put together recommendations for a reassessment of the military.”(see Summer 2001)

People and organizations involved: North American Aerospace Defense Command, US Department of the Air Force





Before September 11, 2001: NORAD Plans a Mock Simultaneous Hijacking Threat from Inside the US


NORAD plans for the Amalgam Virgo 2 exercise. The exercise, scheduled for June 2002, involves two simultaneous commercial aircraft hijackings. One, a Delta 757, with actual Delta pilots and actors posing as passengers, will fly from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Honolulu, Hawaii. It will be “hijacked” by FBI agents posing as terrorists. The other will be a DC-9 hijacked by Canadian police near Vancouver, British Columbia. US and Canadian fighters are to respond and attempt to escort the hijacked planes to airfields in British Columbia and Alaska. But they possibly could “mock” shoot down the aircraft. [American Forces Press Service, 6/4/02; CNN, 6/4/02 (B); USA Today, 4/18/04] USA Today will note that this is an exception to NORAD's claim that the agency focused only on external threats to the US and did not consider the possibility of threats arising from within the US. [USA Today, 4/18/04] 9/11 Commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste will similarly comment that this planned exercise shows that despite frequent comments to the contrary, the military considered simultaneous hijackings before 9/11. [9/11 Commission Report, 5/23/03]

People and organizations involved: North American Aerospace Defense Command, Richard Ben-Veniste





Before September 11, 2001: US Government Prepares for Hijackings, Some of Them Involving Multiple-Planes


According to an FBI official interviewed by journalist Seymour Hersh, for several years prior to 9/11, the US government reportedly plans for “simulated terrorist attacks, including scenarios [involving] multiple-plane hijackings.” This presumably refers to more than just the Amalgam Virgo 02 (see Before September 11, 2001) exercise, which is based on the scenario of two planes being simultaneously hijacked. [New Yorker, 9/24/01] Similarly, NORAD will tell USA Today that before 9/11, it normally conducted four major exercises each year at headquarters level. Most of them include a hijack scenario, the newspaper reports [USA Today, 4/18/04] , and some of them were apparently quite similar to the 9/11 attacks (see Between 1991 and 2001) (see 1999-September 11, 2001).

People and organizations involved: United States, North American Aerospace Defense Command





Early Morning September 11, 2001: Medic Is Studying a Medical Emergency Disaster Plan for a Plane Crash at the Pentagon


Sergeant Matt Rosenberg, an army medic at the Pentagon, is studying “a new medical emergency disaster plan based on the unlikely scenario of an airplane crashing into the place.” [Washington Post, 9/16/01] The day before, Rosenberg later recalls in an interview with the Office of Medical History, he called the FBI with questions about who would have medical jurisdiction if such an event were to take place. “Believe it or not, the day prior to the incident, I was just on the phone with the FBI, and we were talking ‘so who has command should this happen, who has the medical jurisdiction, who does this, who does that,’ and we talked about it and talked about it, and he helped me out a lot. And then the next day, during the incident, I actually found him. He was out there on the incident that day.” [Office of Medical History, 9/04, pp 9]

People and organizations involved: Pentagon, Federal Bureau of Investigation





(6:30 a.m.): NORAD on Alert for Emergency Exercises


Dawne Deskins.
Lieutenant Colonel Dawne Deskins and other day shift employees at NEADS start their workday. NORAD is conducting a weeklong, large-scale exercise called Vigilant Guardian. [Newhouse News Service, 1/25/02] Deskins is regional mission crew chief for the Vigilant Guardian exercise. [ABC News, 9/11/02] Vigilant Guardian is described as “an exercise that would pose an imaginary crisis to North American Air Defense outposts nationwide”; as a “simulated air war”; and as “an air defense exercise simulating an attack on the United States.” According to the 9/11 Commission, it “postulated a bomber attack from the former Soviet Union.” [Newhouse News, 1/25/02; Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, pp 55 and 122; 9/11 Commission Final Report, 7/04, pp 458] Vigilant Guardian is described as being held annually, and is one of NORAD's four major annual exercises. [Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, pp 41; Code Names, by William M. Arkin, 1/05, pp 545; GlobalSecurity [.org] Vigilant Guardian page, 4/14/02] However, another report says it takes place semi-annually. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] Accounts by participants vary on whether 9/11 was the second, third, or fourth day of the exercise. [Code One Magazine, 1/02; Newhouse News Service, 1/25/02; Ottawa Citizen, 9/11/02] Vigilant Guardian is a command post exercise (CPX), and in at least some previous years was conducted in conjunction with Stratcom's Global Guardian exercise and a US Space Command exercise called Apollo Guardian. [Committee on Armed Services, undated; Code Names, by William M. Arkin, 1/05, pp 545; GlobalSecurity [.org] Vigilant Guardian page, 4/14/02] All of NORAD is participating in Vigilant Guardian on 9/11. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] At NEADS, most of the dozen or so staff on the operations floor have no idea what the exercise is going to entail and are ready for anything. [Utica Observer-Dispatch, 8/5/04] NORAD is also running a real-world operation named Operation Northern Vigilance. NORAD is thus fully staffed and alert, and senior officers are manning stations throughout the US. The entire chain of command is in place and ready when the first hijacking is reported. An article later says, “In retrospect, the exercise would prove to be a serendipitous enabler of a rapid military response to terrorist attacks on September 11.” [Bergen Record, 12/5/03; Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] Colonel Robert Marr, in charge of NEADS, says, “We had the fighters with a little more gas on board. A few more weapons on board.” [ABC News, 9/11/02] However, Deskins and other NORAD officials later are initially confused about whether the 9/11 attacks are real or part of the exercise. There is a National Reconnaissance Office exercise planned to occur as well (see 9:00 a.m.), involving a scenario of an airplane as a flying weapon. [Associated Press, 8/21/02; UPI, 8/22/02]

People and organizations involved: Northeast Air Defense Sector, Dawne Deskins, Robert Marr, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Vigilant Guardian, Operation Northern Vigilance





8:30 a.m.: Army Base Near Pentagon Holds Terrorist Attack Exercise


At Fort Belvoir, an army base 10 miles south of the Pentagon, Lt. Col. Mark R. Lindon is conducting a “garrison control exercise” when the 9/11 attacks begin. The object of this exercise is to “test the security at the base in case of a terrorist attack.” Lindon later says, “I was out checking on the exercise and heard about the World Trade Center on my car radio. As soon as it was established that this was no accident, we went to a complete security mode.” Staff Sgt. Mark Williams of the Military District of Washington Engineer Company at Fort Belvoir also later says: “Ironically, we were conducting classes about rescue techniques when we were told of the planes hitting the World Trade Center.” Williams' team is one of the first response groups to arrive at the site of the Pentagon crash and one of the first to enter the building following the attack. [Connection Newspapers, 9/5/02] A previous MASCAL (mass casualty) training exercise was held at Fort Belvoir a little over two months earlier (see July 2001). It was “designed to enhance the first ready response in dealing with the effects of a terrorist incident involving an explosion.” [MDW News Service, 7/5/01]

People and organizations involved: Fort Belvoir, World Trade Center, Mark Williams, Mark R. Lindon





8:30 a.m.: FBI/CIA Anti-Terrorist Task Force Away From Washington on Training Exercise in California


USA Today reports that at this time, “a joint FBI/CIA anti-terrorist task force that specifically prepared for this type of disaster” is on a “training exercise in Monterey, Calif.” Consequently, “as of late Tuesday, with airports closed around the country, the task force still [hasn]'t found a way to fly back to Washington.” [USA Today, 9/11/01] The US politics website evote.com adds that the FBI has deployed “all of its anti-terrorist and top special operations agents at a training exercise (complete with all associated helicopters and light aircraft) in Monterey, California.” So at the time of the attacks, “the chief federal agency responsible for preventing such crimes [is] being AWOL.” [Evote [.com], 9/11/01]

People and organizations involved: Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation





8:30 a.m.: US Military Holding ‘Practice Armageddon’ Nationwide Training Exercise


As the 9/11 attacks are taking place, a large military training exercise called Global Guardian is said to be “in full swing.” It has been going on since the previous week. [Omaha World-Herald, 9/10/02; Omaha World-Herald, 2/27/02] Global Guardian is an annual exercise sponsored by US Strategic Command (Stratcom) in cooperation with US Space Command and NORAD. One military author defines Stratcom as “the single US military command responsible for the day-to-day readiness of America's nuclear forces.” [Arkin, 2005, pp 59] Global Guardian is a global readiness exercise involving all Stratcom forces and aims to test Stratcom's ability to fight a nuclear war. It is one of many “practice Armageddons” that the US military routinely stages. [Omaha World-Herald, 2/27/02; Omaha World-Herald, 9/10/02; Associated Press, 2/21/02 (B); Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 11/12/97] It links with a number of other military exercises, including Crown Vigilance (an Air Combat Command exercise), Apollo Guardian (a US Space Command exercise), and NORAD exercises Vigilant Guardian and Amalgam Warrior [Defense Department, 5/97; GlobalSecurity [.org], 10/10/02] Global Guardian is both a command post and field training exercise, and is based around a fictitious scenario designed to test the ability of Stratcom and its component forces to deter a military attack against the US. Hundreds of military personnel are involved. [Committee on Armed Services, 2000; Times-Picayune, 9/8/02; Collins Center, 12/99] According to a 1998 Internet article by the British American Security Information Council—an independent research organization—Global Guardian is held in October or November each year. [BASIC, 10/98] In his book Code Names, NBC News military analyst William Arkin dates this exercise for October 22-31, 2001. [Arkin, 2005, pp 379] And a military newspaper reported in March 2001 that Global Guardian was scheduled for October 2001. [Space Observer, 3/23/01, pp 2] If this is correct, then some time after March, the exercise must have been rescheduled for early September. Furthermore, there may be another important facet to Global Guardian. A 1998 Defense Department newsletter reported that for several years Stratcom had been incorporating a computer network attack (CNA) into Global Guardian. The attack involved Stratcom “red team” members and other organizations acting as enemy agents, and included attempts to penetrate the Command using the Internet and a “bad” insider who had access to a key command and control system. The attackers “war dialed” the phones to tie them up and sent faxes to numerous fax machines throughout the Command. They also claimed they were able to shut down Stratcom's systems. Reportedly, Stratcom planned to increase the level of computer network attack in future Global Guardian exercises. [IAnewsletter, 6/98] It is not currently known if a computer attack was incorporated into Global Guardian in 2001 or what its possible effects on the country's air defense system would have been if such an attack was part of the exercise.

People and organizations involved: North American Aerospace Defense Command, US Department of Defense, US Space Command, Global Guardian, Amalgam Warrior, Apollo Guardian, US Strategic Command, Crown Vigilance, Vigilant Guardian





8:46 a.m.: Fighters Are Training over North Carolina; Not Recalled to Washington Until Much Later


At the time of the first WTC crash, three F-16s assigned to Andrews Air Force Base, ten miles from Washington, are flying an air-to-ground training mission to drop some bombs and hit a refueling tanker, on a range in North Carolina, 207 miles away from their base. However, it is only when they are halfway back to Andrews that lead pilot Major Billy Hutchison is able to talk to the acting supervisor of flying at Andrews, Lt. Col. Phil Thompson, who tells him to return to the base “buster” (as fast as his aircraft will fly). After landing back at Andrews, Hutchison is told to take off immediately, and does so at 10:33 a.m. The other two pilots, Marc Sasseville and Heather Penney, take off from Andrews at 10:42 a.m., after having their planes loaded with 20mm training rounds. These three pilots will therefore not be patrolling the skies above Washington until after about 10:45 a.m. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/02; Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, p. 56] F-16s can travel at a maximum speed of 1,500 mph. [Associated Press, 6/16/00] Traveling even at 1,100 mph (the speed NORAD Major General Larry Arnold says two fighters from Massachusetts travel toward Flight 175 [Slate, 1/16/02; MSNBC, 9/23/01 (C)] ), at least one of these F-16s could have returned from North Carolina to Washington within ten minutes and started patrolling the skies well before 9:00 a.m.

People and organizations involved: Marc Sasseville, NBC, Heather Penney Garcia, Phil Thompson, Billy Hutchison





8:48 a.m.: Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, Preparing for Global Guardian Exercise When Attacks Start


Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana is an important node in the US Strategic Command (Stratcom) exercise Global Guardian (see 8:30 a.m.) on 9/11. Colonel Mike Reese, director of staff for the 8th Air Force, is monitoring several television screens at the base as part of the exercise when he sees CNN cut into coverage of the first World Trade Center crash, two minutes after it happens. He watches live when the second plane hits the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m. Reese says that at this point, “we knew it wasn't a mistake. Something grave was happening that put the nation's security at risk.” An article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune later recounts how awareness of the real attacks impacts those participating in the exercise: “Immediately [the Barksdale staff's] focus turned to defense, securing Barksdale, Minot [North Dakota], and Whiteman [Missouri] air force bases, where dozens of aircraft and hundreds of personnel were involved in the readiness exercise ‘Global Guardian.’ The exercise abruptly ended as the United States appeared to be at war within its own borders. Four A-10s, an aircraft not designed for air-to-air combat, from Barksdale's 47th Fighter Squadron, were placed on ‘cockpit alert,’ the highest state of readiness for fighter pilots. Within five minutes, the A-10s, equipped only with high intensity cannons, could have been launched to destroy unfriendly aircraft, even if it was a civilian passenger airliner.” Lt. Col. Edmund Walker, commander of the 47th Fighter Squadron, a novice pilot still in training, is sitting in his fighter along with other pilots in other fighters, ready to take off, when they are ordered back to the squadron office. They are told they are no longer practicing. Walker recalls, “We had to defend the base against any aircraft, airliner or civilian. We had no idea. Would it fly to the base and crash into the B-52s or A-10s on the flight line?” [Times-Picayune, 9/8/02] When President Bush's Air Force One takes off from Sarasota, Florida, at approximately 9:55 a.m., it has no destination, and circles over Florida aimlessly. But around 10:35 (see (10:35 a.m.)), it begins heading towards Barksdale Air Force Base. [CBS News, 9/11/02; Washington Post, 1/27/02] It finally arrives at Barksdale around 11:45 a.m. [Daily Telegraph, 12/16/01; CBS News, 9/11/02] It's never been explained exactly why Bush traveled from Florida to Barksdale. The Daily Telegraph has reported, “The official reason for landing at Barksdale was that President Bush felt it necessary to make a further statement, but it isn't unreasonable to assume that—as there was no agreement as to what the President's movements should be—it was felt he might as well be on the ground as in the air.” [Daily Telegraph, 12/16/01]

People and organizations involved: Global Guardian, Mike Reese, Eni, James O. Ellis Jr, Offutt Air Force Base





Before 9:00 a.m.: Army Base Outside New York Prepares for Terrorist Attack Exercise


Staff at Fort Monmouth, an Army base in New Jersey located about 50 miles south of New York City, is preparing to hold a “disaster drill” to test emergency response capabilities to a fake chemical attack. The exercise, called Timely Alert II, is to involve various law enforcement agencies and emergency personnel, including Fort Monmouth firefighters and members of the New Jersey State Police. Personnel are to be deployed and measures taken as in a real emergency. A notice has been sent out, warning that anyone not conducting official business will be turned away from Fort Monmouth during the exercise. Soon after 9 a.m., the exercise director tells a group of participating volunteers that a hijacked plane has crashed into the World Trade Center. The participants pretend to be upset, believing this is just part of the simulation. When they see the live televised footage of the WTC attacks, some people at the base think it is an elaborate training video to accompany the exercise. One worker tells a fire department training officer: “You really outdid yourself this time.” Interestingly, the follow-up exercise held in July 2002 (Timely Alert III) does incorporate simulated television news reports to give participants the impression that the emergency is real. And in the first Timely Alert exercise, held on the base in January 2001, a call had come through of a supposed “real” bomb situation, but this “fortunately turned out to be a report related to a training aid being used during the exercise.” On 9/11, Fort Monmouth is geared to go into high-alert status as part of Timely Alert II. The exercise is called off once the base is alerted to the real attacks. [Monmouth Message, 2/9/01; Hub, 9/21/01; Monmouth Message, 9/21/01; Asbury Park Press, 7/24/02; Monmouth Message, 9/12/03; US Army CECOM, 8/03; Monmouth Message, 8/23/02] Fort Monmouth is home to various Army, Defense Department, and other government agencies. The largest of these is the US Army's Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM). CECOM serves to “develop, acquire, field, and sustain superior information technologies and integrated systems for America's warfighters.” It is tasked with the “critical role of command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR).” [GlobalSecurity [.org], 8/02/04; CECOM brochure, 1/03; CECOM website, 4/17/02] Fort Monmouth services also directly assist in the emergency response later in the day. Its fire department deploys to Atlantic Highlands to assist passengers coming from Manhattan by ferry, and members of its Patterson Army Health Clinic are also sent out to help. Teams of CECOM experts from the base are later deployed to ground zero in New York with equipment capable of locating cellular phone transmissions within the ruins of the collapsed World Trade Center. Its explosive ordnance company is also deployed to assist authorities should they come across anything they think might be explosives, while digging through the debris in search of victims. [Monmouth Message, 9/21/01; Hub, 9/21/01 (B)]

People and organizations involved: Fort Monmouth, Timely Alert II, World Trade Center, Army's Communications-Electronics Command





Just Before 9:00 a.m.: Two Otis Fighters Take Off for Training Mission Over Ocean


A team in the 102nd Fighter Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, finishes loading dummy missiles onto two fighters that are going to fly a training mission over the Atlantic. They take off sometime before the second WTC tower is hit. Shortly after that hit, the fighters on the training mission are recalled. The implication is that the fighters are then refitted with actual weapons instead of dummy ones. [Cape Cod Times, 9/8/02] Otis is the base from which the two F-15s launch in response to the first hijacking (Flight 11) at roughly the same time. [9/11 Commission Report, 6/17/04] One of the pilots of these F-15s—nicknamed “Nasty” —is reportedly standing in for the usual “alert” pilot, who is “scheduled for training” on 9/11. [Cape Cod Times, 8/21/02]





9:00 a.m.: 9/11-Styled Simulation Cancelled


An “emergency response exercise” is scheduled to take place at 9 a.m. the morning of 9/11, involving the simulated crash of a small corporate jet plane into a government building. The exercise is to be conducted by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in Chantilly, Virginia—just four miles from Washington Dulles International Airport, from where Flight 77 took off, and 24 miles from the Pentagon. The NRO draws its personnel from the CIA and the military. The exercise is to involve the jet experiencing mechanical problems then crashing into one of the four towers at the NRO. In order to simulate the damage from the crash, some stairwells and exits are to be closed off, forcing NRO employees to find other ways to evacuate the building. However, according to an agency spokesman, “as soon as the real world events began, we cancelled the exercise.” After the attacks, most of the agency's 3,000 staff are supposedly sent home. [Associated Press, 8/21/02; UPI, 8/22/02; National Law Enforcement and Security Institute, 8/6/02]

People and organizations involved: National Reconnaissance Office





Before 9:00 a.m.: Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, is Directing Global Guardian Training Exercise


Admiral Richard Mies.
Offutt Air Force Base, near Omaha, Nebraska, appears to be the headquarters of the US Strategic Command (Stratcom) exercise Global Guardian that is “in full swing” when the 9/11 attacks begin. At least the director of the exercise, Admiral Richard Mies, commander in chief of Stratcom, is at Offutt this morning. [Omaha World-Herald, 9/10/02] Because of Global Guardian, bombers, missile crews, and submarines around America are all being directed from Stratcom's Command Center, a steel and concrete reinforced bunker below Offutt. [BBC, 9/1/02; Omaha World-Herald, 2/27/02; Omaha World-Herald, 9/10/02; Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 11/12/97; Associated Press, 2/21/02 (B)] This bunker is staffed with top personnel and they are at a heightened security mode because of the exercise. [Air Force Weather Observer, 7/02; Associated Press, 2/21/02 (B)] Because of Global Guardian, three special military command aircraft with sophisticated communications equipment, based at Offutt, are up in the air the morning of 9/11. These E-4B National Airborne Operations Center planes—nicknamed “Doomsday” planes during the Cold War—are intended to control nuclear forces from the air in times of crisis. They are capable of acting as alternative command posts for top government officials from where they can direct US forces, execute war orders and coordinate the actions of civil authorities in times of national emergency. The Federal Advisory Committee (whose chairman is retired Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft) is aboard one of these Doomsday planes, being brought to Offutt to observe the exercise. Media accounts indicate Global Guardian is cancelled at Offutt shortly after the second WTC tower is hit (at 9:03 a.m.), with staff switching to “real-world mode.” [Omaha World-Herald, 9/8/02; Defense Department, 1/9/02; Air Force Weather Observer, 7/02] However, even after Global Guardian is called off, the three E-4Bs remain airborne. [Omaha World-Herald, 2/27/02; BBC, 9/1/02] Also, the morning of 9/11, a small group of business leaders are at Offutt Air Force Base for a charity fundraiser event due to take place there later in the day, hosted by the multi-billionaire Warren Buffett. When the attacks begin, these visitors are having breakfast with Admiral Mies, the director of Global Guardian. After the second WTC tower is hit, Mies excuses himself from the group, presumably to assist in canceling the exercise. [Omaha World-Herald, 2/27/02; Omaha World-Herald, 9/10/02; San Francisco Business Times, 2/1/02]

People and organizations involved: Warren Buffet, Brent Scowcroft, Federal Advisory Committee, Richard Mies, Global Guardian





After 9:03 a.m.: NORAD Training Exercise Cancelled


NORAD Commander Larry Arnold later says that after Flight 175 hits the South Tower, “I thought it might be prudent to pull out of the exercise [presumably Vigilant Guardian (see (6:30 a.m.))], which we did.” He says: “As we pulled out of the exercise we were getting calls about United Flight 93 and we were worried about that.” Some early accounts say the military receives notification of the possible hijacking of Flight 93 at around 9:16 a.m. [CNN, 9/17/01; 9/11 Commission Report, 5/23/03] However, the 9/11 Commission later claims that the military first receives a call about Flight 93 at 10:07 a.m. [9/11 Commission Report, 6/17/04] Larry Arnold adds, “Then we had another call from Boston Center about a possible hijacking, but that turned out to be the airplane that had already hit the South Tower but we didn't know that at the time.” [Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, pp 59]

People and organizations involved: North American Aerospace Defense Command, Larry Arnold





(9:09 a.m. and After): Numerous False Reports of Hijacked Aircraft


According to the 9/11 Commission, “During the course of the morning, there were multiple erroneous reports of hijacked aircraft in the system.” [9/11 Commission Report, 6/17/04] Around 9:09 a.m., the FAA Command Center reports that 11 aircraft are either not communicating with FAA facilities or flying unexpected routes. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] NORAD's Major General Larry Arnold claims that during the “four-hour ordeal” of the attacks, a total of 21 planes are identified as possible hijackings. [Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, p. 71; Code One magazine, 1/02] Robert Marr, head of NEADS on 9/11, says, “At one time I was told that across the nation there were some 29 different reports of hijackings.” [Newhouse News Service, 3/31/05] It is later claimed that these false reports cause considerable chaos. Larry Arnold says that particularly during the time between the Pentagon being hit at 9:37 and Flight 93 going down at around 10:06, “a number of aircraft are being called possibly hijacked � There was a lot of confusion, as you can imagine.” [Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, pp 55,122; Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, pp 55,122] He says, “We were receiving many reports of hijacked aircraft. When we received those calls, we might not know from where the aircraft had departed. We also didn't know the location of the airplane.” [Code One magazine, 1/02] According to Robert Marr, “There were a number of false reports out there. What was valid? What was a guess? We just didn't know.” [Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, pp 73]

People and organizations involved: Larry Arnold, Federal Aviation Administration, Robert Marr





9:28 a.m.: NORAD Possibly Holding ‘Live-Fly’ Training Exercise


According to former counterterrorism “tsar” Richard Clarke, around this time the acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers tells him via video link: “We are in the middle of Vigilant Warrior, a NORAD exercise, but ... Otis [Air National Guard Base] has launched two birds toward New York.” [Clarke, 2004, pp 5] However, no other references have been found to this exercise, “Vigilant Warrior.” Considering that exercise terms are “normally an unclassified nickname,” [CJCSM, 4/23/98] this is perhaps a little odd. Could Richard Clarke have mistakenly been referring to the Vigilant Guardian exercise (see (6:30 a.m.)), which is taking place on 9/11? According to a later news report though, NORAD confirms that “it was running two mock drills on Sept. 11 at various radar sites and Command Centers in the United States and Canada,” one of these being Vigilant Guardian. [New Jersey Star-Ledger, 12/5/03] If this is correct then there must be another NORAD exercise on 9/11. If not “Vigilant Warrior,” a possibility is that the exercise referred to by Richard Clarke is in fact “Amalgam Warrior,” which is a NORAD-sponsored, large-scale, live-fly air defense and air intercept field training exercise. Amalgam Warrior usually involves two or more NORAD regions and is held twice yearly, in the spring for the West Coast and in the autumn for the East Coast. [Airman, 1996; GlobalSecurity [.org], 4/14/02; Committee on Armed Services, 2000; Arkin, 2005, pp 254] Is it possible that in 2001 the East Coast Amalgam Warrior is being held earlier than usual (like Global Guardian (see 8:30 a.m.)) and is taking place on 9/11? In support of this possibility is a 1997 Defense Department report that describes the Stratcom exercise Global Guardian, saying it “links with other exercise activities sponsored by the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Unified Commands.” The exercises it links with are Crown Vigilance (an Air Combat Command exercise), Apollo Guardian (a US Space Command exercise), and—significantly—the NORAD exercises Vigilant Guardian and Amalgam Warrior. [GlobalSecurity [.org], 10/10/02; Defense Department, 5/97] Since in 2001, Vigilant Guardian (see (6:30 a.m.)) is occurring the same time as Global Guardian, might Amalgam Warrior be as well? In his book Code Names, William Arkin says that Amalgam Warrior is “sometimes combined with Global Guardian.” [Arkin, 2005, pp 254] Amalgam Warrior tests such activities as tracking, surveillance, air interception, employing rules of engagement, attack assessment, electronic warfare, and counter-cruise-missile operations. A previous Amalgam Warrior in 1996 involved such situations as tracking unknown aircraft that had incorrectly filed their flight plans or wandered off course, in-flight emergencies, terrorist aircraft attacks, and large-scale bomber strike missions. Amalgam Warrior 98-1 was NORAD's largest ever exercise and involved six B-1B bombers being deployed to Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, to act as an enemy threat by infiltrating the aerial borders of North America. [Arkin, 2005, pp 254; Airman, 1/96; GlobalSecurity [.org], 4/14/02] Another Amalgam Warrior in fall 2000 similarly involved four B-1 bombers acting as enemy forces trying to invade Alaska, with NORAD going from tracking the unknown aircraft to sending up “alert” F-15s in response. [Eielson News Service, 10/27/00; Associated Press, 10/29/00] If either one (or both) of these exercises ending with the name “Warrior” is taking place on 9/11, this could be very significant, because the word “Warrior” indicates that the exercise is a Joint Chiefs of Staff-approved, Commander in Chief, NORAD-sponsored field training exercise. [NORAD, 8/25/89] Real planes would be pretending to be threats to the US and real fighters would be deployed to defend against them.

People and organizations involved: Ellington Air National Guard Base, Vigilant Guardian, Richard B. Myers, Amalgam Warrior, US Department of Defense, Richard A. Clarke, North American Aerospace Defense Command





Before 9:37 a.m.: Army Base near Pentagon Holding Air Field Fire Fighting Training


At the Education Center at Fort Myer, an army base 1.5 miles northwest of the Pentagon, the base's firefighters are undertaking training variously described as “an airport rescue firefighters class”; “an aircraft crash refresher class”; “a week-long class on Air Field Fire Fighting”; and a “training exercise in airport emergency operations.” Despite hearing of the first WTC crash during a break, with no access to a TV, the class simply continues with its training. According to Bruce Surette, who is attending the session: “We had heard some radio transmissions from some other units in Arlington about how they thought they had a plane down here or a plane down there. So you're thinking, ‘Hey this could be real.’ But it really didn't strike home as being real until our guy came on the radio and said where the plane crash was.” The Fort Myer firefighters then immediately head for the Pentagon, arriving there at 9:40 a.m., only three minutes after it is hit, and participate in the firefighting and rescue effort there. The fire station at the Pentagon heliport is actually operated by the Fort Myer Fire Department, and is manned on the morning of 9/11 by three Fort Myer firefighters who have already undertaken the airfield firefighting training. [Arlington County After-Action Report, 7/02; First Due News, 4/1703; JEMS, 4/02; MDW News Service, 10/4/01; Pentagram, 11/2/01] The Fort Myer military community, which includes Fort Myer and Fort Lesley J. McNair—another army base, just two miles east of the Pentagon—was scheduled to hold a “force protection exercise” the week after 9/11. However this has been cancelled, so just prior to the attacks the morning of September 11, “some of its participants [are] breathing a sigh of relief.” [Pentagram, 9/14/01]

People and organizations involved: Pentagon, Fort Myer





Before 9:55 a.m.: AWACS Planes on Training Missions in Florida and Near Washington, DC


While President Bush is still in Sarasota, an AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System plane) is flying a training mission off the coast of Florida. Referring to the AWACS plane, NORAD Commander Larry Arnold later says: “I had set up an arrangement with their wing commander at Tinker [Air Force Base, Oklahoma] some months earlier for us to divert their AWACS off a normal training mission to go into an exercise scenario simulating an attack on the United States. The AWACS crew initially thought we were going into one of those simulations.” Another AWACS is also flying a training mission, near Washington, DC, the morning of 9/11. [Code One magazine, 1/02]

People and organizations involved: Larry Arnold





After 9:55 a.m.: Ellington Fighters Airborne on Local Training Mission


Two F-16s from the 147th Fighter Wing, Ellington Air National Guard Base, Texas, are said to be already airborne on a local training mission when they are instructed to escort Air Force One after it departs Sarasota, Florida, with President Bush on board. [American Defender, 12/01; Code One magazine, 1/02]

People and organizations involved: Ellington Air National Guard Base, George W. Bush, 147th Fighter Wing





2:50 p.m.: Bush Arrives in Nebraska; Enters Strategic Command Center


Having left Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana at around 1:30 p.m. (see (1:30 p.m.)), Air Force One lands at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska. President Bush stays on the plane for about ten minutes before entering the United States Strategic Command bunker at 3:06 p.m. [Daily Telegraph, 12/16/01; Salon, 9/12/01 (B)] Offutt Air Force Base appears to be the headquarters of the US Strategic Command (Stratcom) exercise Global Guardian that was “in full swing” at the time the attacks began (see 8:30 a.m.). While there, the president spends time in the underground Command Center from where Global Guardian was earlier being directed, being brought up to date on the attacks and their aftermath. [Washington Times, 10/8/02; Omaha World-Herald, 2/27/02; Daily Telegraph, 12/16/01]

People and organizations involved: Offutt Air Force Base, George W. Bush

quote:

Op donderdag 9 maart 2006 04:46 schreef Clourhide het volgende:
Dus ga er maar vanuit dat het grote deel van wat je hier uitbraakt nergens op slaat.

Ik heb het hier over gedocumenteerde FEITEN die door betreffende overheids-instanties zijn gepubliceerd.

Doe even normaal voordat je "fake" begint te roepen wil je?

quote:

Op donderdag 9 maart 2006 04:48 schreef Clourhide het volgende:
Met name je "Bin Laden-plaatje", dat lijkt me wel heel erg gesoept of gewoon zelf gemaakt door iemand.

Bin Laden is pictured on the cover of the first Amalgam Virgo exercise.


The US military conducts Amalgam Virgo 01, a multi-agency planning exercise sponsored by NORAD involving the hypothetical scenario of a cruise missile being launched by “a rogue [government] or somebody” from a barge off the East Coast. Bin Laden is pictured on the cover of the proposal for the exercise. [American Forces Press Service, 6/4/02] The exercise takes place at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. [Global Security, 4/14/02] The next Amalgam Virgo exercise, scheduled to take place the following year, will involve two simultaneous commercial aircraft hijackings. Planning for the exercises begins before 9/11 (see Before September 11, 2001).

People and organizations involved: US Department of Defense, North American Aerospace Defense Command

als je niet bereid bent om even verder te kijken dan je neus lang is, laat dan je kinderachtige opmerkingen achterwege voortaan?

quote:

Op donderdag 9 maart 2006 11:18 schreef Prst_ het volgende:
- Wie zegt mij dat dat daadwerkelijk het voorblad is van een traningsinstructie van voor sept 2001?

Google geprobeerd?

quote:

- De 2 bovengenoemde 'feiten' zijn klaarblijkelijk gerapporteerd in 2002. Na 2001, dus.

Maakt het iets uit wanneer het artikel erover online werd gezet?

Hoeveel duidelijker moet er staan:
Operation Amalgam Virgo is a CINCNORAD joint task counter-terrorist and field training exercise (FTX) carried out in Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida on early June of 2001 ?

quote:

Ik kan me goed voorstellen dat na 2001 trainingen rekening houden met scenario's waarin gekaapte vliegtuigen als wapen worden gebruikt.

1-2 JUNI was toch écht DRIE MAANDEN VÓÓR 9 september

quote:

Op vrijdag 10 maart 2006 09:54 schreef -jos- het volgende:
Trouwens, wist je dat er in Londen de ochtend van de aanslagen ook een oefening werd gehouden waarbij meerdere bommen in de stad zouden ontploffen?
Bron: http://www.daanspeak.com/LondonAttack01.html

ik had er een appart topic voor in gedachten maar inderdaad, hoe kán het ?

quote:

Op vrijdag 10 maart 2006 16:57 schreef groningerstudent het volgende:
tvp'tje

Maar is het niet handiger om het 9/11 gebeuren in 1 topic te houden?

hoe zie je dat voor je?

Maar een 9/11 subforum wordt over gedacht momenteel...

9/11 forum

quote:

Op vrijdag 10 maart 2006 19:39 schreef Boswachtertje het volgende:
Waar het hier om gaat, is dat de enige manier om het defensiesysteem van NORAD buiten werking te stellen, deze oefeningen uitvoeren betekende. Op geen enkele andere dag zouden vliegtuigen ver van hun route kunnen afwijken. NORAD houdt het gehele luchtruim van de US nauwlettend in de gaten en mocht er ook maar een kleine koersverandering zijn, dan wordt het leger ingeschakeld en zouden er binnen no-time F16's in de lucht zijn die de vliegtuigen dan zouden begeleiden (of neerknallen --> flight 77?)

Dit detail moeten we er later zéker helemaal uitlichten en van alle kanten bekijken....

quote:

Doordat alle basissen met F-16's gesloten waren door de jaren heen of doordat de squadron's elders in het land op training waren, kwam het perfect uit. In het begin moet het voor de ondergeschikten gewoon op de oefening hebben geleken; door de ontstane verwarrring was dus het gehele defensiesysteem van de US buitenspel gezet. Denk je nou echt dat ze vliegtuigen anders zo dicht bij het Pentagon kunnen laten vliegen? Ich don't think so.

Inderdaad kostte het de traffic-controller een boel moeite om de eerste toestellen die gescrambled werden ervan te overtuigen dat dit géén oefening was.

quote:

Juist dat die trainingen zijn gehouden is hier essentieel in het gehele verhaal van 9/11. Die zijn namelijk de oorspronkelijke oorzaak van de (militaire) verwarring en hebben er voor gezorgd dat alles en iedereen van defensie op plekken waren, waar ze niet meer konden ingrijpen of veels te laat zouden zijn. (lees ook dat verhaal van de FBI en CIA teams..)

Kortom, goede OP Oversight. Ik ben het wel met je eens, temidden van alle twijfels.

Er is gewoon sprake van téveel toevalligheden tegelijkertijd om "een redelijk vermoeden van boze opzet" direct uit te kunnen sluiten....

quote:

_{Waarom werkt het toch altijd zo goed, dat onderbewuste? Je noemt 1 keer het woord conspiracy en meteen gelooft de helft je al niet meer.. Power of the mind zullen we maar zeggen. Een samenzwering betekent niet dat het niet waar kan zijn mensen; het geeft alleen maar aan dat de werkelijke feiten waarschijnlijk nooit in zijn geheel boven water zullen komen. Maar aan de hand van wat ik heb gehoord, gelezen en gezien de afgelopen jaren.. weet ik wel beter..}

Maar als we gewoon de kille koude feiten gaan bekijken zonder persoonlijke meningen een rol te laten slepen in de beoordeling ervan, zullen we een heel eind komen.....