The U.S. military response during the September 11, 2001 attacks was ineffective in preventing both World Trade Center Twin Towers and the Pentagon from being hit by hijacked airplanes. On the morning of September 11, four commercial airliners were hijacked. American Airlines Flight 11, departing from Boston, was flown in the North Tower of World Trade Center at 8:46am. United Airlines Flight 175, also departing from Boston, was flown into the South Tower at 9:03. American Airlines Flight 77, departing from Washington, was flown into the Pentagon at 9:37. United Airlines Flight 93, departing from Newark, crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03. A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced nine eleven or nine one one) consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist[1] suicide attacks upon the United States, predominantly... September 11, 2001 attacks timeline Background History 1972: One World Trade Center completed. ... THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS THE PHRASE FUCK THE US GOVERNMENT HIDDEN THROUGHOUT THE ARTICLE...IT REQUIRES IMMEDIATE CLEAN UP // According to the presidents of the United States and the Philippines, the September 11, 2001 attacks originated with Operation Bojinka (a plan that was not executed), which was conceived by Khalid Shaikh... The September 11, 2001 attacks, in addition to being a unique act of aggression, constituted a media event on a scale not seen since the advent of civilian global satellite links, round-the-clock television news organizations and the instant worldwide reaction and debate made possible by the Internet. ... All times, except where otherwise noted, in New York Time (EDT). ... All times, except where otherwise noted, in New York Time (EDT). ... // 2001 November Thursday, November 1, 2001 Afternoon: Deputy Mayor Anthony P. Coles meets with the two firefighter union leaders, Fire Capt. ... According to the 9/11 Commission, between 16,400 and 18,800 civilians were in the World Trade Center complex at the time of the 11 September 2001 attacks. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... Flight 11 redirects here. ... United Airlines Flight 175 was a morning flight that regularly flew from Logan International Airport in East Boston, Massachusetts to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California. ... Security camera image showing American Airlines Flight 77 (highlighted) just before and after impact. ... For other uses of Flight 93 and United 93, see Flight 93. ... For other uses, see World Trade Center (disambiguation). ... This article is about the United States military building. ... Main Street in Shanksville. ... The September 11, 2001 attacks defined the first term of President George W. Bush and led to what he has called the Global War on Terrorism, or war against terrorism. ... Box-cutter knives were apparently used in the September 11, 2001 attacks, though such knives are not usually considered weapons. ... The September 11, 2001, attacks had an important impact on the audiovisual entertainment business, not just in terms of television coverage. ... Many closings and cancellations followed the September 11, 2001 attacks, including major landmarks, buildings, as well as postponement or cancellation of major sporting and other events. ... A variety of conspiracy theories question the mainstream account of the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States. ... Soon after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States Government began detaining people who fit the profile of the suspected hijackers: mostly male, Arabic or Muslim noncitizens. ... The September 11, 2001 attacks have been the subject of numerous films and other works of art and literature, including: // Hollywoods first reaction to the September 11 attacks was to alter, delay or even cancel films that unintentionally evoked the disaster. ... There has been growing concern over the health effects of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the Financial District of lower Manhattan. ... This article talks about the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. ... The following worldwide effects arose from the September 11, 2001 attacks: All Canadian military bases increased their level of security awareness. ... The response of the U.S. government to the September 11, 2001 attacks sparked investigations into the motivations and execution of the attacks, as well as the ongoing War on Terrorism in Iraq. ... A bucket brigade works to clear rubble and debris on September 14, 2001 The area surrounding the World Trade Center became the site of the greatest number of casualties and missing, and physical destruction. ... Charities and relief agencies raised over $657 million in the three weeks following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the vast bulk going to immediate survivors and victims families. ... Operation Yellow Ribbon is the name of the operation that Transport Canada created to handle the diversion of civilian airline flights following the September 11, 2001, attacks. ... The first memorials to the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks began to take shape online, as hundreds of webmasters posted their own thoughts, links to the Red Cross, and other rescue agencies, photos and eyewitness accounts. ... Cartoon that PMW claim is part of a long tradition of celebrating the September 11, 2001 Attacks. ... The United States government identified 19 hijackers as being responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks, and linked the attacks to Osama bin Laden. ... The September 11, 2001 attacks were carried out by 19 hijackers, with planning and organization of the attacks involving numerous additional members of al-Qaeda. ... Communications problems and successes played an important role in the September 11, 2001 attacks and their aftermath. ... Ground Zero debris with markup showing building locations. ... The September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States spawned a number of catchphrases, terms, and slogans, many of which continue to be used a half-decade after the event. ... For the anniversary of the beginning of the American Revolution, see Patriots Day. ... The Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 is the official name of the inquiry conducted by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence into the activities of the U.S. Intelligence Community in... The cover of the final 9/11 report 9/11 Commission Report, formally titled Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, is the official report of the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks. ... PENTTBOM is the code-name for the FBI investigation into the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C, the largest criminal investigation in U.S. history. ... A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced nine eleven or nine one one) consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist[1] suicide attacks upon the United States, predominantly... For other uses, see World Trade Center (disambiguation). ... This article is about the United States military building. ... is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... American Airlines, Inc. ... American Airlines Flight 11 was an American Airlines flight aboard a Boeing 767-223ER, N334AA aircraft. ... For the Logan airport in Billings, Montana, see Billings Logan International Airport. ... United Airlines is a major airline of the United States. ... United Airlines Flight 175 was a morning flight that regularly flew from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California (BOS-LAX) route. ... Security camera image showing American Airlines Flight 77 (highlighted) just before and after impact. ... , FAA Airport Diagram Washington Dulles International Airport (IATA: IAD, ICAO: KIAD, FAA LID: IAD) is a public airport located 25 miles (40 km) west of the central business district of Washington, D.C., in Loudoun County and Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. ... For other uses of Flight 93 and United 93, see Flight 93. ... For the massive interchange outside of Newark Liberty International Airport, see Newark Airport Interchange. ... Photo of George W. Bush and Laura Bush visiting Shanksville on September 11, 2002 Shanksville is a borough located in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ...

Standard emergency hijacking procedures dictate that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), upon becoming aware that a plane has been hijacked, must immediately notify North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) who have fighters and pilots on alert ready to "scramble" and fly to the plane's location to assess the situation. On the morning of September 11, the FAA failed to notify NORAD of the hijackings of any of Flights 175, 77 or 93. Their notification of the hijacking of Flight 11 prompted the scrambling of two fighter jets from Otis Air Force Base, but they were not in the air until after Flight 11 had hit the North Tower. A false FAA notification of a hijacked plane heading towards Washington ("phantom Flight 11") prompted the scrambling of three more fighters from Langley Air Force Base. FAA redirects here. ... NORAD Headquarters Building. ... is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Two F-22A turn in on final approach to Langley Air Force Base Langley Air Force Base (IATA: LFI, ICAO: KLFI) is the home of the United States Air Forces 1st Fighter Wing (1 FW) and the 480th Intelligence Wing (480 IW). ...

The FAA and military response

The 9/11 Commission Report, in its first chapter "We Have Some Planes", explained the responses, communications and actions of the FAA and NORAD upon learning of the hijackings. The account differs substantially from the sequence of events previously described by FAA and NORAD officials, that had been widely accepted as true for almost three years. The cover of the final 9/11 report 9/11 Commission Report, formally titled Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, is the official report of the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks. ...

Flight 11

An example of a F-15 fighter taking off

At 8:14, the pilot of Flight 11 failed to respond to an FAA Boston Center instruction to ascend. At 8:21, the transponder signal was switched off and the plane (now visible only on primary radar) veered radically off course. At 8:25, the controller heard what he believed was the voice of hijacker. The Boston Center called the FAA Command Center at Herndon at 8:28 to report the hijacking. At 8:32, Herndon called FAA Headquarters in Washington. At 8:38, Boston Center contacted the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) in Rome, New York, which bypassed standard protocols.^[1] This image was downloaded from http://www. ... This image was downloaded from http://www. ... F-15 redirects here. ... NORAD Headquarters Building. ... The Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS), located at what used to be Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York, is responsible for providing detection and air defense for more than 3,000 miles of US coast line from Maine to Virginia. ... Rome is a city in Oneida County, New York, United States. ...

Difficulties in pinpointing the exact location of Flight 11 led to a delay of five minutes before the scramble order was given at 8:43. When Flight 11 hit the North Tower at 8:46, the two F-15 fighters that had been ordered to scramble were still on the runway at Otis Air Force Base; they did not take to the air until 8:52. Lacking a target, the Otis fighters "were vectored toward military-controlled airspace off the Long Island coast. To avoid New York area air traffic and uncertain about what to do, the fighters were brought down to military airspace to 'hold as needed'. From 9:09 to 9:13 the Otis fighters stayed in this holding pattern."^[2][3][4][5] At 9:13, the pilots of the Otis fighters told FAA Boston Center that they were heading for Manhattan to establish a Combat Air Patrol (CAP) over the area. The fighters arrived over Manhattan at 9:25. F-15 redirects here. ...

Flight 175

Flight 175 veered off course at 8:42, turning towards New York, and its transponder code was changed at 8:47. The flight controller at FAA Boston Center did not notice these warning signs until 8:51, when he tried unsuccessfully to contact the pilot. At 8:55 he told a manager at FAA New York Center that he thought Flight 175 had been hijacked; this manager then tried to contact regional managers but "was told that they were discussing hijacked aircraft... and refused to be disturbed." At 9:01, a New York Center manager called FAA Command Center at Herndon. NEADS were not notified until 9:03, when the New York Center manager called them directly, at about the time that Flight 175 hit the South Tower.^[6]

Flight 77

The transponder of Flight 77 was switched off, and the plane veered off course, at 8:54, and its primary radar track was lost. The flight controller at the FAA Indianapolis Center assumed that some kind of electrical or mechanical failure had occurred and that the plane had crashed. Later, after hearing about the hijacked planes hitting the World Trade Center, Indianapolis Center suspected that Flight 77 may also have been hijacked, and shared this information with FAA Command Center at Herndon, who contacted FAA Headquarters in Washington at 9:25am. NEADS learned that the flight was lost at 9:34 during a NEADS-initiated conversation with the FAA Headquarters.^[7]

Flight 93

At 9:28, the FAA Cleveland Center controller heard "sounds of possible screaming" coming from Flight 93 and noticed that the plane had descended 700 feet. At 9:32, he heard a voice saying "We have a bomb on board" and told his supervisor who notified FAA Headquarters. At 9:36, FAA Cleveland called FAA Command Center at Herndon to ask whether the military had been notified - FAA Command Center told Cleveland that "FAA personnel well above them in the chain of command had to make the decision to seek military assistance and were working on the issue". At 9:49, the decision about whether to call the military had still not been made, and nobody did call them until 10:07, four minutes after Flight 93 hit the ground.^[8]

Phantom Flight 11

At 9:21, NEADS received a call from Colin Scoggins, the military liaison at the FAA Boston Center, reporting that Flight 11 had not, in fact, hit the North Tower at 8:46 as they were told, but that it was still in the air and heading towards Washington. NEADS responded to this report by giving a scramble order to three fighters on alert at Langley Air Force Base, and by 9:24, they were in the air. After at first heading east out into the Atlantic, the fighters then flew north-west towards Washington, arriving around 10:00.^[9]

The NORAD timeline

On the day of the attacks, General Richard Myers and Ralph Eberhardt, NORAD commanding officers, reported that no fighters were scrambled until after 9:37. Reports of fighters circling over Manhattan at 9:25 revealed this claim to be untrue.

On September 18, 2001, NORAD published a timeline of the events of the September 11, including when they were contacted by the FAA. However, in 2004, the 9/11 Commission, after listening to tapes of communications, found that this timeline was incorrect.^[10] The Commissions seal The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up in late 2002 to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response...

In their later book, Without Precedent, 9/11 Commission chairmen Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton say that 9/11 conspiracy theories had grown up primarily because of problems in the previous story about the planes.^[11] The NORAD timeline served as the official account of the military response for three years, and the false account was not commented on by anyone involved at either the FAA or in the military. Indeed, the same version of events was given in the book Air War over America, and given in testimony to the 9/11 Commission by NORAD's General Larry Arnold and Colonel Alan Scott in 2003.^[12] Thomas Howard Kean (born April 21, 1935) is an American Republican Party politician, who served as the 48th Governor of New Jersey, from 1982 to 1990. ... Lee Herbert Hamilton is the vice chair of the 9-11 Commission and currently serves on the Presidents Homeland Security Advisory Council. ... A variety of conspiracy theories question the mainstream account of the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States. ...

The Washington Post reported in its August 3, 2006 edition that: ... is the 215th day of the year (216th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

"For more than two years after the attacks, officials with NORAD and the FAA provided inaccurate information about the response to the hijackings in testimony and media appearances... Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon's initial account of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission and the public... Suspicion of wrongdoing ran so deep that the 10-member commission, in a secret meeting at the end of its tenure in summer 2004, debated referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. In the end, the panel agreed to a compromise, turning over the allegations to the inspectors general for the Defense and Transportation departments, who can make criminal referrals if they believe they are warranted".^[13]

Kean and Hamilton admit that given the story told by the FAA and the military, they could understand how the "stand-down" theory had come about:

"If the military had had the amount of time they said they had... and had scrambled their jets, it was hard to figure out how they had failed to shoot down at least one of the planes... In this way, the FAA's and NORAD's inaccurate reporting after 9/11 created the opportunity for people to construct a series of conspiracy theories that persist to this day."^[14]

The reason for calling certain statement by FAA and NORAD officials false was that they disagreed with tapes received by the Commission from the FAA and NORAD. As Kean stated, "The tapes recordings... from the day were extremely important - they provided a real-time record of what was happening that enabled our staff to relive the day, instead of relying solely on people's memory or their hurried notes of what took place."^[15]

While the NORAD timeline asserted that the FAA had notified NORAD much earlier than it actually did, the 9/11 Commission Report story of the military response places the blame firmly with the FAA for not contacting NORAD quickly enough. NORAD claimed that they were notified of the hijacking of Flight 175 at 8:43, while the 9/11 Commission says that the tapes show NORAD was not notified of the hijacking of this flight until after it hit the South Tower at 9:03. NORAD claimed that the fighters scrambled from Langley at 9:24 were in response to a 9:21 FAA report of the hijacking of Flight 77; NORAD never mentioned phantom Flight 11. NORAD's General Larry Arnold and Colonel Alan Scott testified that they were notified about the hijacking of Flight 93, and had fighters in position to shoot it down if necessary, and had received the order from Dick Cheney to do so, if necessary.^[16] The cover of the final 9/11 report 9/11 Commission Report, formally titled Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, is the official report of the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks. ... Richard Bruce Dick Cheney (born January 30, 1941), is the 46th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President George W. Bush. ...

War games

Main article: United States military and Department of Defense ongoing and scheduled operations and exercises for September 11, 2001

There were a number of war games and military exercises taking place during the attacks, including Northern Vigilance, a NORAD operation which involved deploying fighter aircraft to locations in Alaska and northern Canada to respond to a war game being conducted by Russia; Global Guardian, an annual command-level exercise organized by United States Strategic Command in cooperation with Space Command and NORAD; and Vigilant Guardian, a semiannual NORAD Command Post Exercise (CPX) (meaning it is conducted in offices and with computers, but without actual planes in the air) involving all NORAD command levels in which one scenario being run on September 11 was a simulated hijacking. Additionally, a National Reconnaissance Office drill was being conducted on September 11 in which the event a small aircraft crashing into one of the towers of the agency's headquarters, was to be simulated, and the Office of Emergency Management were preparing for Operation Tripod, a bioterrorism exercise due to take place on September 12. NORAD is short for: North American Aerospace Defense Command Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... For other uses, see Alaska (disambiguation). ... Global Guardian is an annual training exercise sponsored by the United States Strategic Command in conjunction with Space Command and NORAD. Its main purpose is to test the militarys command and control procedures in the event of nuclear warfare. ... United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) is one of the nine Unified Combatant Commands of the United States Department of Defense. ... United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) is one of the nine Unified Combatant Commands of the United States Department of Defense. ... Global Guardian is an annual training exercise sponsored by the United States Strategic Command in conjunction with Space Command and NORAD. Its main purpose is to test the militarys command and control procedures in the event of nuclear warfare. ... is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is one of the 16 intelligence agencies in the U.S. It designs, builds and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the United States government. ... is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... An Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is an agency at the local, state or national level that holds responsibility of comprehensively planning for and responding to all manner of disasters, whether man-made or natural. ... is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Conspiracy Theories

Main article: 9/11 Conspiracy Theories#Claims that US defenses were deliberately disabled

The response of the air defense system on the morning of September 11, 2001 is a commonly-discussed aspect of 9/11 "inside job" conspiracy theories. The claim is that the evidence shows that there was a military "stand-down" order in affect, or at least a "slow-down". It is also claimed that the war games that were taking place on that day were deliberately planned that way to coincide with the attacks, perhaps to create confusion. A variety of conspiracy theories question the mainstream account of the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States. ...

References