Prior to just three months before 9/11, that chain of command looked very different and Commanders in the field were stripped of all authority to act in the event of hijacked planes.
In June 2001, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction CJCSI 3610.01A was issued for the purpose of providing "guidance to the Deputy Director for Operations (DDO), National Military Command Center (NMCC), and operational commanders in the event of an aircraft piracy (hijacking) or request for destruction of derelict airborne objects." This new instruction superseded CJCSI 3610.01 of 31 July 1997.
This CJCSI states that "In the event of a hijacking, the NMCC will be notified by the most expeditious means by the FAA. The NMCC will, with the exception of immediate responses as authorized by reference d, forward requests for DOD assistance to the Secretary of Defense for approval."
Thus, authority to respond to civilian hijackings, which had worked successfully for NORAD for 40 years, was changed to transfer all such authority to the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.
Three months before 9/11, NORAD was essentially issued a stand-down order.
On May 8, 2001 .. just four months before 9/11, Dick Cheney was placed directly in charge of managing the integration of all training exercises throughout the entire federal government and all military agencies. On 9/11 Cheney oversaw multiple war games and terror drills, including several exercises of NORAD.
I was sitting in the congressional hearing on March 11, 2005 when Pentagon Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Richard Myers acknowledged that four military wargames were going on at the same time that the events of 9/11 were unfolding.
The war games included ..
Northern Vigilance, an exercise that pulled Air Force fighters from the east coast of the United States up into Canada and Alaska simulating an attack out of Russia. All of those fighters were rendered useless as the 9/11 plot unfolded - too far away to respond.
One of the components of this drill included "false blips" (radar injects simulating aircraft in flight) placed on FAA radar screens. At one point FAA head Jane Garvey said they suspected up to 11 hijackings on 9/11. They couldn't determine which were real, which were simulated, and which were live-fly military exercises?
Vigilant Warrior, an excersise that simulated using "hijacked aircraft as weapons" as crashing them into federal buildings, including the WTC and the Pentagon.
This was further supported by an April 18 2004 USA Today article titled, "NORAD had drills of jets as weapons." The report cited NORAD officials who confirmed live-fly drills were conducted using hijacked airliners originating from the continental United States used as weapons crashing into targets including the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The specific drill USA Today referred to was "planned in July 2001."
There was also Nothern Guardian and Northern Denial, both of which took planes and resources away from the New York Washington area.
Rice lied when she said she had no idea planes could be used as weapons when in fact, those exact simulated excersises were being conducted while 9/11 was happening .. seriously inhibiting the ability to repond, and intended or unintended, providing perfect cover for the attack.
And, and, and, the US government had plans for CONDUCTING the exact kind of attacks .. using hijacked civilian planes as weapons and flying them into federal buildings as documented in Operation Northwoods.
You work for NORAD .. am I lying?
