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

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On September 11, 2001, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was involved in an ongoing operation which involved deploying fighter aircraft to northwestern North America. The US Military and NORAD had also planned to conduct several military exercises and a drill was being held by the National Reconnaissance Office, a Department of Defense agency. The operations, exercises and drills were all cancelled following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Ongoing military operations

Operation Northern Vigilance, a NORAD operation which involved deploying fighter aircraft to locations in Alaska and Northern Canada.^[1] The operation was a response to a Russian exercise, in which long-range bombers were dispatched to Russia's high north. The operation was one part simulation, one part real world. It was immediately called off after NORAD received word from NEADS that the Federal Aviation Administration had evidence of a hijacking. All simulated information (so called "injects") were purged from computer screens at NORAD headquarters in Colorado. On receiving news of the attacks, the Russians promptly cancelled their exercise as well.^[2]

Planned military exercises

The military exercises (war games) planned for September 11, 2001 included:

• Global Guardian, an annual command-level exercise organised by United States Strategic Command in cooperation with Space Command and NORAD. Primary purpose is to test and validate nuclear command and control and execution procedures. Global Guardian is performed in conjunction with NORAD's Vigilant Guardian and Amalgam Warrior, as well as exercises sponsored by Air Combat Command (Crown Vigilance) and Space Command (Apollo Guardian).^[3][4]

• Vigilant Guardian, the semiannual NORAD exercise that had been running in conjunction with Global Guardian for several days and which postulated a bomber attack from the former Soviet Union. Vigilant Guardian is a Command Post Exercise (CPX), meaning it is conducted in offices and with computers, but without actual planes in the air. The exercise involves all NORAD command levels.^[5] Out of a range of scenarios being run on September 11, 2001, one was a "traditional" simulated hijacking.^[6] According to General Eberhart, after the first attack, "it took about 30 seconds" to make the adjustment to the real-world situation.^[7] Because of an increased number of staff, the exercise would prove to be an enabler of rapid military response for NORAD and its NEADS component, as senior officials who were manning NORAD command centers throughout the U.S. were available to make rapid decisions.^[8]

There is also one other, disputed account of a planned exercise:

• Vigilant Warrior, in his book Against All Enemies, Richard Clarke claims there was a NORAD exercise ongoing called Vigilant Warrior.^[9] The claim is based on a comment that Richard Myers made to Clarke via a video link on September 11, 2001. However, there is no other record of a NORAD exercise named Vigiliant Warrior. Myers was possibly referring to Vigilant Guardian (the aforementioned yearly NORAD exercise held in conjunction with Global Guardian) or Amalgam Warrior (a large-scale, live-fly, CINCNORAD sponsored exercice which is held twice annually).^[10] Vigilant Warrior was also a 1994 operation by the US army in the Persian Gulf region, in response to Iraqi troop movements towards Kuwait.^[11]

National Reconnaissance Office drill

Aside from military exercises, a National Reconnaissance Office drill was being conducted on September 11, 2001. In a simulated event, a small aircraft would crash into one of the towers of the agency's headquarters after experiencing a mechanical failure. The NRO is the branch of the Department of Defense in charge of spy satellites. According to its spokesman Art Haubold: "No actual plane was to be involved -- to simulate the damage from the crash, some stairwells and exits were to be closed off, forcing employees to find other ways to evacuate the building." He further explained: "It was just an incredible coincidence that this happened to involve an aircraft crashing into our facility, as soon as the real world events began, we cancelled the exercise." Most of the agency's personnel were sent home after the attacks.^[12]

See also

• 9/11 Commission Report

References

External links

• Amid Crisis Simulation, `We Were Suddenly No-Kidding Under Attack' at Newshouse News Service - account of 9/11 at the Northeast Air Defense Sector headquarters near Rome, NY
• Complete 911 Timeline: Military exercises up to 9/11
• 911 Myths - War Games Cover for 9/11
• Strategic Command on 9/11 at Offutt AFB, from a Major at the Air Force Weather Agency.
• NORAD audio tapes from 9/11, 120 hours in 18 WAV files, available as a torrent