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

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", was a NORAD operation which involved deploying fighter aircraft to locations in Alaska and Northern Canada. [cite web|title=NORAD Maintains Northern Vigilance|publisher=NORAD Newsroom|date=September 9, 2001|url=http://www.norad.mil/newsroom/news_releases/2001/090901.htm] 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. [cite web|publisher=Toronto Star| title=The scene at NORAD on Sept. 11 ; Playing Russian war games ... and then someone shouted to look at the monitor;| author=Simmie, Scott|date=December 9, 2001| url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/426239581.html?did=426239581&FMT=ABS]

Planned military exercises

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

*"Global Guardian", an annual command-level exercise organized 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"). [cite web| url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/global-guardian.htm| title=Global Guardian| publisher=Globalsecurity.org|] [cite web|url=http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/dswa/document.html| title=Nuclear Weapon Systems Sustainment Programs |publisher=Office of the Secretary of Defense |date=May 1997]

*"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. [cite web| url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/vigilant-guardian.htm| title=Vigilant Guardian| publisher=Globalsecurity.org|] Out of a range of scenarios being run on September 11, 2001, one was a "traditional" simulated hijacking. [cite web|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/08/norad200608?currentPage=2| title=9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes |publisher=Vanity Fair |author=Bronner, Michael - a copy of the article is available [http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:sW8MjfWnemAJ:www.vanityfair.com/features/general/060801fege01+the+norad+tapes&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=1 here] .] According to General Eberhart, after the first attack, "it took about 30 seconds" to make the adjustment to the real-world situation. [cite book |title= The 9/11 Commission Report, Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |date= July 26, 2004 | chapter = Chapter 1, footnote 116 |publisher= Norton |url=http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/05aug20041050/www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/fullreport.pdf |id=ISBN 0-393-32671-3] 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. [cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20020917072642/http://www.aviationnow.com/content/publication/awst/20020603/avi_stor.htm| title=Exercise Jump-Starts Response to Attacks |publisher=Aviation Week & Space Technology |date=June 3, 2002 |author=Scott, William B.]

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". [cite book |last= Clarke |first= Richard A. |title= Against All Enemies|pages=4-5 |publisher= The Free Press |year= 2004 |month= March |id= ISBN 0-7432-6024-4] 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). [cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/amalgam-warrior.htm|title=Amalgam Warrior|publisher=Globalsecurity.org|] "Vigilant Warrior" was also a 1994 operation by the US army in the Persian Gulf region, in response to Iraqi troop movements towards Kuwait. [cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/vigilant_warrior.htm
title=Operation Vigilant Warrior, 14 October-21 December 1994|publisher=Globalsecurity.org|]

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. [ [http://www.boston.com/news/packages/sept11/anniversary/wire_stories/0903_plane_exercise.htm Agency planned exercise on Sept. 11 built around a plane crashing into a building] , from [http://www.boston.com Boston.com] ]

"Operation Tripod" bioterrorism exercise

On September 12, 2001, there was due to take place the second part of an exercise known as "Operation Tripod", set up to "test the plan to distribute antibiotics to the entire city population during a bioterrorism attack" [ [http://transweb.sjsu.edu/mtiportal/research/publications/documents/Sept11.book.htm#pgfId-1010248 MTI REPORT 02-06 Saving City Lifelines: Lessons Learned in the 9-11 Terrorist Attacks ] ] Richard Sheirer, director of the New York City mayor's Office of Emergency Management (OEM), had hired "over 1,000 Police Academy cadets and Fire Department trainees to play terrified civilians afflicted with various medical conditions, allergies, and panic attacks." Various individuals were invited to watch, including Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the police and fire commissioners, and representatives of the FBI and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). [ [http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/sept11/features/5270/ Man Behind the Mayor ] ] Pier 92 was set up as a model distribution station where the "victims" of the mock attack who needed to receive antibiotics would be treated. [ [http://transweb.sjsu.edu/mtiportal/research/publications/documents/Sept11.book.htm#pgfId-1010248 MTI REPORT 02-06 Saving City Lifelines: Lessons Learned in the 9-11 Terrorist Attacks ] ] The exercise was a follow-up to a previous training exercise in New York, called "RED Ex", which took place on May 21, 2001. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20030216180017/http://www.nysun.com/sunarticle.asp?artID=418 The New York Sun ] ] According to the MTI Report "Saving City Lifelines: Lessons Learned in the 9-11 Terrorist Attacks", "September 11 was going to be a busy day at the OEM. Staff members arrived early to prepare for Operation Tripod." [ [http://transweb.sjsu.edu/mtiportal/research/publications/documents/Sept11.book.htm#pgfId-1010248 MTI REPORT 02-06 Saving City Lifelines: Lessons Learned in the 9-11 Terrorist Attacks ] ]

When the September 11, 2001 attacks began, Operation Tripod was immediately canceled as attentions turned to the real ongoing emergency. Because Pier 92 had been set up ready for the exercise, OEM staff were able to move there and quickly convert it into a large emergency operations center when their original command center (in WTC Building 7) was evacuated and later destroyed. Thus, within 31 hours of the attacks, OEM has a functional facility able to manage the search and rescue effort, just four miles north-northwest of the WTC site. [9/11 Commission Report] The exercise was later rescheduled and took place on May 22, 2002. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20030626185936/http://nyc.gov/html/oem/html/other/sub_news_pages/tripod05_22_02.html Office of Emergency Management - Press Release: May 22, 2002 - Operation TriPOD ] ]

ee also

* 9/11 Commission Report

References

External links

* [http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/story1a012802.html Amid Crisis Simulation, `We Were Suddenly No-Kidding Under Attack'] at [http://www.newhousenews.com/index.html Newshouse News Service] - account of 9/11 at the Northeast Air Defense Sector headquarters near Rome, NY
* [http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9/11=militaryExercises Complete 911 Timeline: Military exercises up to 9/11]
* [http://www.911myths.com/html/war_games_cover_for_9-11.html 911 Myths - War Games Cover for 9/11]
* [https://afweather.afwa.af.mil/observer/JUL_AUG_2002/rsrvart.html Strategic Command on 9/11] at Offutt AFB, from a Major at the Air Force Weather Agency.
* [http://www.loosechange911.com/download/NORAD/NORAD.torrent NORAD audio tapes from 9/11, 120 hours in 18 WAV files] , available as a torrent
* [http://911myths.com/index.php/NORAD#NORAD_TAPES NORAD audio tapes from 9/11, 120 hours in 18 WAV files] , available from a web page