Photo copied from NJ ANG website Fair Use |
The military was playing games on September 11, 2001, perhaps if military officials were taking steroids congress and the commission would have probed deeper into their conduct during the 'games'. Eleven years on and few Americans are aware that several components of the U.S. military were distracted by annual computer scenario and live-real world wargames known as simulations in military parlance. Each year the military practices waging war and on that Tuesday our military was practicing for war in fictional attack and defense scenarios played out on computer screens (CPX/Command Post Exercise) as well as live real time events (FTX/Field Training Exercise). The wargames took place both abroad and inside the United States which meant that fewer fighter jets would be available to defend America.
From the midwest, the south to the northeastern US, American servicemen and women in the Army, the Marines, Air National Guard, the U.S. Navy, and the Air Force "played" out mock attacks against one another during the U.S. Strategic Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Vigilant Guardian-Global Guardian, Amalgam Warrior, Amalgam Virgo, Operation Northern Denial exercises and operations beginning as early as August 2001.
Vigilant Guardian Special Instructions via NARA FOIA |
Global Guardian 2001-2 After Action Report Page 287 |
9-11 commission NORAD interview available at nara.gov/commission- search MFR's |
December 5, 2003 Bergen Record Page A-20 |
2001 Vigilant Guardian Controlled Staff Instructions (COSINS) via FOIA Request |
Tasked with investigating the military and intelligence communities failures, the 9-11 Commission learned about the military's wargame/simulations very early into their investigation but what the commission learned at closed door interviews was rarely discussed during televised questioning of military officials.
STRATCOM Global Guardian 2001-2 After Action Report Page 8 |
9-11 Commission March 1, 2004 interview with NORAD Commander Ed Eberhart nara.gov/911commission/MFR |
Despite the commission learning in 2003 that the Pentagon's National Military Command Center was monitoring "all" on going exercises in the U.S. none of the commissioners bothered to ask senior military officials from the Pentagon why no one monitoring the movements of American air assets was able to direct any of our already airborne military planes in the field to intercept any of the hijacked planes before they could reach their targets.
July 28, 2003 Commission Interview at Reagan Nat'l Airport & Andrews AFB nara.gov/911commission/MFR |
9-11 Commission June 12, 2003 FAA Interview nara.gov/911commission/MFR |
Notice the reference to military traffic in the Northeast sector. On 9-11 there was a military refueling tanker in military airspace over Narragansett Rhode Island known as Whiskey 105. Again the commission did not do it's job of determining what other military aircraft were in that area, how many, when they arrived and why none of those military craft were not immediately sent to New York since they were already airborne?
September 22, 2003 Commission Interview with Dan Bueno FAA Boston Ctr nara.gov/911commission/MFR |
None of the members of the 9-11 commission publicly asked military officials why fighters over North Carolina weren't recalled immediately as soon as it was realized that the nation was under attack.
March 4, 2004 Commission Staff interview w/NORAD personnel |
Global Guardian 2001-2 After Action Report page 334- STRATCOM FOIA Request April 2011 |
11 is the day of the month 1525 is Greenwich Mountain Time and Sep 01 = September 2001 |
Other than a vague reference to NORAD's Vigilant Guardian exercise on page 20 of the 2006 re-released Commission Report and the footnote 116 found on page 458 in the back of the book:
NORAD personnel were instructed at the end of August 2001 to make sure that their radar screens were prepared to display simulated injects/"Sim Tracks" over their real world radar displays so that the simulated injects would be perceived to be real and would be treated as though they were real time live events unfolding. The $64,000 question never asked publicly by members of the commission was how on earth were four hijacked planes able to reach their targets with all of the extra military personnel on duty taking part in numerous military exercises on the morning of September 11, 2001? How, with military planes from New Jersey's 177th Fighter Wing already airborne in the Northeastern United States taking part in an exercise, were two hijacked planes able to get anywhere near the World Trade Towers without being intercepted? And why weren't any of the other military planes already airborne immediately recalled to stop Flight 77 and Flight 93?
Although, the commissioners had top military leaders from the Pentagon in front of them, no one inquired about the NMCC monitoring and participating in STRATCOM's Global Guardian exercise nor was there any mention of other exercises the Pentagon's NMCC might have "played" in. Commissioners also passed up a chance to find out why NORAD/ U.S. Space Command did not end their Apollo Guardian exercise immediately and focus their satellites on the Northeastern US to help locate the missing hijacked airliners that reportedly disappeared from radar.
Arguably the most important aspect, the 9-11 commissioners did not ask military officials exactly when the Vigilant Guardian power outages ended, at what phase of the attacks or time of day did the intentional power outages take place and for how long, and when the ban on using personal phones or outside lines was lifted.
NORAD 2001 Vigilant Guardian COSIN NORAD FOIA |
NORAD now claims that it is a matter of National Security that you do not find out what time they ended their exercises, where their military aircraft were located on the morning of the attacks, and what US Space Command was using their satellites for before and during the attacks.
Not only does NORAD claim it is a matter of National Security that you do not find out what they were doing while the nation was being attacked, NORAD also claims that it would be an invasion of someone's personal privacy if this information were to be released to you.
Take a few seconds to let this sink in.
Releasing this information is both a threat to the security of America as well as an invasion of someone's personal privacy.
You can help to put an end to this cover up by supporting a legal fund to bring a FOIA Lawsuit against NORAD for illegally applying the B(1) and B(6) exemptions.
Talking about the cover up for another year or more will not stop it, only court action will.
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