NORAD
Controversies
- NORAD were not postured to "look outward", as General Richard Myers claimed?
- Payne Stewart's jet was intercepted very rapidly in 1999, a sharp contrast with the 9/11 performance?
- There's evidence that fighters normally intercept planes in 10 to 20 minutes?
- Dick Cheney was in charge of NORAD on 9/11?
- The many war games and exercises scheduled for 9/11 paralysed the air defence system, fatally delaying any military response to the hijackings?
- NORAD were alerted of the Flight 175 hijacking at 8:43, not 9:03, as the 9/11 Commission claimed?
- NORAD knew that Flight 77 was approaching Washington long before the 9/11 Commission Report claimed?
- There were fighters at Andrews AFB on 9/11, but NORAD chose not to use them?
- General Myers initial story was that no fighters were launched until after the Pentagon was hit?
Documents
9/11 Commission interview summaries
- Colonel Robert Marr
- Colonel Robert Marr, NEADS briefing
- Lt. Jeremy Powell, NEADS
- Lt Col Kevin Nasypany, NEADS MCC
- Lt Gen Rick Findley
- Don Arias/ Colonel Randy "Cat" Morris/ Lieutenant Colonel Steve Usher/ General Larry Arnold/ Major General Craig R. McKinley/ William A. Scott.
- MSgt Joe McCain
- General Eberhart
- Major James Fox
- SSgt Stacia Roundtree, NEADS
- TSgt Jeffrey LaMarche and TSgt Jeffrey Richmond
- Chief Master Sgt. Edward "Bill" Aires
- Sgt Steve Bianchi, NEADS
- Ken Merchant, joint exercise design manager for NORAD
LOGS
- MCC-T Log is an essential timeline of 9/11 events
NORAD TAPES
We agree with very little that the Loose Change creators have to say, but they do at least deserve praise for both securing the release of the full NORAD 9/11 tapes, and making them public immediately. These files reveal the actions and reactions of NORAD staff to the events of 9/11, as they happened. The audio is available elsewhere in torrent form, or you can download the individual files here (each ZIP archive contains a single WAV format audio file).
In April 2008 Government Attic received an FOIA release containing three further MP3 recordings: DRM1_DAT2_Channel_9_TT_Op.zip, DRM1_DAT2_Channel_11_ACWO_OP.zip and DRM1_DAT2_Channel_13_TT_Op.zip. We've added them here for completeness, but you really should go and see what else they have to offer.
The abbreviations:
ACWO: Aircraft Control and Warning Officer
AICC: Air Interceptor Communications Common
AST: Air Surveillance Technician
ID: ID Technician
MCC: Mission Crew Commander
SD: Senior Director
TT: Tracking Technician
Guide to who's on which channel:
- A 9/11 Commission file containing handwritten notes on the NORAD tapes
- A colour-coded transcript of part of the NORAD tapes
- A compilation of notes and partial transcripts of some of the NORAD tapes
- A 9/11 timeline based on CONR, NEADs and FAA transcripts
Hijacking Procedures
- Hijacking procedures in force from 31st June 1997 to 31st May 2001
- Hijacking procedures as changed on 1st June 2001
Others
- A summary of NORAD exercises between 1998 and 2001 that involved hijackings. Caused some excitement for the news of a suicide hijacking exercise two days before 9/11, although this did not involve hijacking a US plane or flying it into a building
- Interesting comments on NORAD's timeline of 9/11 events
- NORAD chain of command explained
- The NEADS duty roster shows who was around on 9/11
- "Continental Air Defense - A Dedicated Force Is No Longer Needed" was a 1994 GAO report discussing the mission and future of NORAD