Update At Historycommons.org - 12/8/2008

Update At Historycommons.org - 12/8/2008

The main area for new entries in the 9/11 Timeline this week is the day of 9/11. A sergeant at NEADS passed on news of Flight 11's hijacking to colleagues at 8:38 a.m., after which NEADS technicians attempted to locate the flight. Flight 175 entered New York Center's airspace, making radio contact, at 8:40 a.m., shortly after which the military liaison at Boston Center called New York Center about Flight 11's hijacking. The order to launch fighters from Otis air force base was given at 8:45 a.m., although New Jersey Air National Guard fighters on a training mission at the same time were unaware of the attacks. Lastly, Boston Center registered Flight 11's disappearance from its radar screens at 8:46 a.m., but did not realize it had crashed.

In Londonistan, the Finsbury Park mosque run by British intelligence informer Abu Hamza became "al-Qaeda's guest house in London". A Kashmiri fighter lectured worshippers there and one of the young men who attended the lecture later went to Kashmir to fight. When one of Abu Hamza's top associates, al-Qaeda recruiter Djamel Beghal was arrested in the summer of 2001, British authorities failed to take any action against Abu Hamza.

There are again several miscellaneous entries, pointing out that FEMA considered using an airborne operations center at the Atlanta Olympics, that FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley said there were "roadblocks" to investigations at the FBI, and that a 1999 air force study warned of the dangers of neglecting air sovereignty, partly due to the threat of terrorism. There are two new entries about pre-9/11 legislation; a 1985 presidential directive about responding to national emergencies and a 1988 presidential order detailing government agencies' responsibilities in such emergencies. In addition, President Bush praised former counterterrorism "tsar" Richard Clarke in a letter to him on his retirement, and Clarke later used the letter to counter criticism of him. Finally, mandatory terrorist preparation plans for US chemical plans were blocked by Congressional Republicans in 2002.