Between 1999 and September 11, 2001: NORAD Practices Live-Fly Mock Shootdown of a Poison-Filled Jet
At some point during the two-year period preceding 9/11, NORAD fighters perform a mock shootdown over the Atlantic Ocean of a jet loaded with chemical poisons heading toward the US. [USA Today, 4/18/2004]
Entity Tags: North American Aerospace Defense Command
2000-2001: 'Planes as Weapons' and 'Simulated Attacks' Part of Security Planning for Major Events in the US
A 1998 presidential directive gave the National Security Council authority to designate important upcoming events as National Special Security Events (NSSEs) (see May 22, 1998). The US Secret Service is in charge of planning and implementing security for NSSEs, and the FBI and FEMA also have major security roles. [Scripps Howard News Service, 1/11/2005; CSO Magazine, 9/2004] Louis Freeh, director of the FBI for much of the 1990s until June 2001, will later tell the 9/11 Commission that in the years 2000 and 2001, the subject of "planes as weapons" was always one of the considerations in the planning of security for "a series of these, as we call them, special events," and "resources were actually designated to deal with that particular threat." He confirms that "the use of airplanes, either packed with explosives or otherwise, in suicide missions" was "part of the planning" for NSSEs. [9/11 Commission, 4/13/2004] According to the Secret Service, "there is a tremendous amount of advance planning and coordination" for NSSEs, sometimes taking months or even years. Various training initiatives are conducted, including "simulated attacks and medical emergencies, inter-agency tabletop exercises, and field exercises." [United States Secret Service, n.d.; US Congress, 7/9/2002] Presumably the use of airplanes in suicide missions is incorporated into some of these simulated attacks.
Entity Tags: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Secret Service
Between October 24 and 28, 2000: Military Holds Exercise Rehearsing Response to a Plane Crash at the Pentagon
A plane crash is simulated inside the cardboard courtyard of a model Pentagon. [Source: Dennis Ryan, MDW News Service]Pentagon and Arlington County emergency responders assemble in the office of the Secretary of Defense's conference room in the Pentagon for a mass casualty exercise ("MASCAL"). The exercise involves three mock-scenarios. One is of a commercial airliner crashing into the Pentagon and killing 342 people, while the other two involve a terrorist attack at the Pentagon's subway stop and a construction accident. The exercises are conducted using a large-scale model of the Pentagon with a model airplane literally on fire in the central courtyard of the building. An Army medic who participates in the mock attack calls it "a real good scenario and one that could happen easily," while a fire chief notes: "You have to plan for this. Look at all the air traffic around here." [MDW News Service, 11/3/2000; Mirror, 5/24/2002; United Press International, 4/22/2004; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 314]
Entity Tags: US Department of Defense, Pentagon
April 17-26, 2001: Joint Chiefs of Staff Holds Exercise for Continuity of Government if US is Attacked; Proposal to Simulate Airliner Crash into Pentagon Rejected
The Joint Chiefs of Staff holds a large, worldwide exercise called Positive Force, which focuses on the Defense Department's ability to conduct large-scale military operations and coordinate these operations. [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 8/14/2000] The 2001 Positive Force exercise is a "continuity of operations exercise," meaning it deals with government contingency plans to keep working in the event of an attack on the US. [Guardian, 4/15/2004] Over a dozen government agencies, including NORAD, are invited to participate. The exercise prepares them for various scenarios, including non-combatant evacuation operations, cyber attacks, rail disruption, and power outages. [Provider Update, 10/2001; GlobalSecurity (.org), 6/9/2002] Apparently, one of the scenarios that was considered for this exercise involved "a terrorist group hijack[ing] a commercial airliner and fly[ing] it into the Pentagon." But the proposed scenario, thought up by a group of Special Operations personnel trained to think like terrorists, was rejected. Joint Staff action officers and White House officials said the additional scenario is either "too unrealistic" or too disconnected to the original intent of the exercise. [Air Force Times, 4/13/2004; Boston Herald, 4/14/2004; Guardian, 4/15/2004; Washington Post, 4/14/2004; New York Times, 4/14/2004]
Entity Tags: Bush administration, Pentagon, US Department of Defense
May 2001: Medics Train for Airplane Hitting Pentagon
The Tri-Service DiLorenzo Health Care Clinic and the Air Force Flight Medicine Clinic, both housed within the Pentagon, train for a scenario involving a hijacked 757 airliner being crashed into the Pentagon. It is reported that the purpose of the training is "to fine-tune their emergency preparedness." [US Medicine, 10/2001]
Entity Tags: Tri-Service DiLorenzo Health Care Clinic, Pentagon, Air Force Flight Medicine Clinic
May 11, 2001: New York City Practices for Biological Terrorist Attack
New York City's Office of Emergency Management (OEM), which is located in World Trade Center Building 7, organizes a bio-terrorism drill where militant extremists attack the city with bubonic plague and Manhattan is quarantined. The "tabletop exercise" is called RED Ex - meaning "Recognition, Evaluation, and Decision-Making Exercise" - and involves about seventy different entities, agencies, and locales from the New York area. Federal legislation adopted in 1997 requires federal, state, and local authorities to conduct regular exercises as part of the Domestic Preparedness Program (DPP). The US Defense Department chose New York City as the venue for RED Ex due to its size, prominence, and level of emergency preparedness. Various high-level officials take part, including Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, OEM Director Richard Sheirer, Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, and Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik. Agencies and organizations that participate include New York City Fire Department, New York City Police Department, the FBI, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The exercise is supposedly so intense that, according to one participant, "five minutes into that drill, everybody forgot it was a drill." [New York City Government, 5/11/2001; New York City Government, 9/5/2001, pp. 74
Entity Tags: New York City Fire Department, US Department of Defense, World Trade Center, Bernard Kerik, Rudolph ("Rudy") Giuliani, National Air College, New York City Police Department, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Summer 2001: Pentagon's Police Force Holds Various, Unknown Emergency Drills
The Pentagon's police force, the Defense Protective Service (DPS), conducts emergency drills throughout summer 2001. Some members of the DPS subsequently assist in directing rescue efforts at the Pentagon on 9/11. [Los Angeles Times, 9/13/2001]
End Part II
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