Improvising a Homeland Defense [View All]

[LARED]

http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing12/staff_statement_17.pdf

In sum, the protocols in place on 9/11 for the FAA and NORAD to respond to a hijacking presumed that:

(1) the hijacked aircraft would be readily identifiable and would not attempt to disappear;
(2) there would be time to address the problem through the a ppropriate FAA and NORAD chains of command; and
(3) the hijacking would take the traditional form, not a suicide hijacking designed to convert the aircraft into a guided missile.

On the morning of 9/11, the existing protocol was unsuited in every respect for what was about to happen. What ensued was the hurried attempt to create an improvised defense by officials who had never encountered or trained against the situation they faced.

......

The details of what happened on the morning of September 11 are complex. But the details play out a simple theme. NORAD and the FAA were unprepared for the type of attacks launched against the United States on September 11, 2001. They struggled, under difficult circumstances, to improvise a homeland defense against an unprecedented challenge they had never encountered and had never trained to meet.

All should read this report. It povides a lot of answers to questions that have been raised on this board.