Military & Government Agencies Rehearse for 9/11

“We couldn’t possibly have known this.  We didn’t know that airlines are subject to this kind of attack.”

                                                                 — Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

Ten months prior to 9/11, Office of Secretary of Defense (Rumsfeld) holds exercise of an airliner crash into the pentagon!

As stated in the Pentagram, Nov. 3, 2000:

The fire and smoke from the downed passenger aircraft billows from the Pentagon courtyard.  Defense Protective Services Police seal the crash sight. [site]  Army medics, nurses, and doctors scramble to organize aid.  An Arlington Fire Department chief dispatches his equipment to the affected areas.  Don Abbott, of Command Emergency Response Training, walks over to the Pentagon and extinguishes the flames.  The Pentagon was a model and the “plane crash” was a simulated one.  The Pentagon Mass Casualty Exercise, as the crash was called, was just one of several scenarios that emergency response teams were exposed to Oct. 24-26 in the Office of the Secretaries of Defense conference room…Abbott, in his after action critique, reminded the participants that the actual disaster is only one-fifth of the incident and that the whole emergency would run for seven to 20 days and might involve as many as 17 agencies…  In this particular crash there would have been 341 victims…[i]

757 crash exercise at the Pentagon

(Images: Dennis Ryan, mdw.army.mil).

During 2000-2001 the US Government organized various exercises regarding possible terrorist attacks.  There were at least, ten terrorist exercises during 2000 and 2001.  Many were bioterror-type exercises  (Based on research by “ewing2001” of Team8Plus).

This is a list of most of the known exercises leading up to 9/11:

• 22 January 2000 – the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) runs a command and control type war simulation at its Manhattan headquarters.  The CFR enlisted 75 people, including bankers, former Treasury Secretaries, and former State Department officials.  Including, James Woolsey, ex-CIA director.

• May 2000 – start of “TOPOFF” terrorism exercises at Andrews Air Force Base.  Some of those that participated:

Former Senator Sam Nunn – as President.

David Gergen – as National Security Advisor.

Governor Frank Keating – played himself.

James Woolsey – again, as CIA Director (ironically).

William Sessions – as FBI Director.

Jerome Hauer – as FEMA Director.

The $3 million TOPOFF drill tested the preparedness of top government officials in responding to three simulated terrorist attacks against the United States: a chemical weapons assault in Portsmouth, NH, a nuclear terrorism event in the greater Washington, D.C. area, and a bio-weapons (aerosol of pneumonic plague) attack in Denver, CO.[ii]

• June and July 2000 – Dr. Thomas Inglesby of Johns Hopkins Institute organized bioterrorism scenarios in Atlanta and St. Louis.  The bio agent was Yersinia pestis (the black plague).[iii]

• 12 July 2000 – Woolsey was part of yet another CFR “conference” called The Next Financial Crisis: Warning Signs, Damage Control, and Impact.  This exercise included an audience of 250 people, comprised largely of bankers, investors, corporation officials, and government officials. The exercise tested responses to a melt down of the U.S. stock market.[iv]

• 3 November 2000 – Command Emergency Response Training.  Don Abbott organized a simulated crash on the Pentagon with a model of the Pentagon and miniature planes (See beginning of chapter).51

• 28 November 2000 – Second National Symposium on Bioterrorism.  Notable participants included Dr. Inglesby and Jerry Hauer.[v]

• 1 June 2001 – Amalgam Virgo terrorist exercise at Tyndall AFB, FL. The multi-service exercise tested the defense and response capabilities to a terrorist cruise missile, suicide plane, and UAV (drone) attack on Panama City, FL (See more below).[vi]

• 18 June 2001 – Navy Gulf of Mexico Exercise (GOMEX) terrorist preparedness exercise designed to test “Force Protection Readiness:”[vii]

• 22 June 2001 – Dark Winter, the US government’s last big exercise before September 11^th,  focusing on a smallpox attack.  Dr. Inglesby, of Johns Hopkins, was the principal author, designer, and facilitator of this bioterror exercise.[viii]

Among the active participants were:

James Woolsey – ex-CIA director.

Jerome Hauer – ex-OEM.

Sam Nunn.

Thomas Inglesby – Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins

    Institute.

And interestingly, From the 9/11 Commission Report’s chapter one footnotes 457 & 458:

A 1998 White House tabletop exercise chaired by Richard Clarke included a scenario in which a terrorist group loaded a Learjet with explosives and took off for a suicide mission to Washington.  Military officials said they could scramble fighter jets from Langley Air Force Base to chase the aircraft, but they would need “executive” orders to shoot it down.  Chuck Green interview (Apr. 21, 2004).⁹⁷

But, our leaders told us that, “we just didn’t know…”

Exercises show that numerous preparations were done in dealing with hijacked aircraft being used as weapons.

The USA Today reported on 18 April 2004 that there was much more than the previously mentioned “terrorism” exercises.  Prior to 9/11, NORAD had innumerable drills of hijackings and “jets as weapons.”  In the two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) conducted exercises simulating what the White House says was unimaginable at the time — hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into targeted buildings.  One of the unimagined targets was the World Trade Center (WTC).  In another exercise, jets performed a mock “shoot down” over the Atlantic Ocean of a jet supposedly loaded with chemical poisons headed toward a target in the United States.  In a third proposed scenario, the target was the Pentagon.  NORAD confirmed that these scenarios were regional drills, and not regularly scheduled continent-wide exercises.  NORAD went on to explain:

Numerous types of civilian and military aircraft were used as mock hijacked aircraft …  These exercises tested “track detection and identification”; “scramble and interception”; “hijack procedures”; “internal and external agency coordination” and “operational security” and “communications security procedures”.⁵⁹

Interestingly, all the above portions of the defense network that had supposedly failed on 9/11 were analyzed.  Were they being tested to succeed or fail…

One exercise planned in July 2001 was to be conducted — on September 11, 2001 [!!!] It involved hijacked planes from airports in Utah and Washington State with U.S. and Canadian military planes escorting those airliners to airfields in British Columbia and Alaska. 

Previous to 9/11, NORAD conducted for major exercises a year.  Most of these scenarios included hijacks, and at times their “scriptwriters” included using “planes as weapons”.  Maj. Gen. Craig McKinley, a NORAD official, told the 9/11 Commission, “Threats of killing hostages or crashing were left to the scriptwriters to invoke creativity and broaden the required response.”[ix]  Military people and FBI agents would act out the roles of passengers and the hijackers.

Were exercises occurring on 9/11, a ploy to delay standard defensive responses?

On the morning of 9/11, NORAD holds a “live-fly” training exercise.  This war game involved the scenario of hijacked airliners.  The Air Force was in day two of annual drills testing all of its systems to respond to various threats. 

  Officials at NORAD have said that when the hijackings first occurred, they initially thought it was part of the Vigilant Guardian drills running that morning.  Around 9:28 am, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers tells counterterrorism “tsar” Richard Clarke via video link, “We are in the middle of Vigilant Warrior, a NORAD exercise, but ... Otis [Air National Guard Base] has launched two birds toward New York.”[x] Notice the timing, this is 45 minutes after the WTC was first hit, and only minutes before the Pentagon is attacked.

Was Vigilant Warrior the name of a combination exercise: Vigilant Guardian and Amalgam Warrior?

According to a news report, NORAD confirms that, “it was running two mock drills on Sept. 11 at various radar sites and Command Centers in the United States and Canada,” one of these being Vigilant Guardian.[xi] ^[xii] Or was Vigilant Warrior another NORAD exercise on 9/11?  If not, is the exercise Vigilant Warrior referred to by Richard Myers to Clarke, really Vigilant Guardian? 

In his book Code Names, William Arkin says that, “Amalgam Warrior is sometimes combined with Global Guardian.”  This more encompassing version is called Vigilant Guardian.”[xiii]  If this is true, then according to NORAD, Amalgam Warrior and Global Guardian were both occurring on 11 September 2001!

Amalgam Warrior is a NORAD-sponsored, large-scale, live-fly air defense and air intercept field training exercise.  It tests such activities as tracking, surveillance, air interception, employing rules of engagement, attack assessment, electronic warfare, and counter-cruise-missile operations.  A previous Amalgam Warrior in 1996 involved such situations as tracking unknown aircraft that had incorrectly filed their flight plans or wandered off course, in-flight emergencies, terrorist aircraft attacks, and large-scale bomber strike missions.  It usually involves two or more NORAD regions and is held twice yearly, in the Spring for the West Coast and in the Fall (October) for the East Coast.[xiv] [xv] [xvi]  If so, the East Coast Amalgam Warrior is being conducted at an uncharacteristically early time, taking place in September and not in the usual October.  Real planes would be pretending to be threats to the US and real fighters would be deployed to defend against them. 

If either one (or both) of these exercises ending with the name “Warrior” is taking place on 9/11, this could be very significant, because the word “Warrior” indicates that the exercise is a Joint Chiefs of Staff-approved, Commander in Chief, NORAD-sponsored field training exercise.[xvii] 

Was the Amalgam Virgo exercise in June 2001 a “dress rehearsal” for 9/11!

            Just looking at the cover of this proposal, you might get a shiver.  But the contents of this scenario were even more startling.

The cover of NORAD’s June 2001 Amalgam Virgo exercise proposal (Image: National Defense Industrial Association NDIA).

Among other things, this exercise, which was run only two months prior to 9/11, was composed of:

·         Osama Bin Laden terror theme.

·         A terrorist hijacking of an airliner.

·         Suicide attacks with planes.

·         Multi-coordinated and varied attacks on different targets.

·         Eluding a multifaceted defense network with confusing flight patterns.

·         Attacking civilians, cities, and large buildings (Panama City, FL).

·         Using MQM-107 drones masquerading as cruise missiles.

·         The drones were being remote-controlled from a circling aircraft that relayed signals from the ground.

·         Coordination with FEMA and FBI during and after the attacks.

Raytheon MQM-107 Streaker drone (Image: NDIA).

The MQM-107 must evade several layers of defense

before attacking the city (Image: NDIA).

The drone attacks a skyscraper (Image: NDIA).

The multifaceted defense network that should have been in effect on 9/11 (Image: NDIA).

Terrorists acquire weapons (cruise missiles and drones).

They strike many targets over several hours (Image: NDIA).

A multi-regional short duration airborne terrorism attack.

Sounds familiar! (Image: NDIA).

The exercise calls for a hijacked airliner which

goes to Washington D.C.!  (Image: NDIA).

Civilian Agencies, like FEMA, FAA, and FBI also played a large part of 9/11 (Image: NDIA).

The similarities between Amalgam Virgo and 9/11 are irrefutable.  The exercise literature clearly demonstrates how the attacks would commence, including how the radar systems were perplexed.  We also have more amazing details of the UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), which we will explore in a later chapter. 

            There is little wonder that the war games issue is never brought up, by the Department of Defense or the 9/11 Commission.  If the general public found out the truth, the consequences to the Cheney-Bush Administration would be devastating.

Meanwhile on 9/11 — Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, is directing Global Guardian training exercise!

US Strategic Command (Stratcom) headquarters, at Offutt Air Force Base, near Omaha, Nebraska, is “in full swing” with Global Guardian when the 9/11 attacks begin.  The commander in chief of Stratcom and the director of the exercise, Admiral Richard Mies is at Offutt AFB that morning.[xviii]

Because of Global Guardian, bombers, missile crews, and submarines around the United States are all being directed from Stratcom’s Command Center, from the reinforced bunker below Offutt AFB.[xix]  This bunker is staffed with top military personnel.  Because of Global Guardian, three E-4Bs (National Airborne Operations Center “Doomsday” planes) are up in the air that morning on 9/11.  These military command aircraft with sophisticated communications equipment — are command posts for top government officials from where they can direct US forces, execute war orders while coordinating the actions of civil authorities in times of national emergency.  Supposedly, Global Guardian is cancelled at 9:03 a.m., shortly after the second WTC tower is hit.^{68 [xx]} But, even after Global Guardian is called off, the three E-4Bs remain airborne.⁶⁹

Most interestingly, on the morning of 9/11, a small group of business leaders are at Offutt AFB!  They were invited to a charity fundraiser due to take place there, later in the day, hosted by the billionaire Warren Buffett.  Many executives and business leaders that would have been in the WTC are at Offutt AFB with Buffett for the gathering.  When the attacks begin, these visitors are having breakfast with Admiral Mies, the director of Global Guardian.^{68 69 [xxi]}

Northern Vigilance another massive international-scope exercise (U.S., Russia, Canada) was in full swing!

On 9/11, NORAD is at full “battle staff” levels for another major annual exercise that tests every facet of the organization.  Operation Northern Vigilance, had been planned months in advance, and involved deploying fighter jets to locations in Alaska and northern Canada.  Part of this exercise is to keep a close watch on the Russians, who had dispatched long-range bombers to their own high north on a similar exercise.”[xxii]

A Canadian stand-in [!!!], Capt. Mike Jellinek, was overseeing the center command of NORAD, when NEADS, based in Rome, N.Y., reported the FAA had evidence of a hijacking and was asking for NORAD support.  They were told, “this is not part of the exercise.”  In a flash, Operation Northern Vigilance had been called off.  Any simulated information, what’s known as an “inject,” was purged from the screens.  They claimed, that soon after they watched a monitor displaying CNN and saw the World Trade Center, with smoke coming out of it.⁷²

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) was running a drill for the scenario of an aircraft crashing into a government building!

The drill took place at the exact same time as an identical scenario was perpetrated in reality!  Mr. John Fulton and his team at the CIA, called for an evacuation of the National Reconnaissance facility.  It just so happens that NRO operates satellite surveillance equipment, which can see just about anything![xxiii]  Could it be, that someone wanted to disrupt satellite surveillance that morning?

Fort Belvoir’s commander trains for terrorism security.

            Lt. Col. Mark R. Lindon, Commander, Headquarters Battalion at Belvoir (down the street from the Pentagon), was conducting a garrison control exercise.  The object was to test the security at the base in case of a terrorist attack.  That training exercise went into operation that morning— ”…we went to a complete security mode.  … Throughout the next 10 days, I was operating security either here or at the Pentagon.”[xxiv] 

FBI/CIA Anti-terrorist Task Force sent away from Washington on training exercise in California!     

USA Today reports that on 9/11, “a joint FBI/CIA anti-terrorist task force that specifically prepared for this type of disaster” is on a training exercise in Monterey, CA.  Consequently, “with airports closed around the country, the task force still [hasn]’t found a way to fly back to Washington.”[xxv]  The political website, evote.com — added that the FBI has deployed all of its anti-terrorist and top special operations agents at a training exercise, with all associated helicopters and light aircraft in Monterey, CA.  So at the time of the attacks, “the chief federal agency responsible for preventing such crimes [is] being AWOL.”

The 9/11 Commission Hearings deliberately avoided the war games issue.

…An individual stood up and repeatedly questioned why the Commission was not addressing the issue of 9-11 war games — specifically Operation Vigilant Guardian — wherein fighters were already in the air during the attacks, some just minutes away from New York City.  The legitimate questions were ignored and secret service and FBI agents removed the petitioner.

What role, if any, did Secretary Rumsfeld, Undersecretary Wolfowitz, and acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers play in any war game scenario on the morning of September 11, 2001?

Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney questions Congress and Department of Defense (DoD) officials on war games.

The Full House Armed Services Committee met to receive testimony on the fiscal year 2006 National Defense Authorization budget request from the Department of Defense.  As the meeting wound down to its expected end, Secretary Rumsfeld prepared to leave.  Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA), who chaired the hearing, asked the Secretary to commit to a breakfast with Representatives who had not yet asked their questions.  Secretary Rumsfeld happily agreed to do so.  At that moment Cynthia McKinney made sure to get the following vital question into the Congressional Record.

McKinney: Well Mr. Chairman, the problem is — and I appreciate your adherence to the five-minute rule — however there are many of us who have important questions and my question in particular is about the four war games that were taking place on September 11th and how they may have impaired our ability to respond to those attacks.

Mr. Hunter: Well let me say the gentle lady... 

[cross talk]

McKinney: I would like that question to be answered in public Mr. Chairman.

Hunter: Let me say to the gentle lady we’re going to have other opportunities to have the Secretary in front of us and what we will do beyond having questions, if you want a question for the record, be able to put that to the record and have the answer on the record, but additionally at the next event where the Secretary testifies — we’ll try to make sure that happens — we will start with the folks who did not get their question answered so you will have an opportunity.

McKinney: Thank you so much Mr. Chairman, and I hope the record is still open so that even that portion of my comment will be on this record.[xxvi]

Duncan Hunter (R-CA) had circumvented Rumsfeld and Myers from answering McKinney.  Was Duncan Hunter (R-CA) protecting them?  Why would he need to do that?  Duncan Hunter (R-CA) chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and one of the Bush administration’s most trusted allies.  Cynthia McKinney would not get an answer to her question.

“No Comment”

When asked by the 9/11 Commission, who was responsible for coordinating the multiple war games running on the morning of September 11, 2001, General Ralph E Eberhart, the man in charge of NORAD on the morning in question replied, “No Comment.” 

Was Cheney in charge?  Absolutely.  On May 8, 2001 — the president placed Dick Cheney in charge of:

[A]ll federal programs dealing with weapons of mass destruction consequence management within the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Justice, and Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal agencies…[xxvii]

This included all “training and planning” which needed to be “seamlessly integrated, harmonious and comprehensive” in order to “maximize effectiveness.”  This mandate created the Office of National Preparedness in FEMA, overseen by Dick Cheney. ^{NOTEREF _Ref132578688 \h  \* MERGEFORMAT 77}

There was a lot of activity at Crawford Ranch, during Bush and Cheney’s extended-vacation.  The long vacation ended just prior to 9/11  (Photo: AP).