Complete 911 Timeline: Military exercises up to 9/11
Complete 911 Timeline: Military exercises up to 9/11
(6:30 a.m.): NORAD on Alert for Emergency Exercises
Dawne Deskins.
Lieutenant Colonel Dawne Deskins and other day shift employees at NEADS start their workday. NORAD is conducting a weeklong, large-scale exercise called Vigilant Guardian. [Newhouse News Service, 1/25/02] Deskins is regional mission crew chief for the Vigilant Guardian exercise. [ABC News, 9/11/02] Vigilant Guardian is described as “an exercise that would pose an imaginary crisis to North American Air Defense outposts nationwide”; as a “simulated air war”; and as “an air defense exercise simulating an attack on the United States.” According to the 9/11 Commission, it “postulated a bomber attack from the former Soviet Union.” [Newhouse News, 1/25/02; Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, pp 55 and 122; 9/11 Commission Final Report, 7/04, pp 458] Vigilant Guardian is described as being held annually, and is one of NORAD's four major annual exercises. [Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, pp 41; Code Names, by William M. Arkin, 1/05, pp 545; GlobalSecurity [.org] Vigilant Guardian page, 4/14/02] However, another report says it takes place semi-annually. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] Accounts by participants vary on whether 9/11 was the second, third, or fourth day of the exercise. [Code One Magazine, 1/02; Newhouse News Service, 1/25/02; Ottawa Citizen, 9/11/02] Vigilant Guardian is a command post exercise (CPX), and in at least some previous years was conducted in conjunction with Stratcom's Global Guardian exercise and a US Space Command exercise called Apollo Guardian. [Committee on Armed Services, undated; Code Names, by William M. Arkin, 1/05, pp 545; GlobalSecurity [.org] Vigilant Guardian page, 4/14/02] All of NORAD is participating in Vigilant Guardian on 9/11. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] At NEADS, most of the dozen or so staff on the operations floor have no idea what the exercise is going to entail and are ready for anything. [Utica Observer-Dispatch, 8/5/04] NORAD is also running a real-world operation named Operation Northern Vigilance. NORAD is thus fully staffed and alert, and senior officers are manning stations throughout the US. The entire chain of command is in place and ready when the first hijacking is reported. An article later says, “In retrospect, the exercise would prove to be a serendipitous enabler of a rapid military response to terrorist attacks on September 11.” [Bergen Record, 12/5/03; Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] Colonel Robert Marr, in charge of NEADS, says, “We had the fighters with a little more gas on board. A few more weapons on board.” [ABC News, 9/11/02] However, Deskins and other NORAD officials later are initially confused about whether the 9/11 attacks are real or part of the exercise. There is a National Reconnaissance Office exercise planned to occur as well (see 9:00 a.m.), involving a scenario of an airplane as a flying weapon. [Associated Press, 8/21/02; UPI, 8/22/02]
People and organizations involved: Northeast Air Defense Sector, Dawne Deskins, Robert Marr, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Vigilant Guardian, Operation Northern Vigilance
(6:30 a.m.): NORAD on Alert for Emergency Exercises
Dawne Deskins.
Lieutenant Colonel Dawne Deskins and other day shift employees at NEADS start their workday. NORAD is conducting a weeklong, large-scale exercise called Vigilant Guardian. [Newhouse News Service, 1/25/02] Deskins is regional mission crew chief for the Vigilant Guardian exercise. [ABC News, 9/11/02] Vigilant Guardian is described as “an exercise that would pose an imaginary crisis to North American Air Defense outposts nationwide”; as a “simulated air war”; and as “an air defense exercise simulating an attack on the United States.” According to the 9/11 Commission, it “postulated a bomber attack from the former Soviet Union.” [Newhouse News, 1/25/02; Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, pp 55 and 122; 9/11 Commission Final Report, 7/04, pp 458] Vigilant Guardian is described as being held annually, and is one of NORAD's four major annual exercises. [Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, pp 41; Code Names, by William M. Arkin, 1/05, pp 545; GlobalSecurity [.org] Vigilant Guardian page, 4/14/02] However, another report says it takes place semi-annually. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] Accounts by participants vary on whether 9/11 was the second, third, or fourth day of the exercise. [Code One Magazine, 1/02; Newhouse News Service, 1/25/02; Ottawa Citizen, 9/11/02] Vigilant Guardian is a command post exercise (CPX), and in at least some previous years was conducted in conjunction with Stratcom's Global Guardian exercise and a US Space Command exercise called Apollo Guardian. [Committee on Armed Services, undated; Code Names, by William M. Arkin, 1/05, pp 545; GlobalSecurity [.org] Vigilant Guardian page, 4/14/02] All of NORAD is participating in Vigilant Guardian on 9/11. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] At NEADS, most of the dozen or so staff on the operations floor have no idea what the exercise is going to entail and are ready for anything. [Utica Observer-Dispatch, 8/5/04] NORAD is also running a real-world operation named Operation Northern Vigilance. NORAD is thus fully staffed and alert, and senior officers are manning stations throughout the US. The entire chain of command is in place and ready when the first hijacking is reported. An article later says, “In retrospect, the exercise would prove to be a serendipitous enabler of a rapid military response to terrorist attacks on September 11.” [Bergen Record, 12/5/03; Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] Colonel Robert Marr, in charge of NEADS, says, “We had the fighters with a little more gas on board. A few more weapons on board.” [ABC News, 9/11/02] However, Deskins and other NORAD officials later are initially confused about whether the 9/11 attacks are real or part of the exercise. There is a National Reconnaissance Office exercise planned to occur as well (see 9:00 a.m.), involving a scenario of an airplane as a flying weapon. [Associated Press, 8/21/02; UPI, 8/22/02]
People and organizations involved: Northeast Air Defense Sector, Dawne Deskins, Robert Marr, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Vigilant Guardian, Operation Northern Vigilance
posted by faranglander at 11:02 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home