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Question:
Did the government conduct, or plan to conduct, any
simulated crashes of fuel-laden aircraft into command
and control centers prior to the aerial attack on 9-11
on the Pentagon and World Trade Center — or was such a
possibility beyond the imagination of the national
leadership?
Answer:
Agencies of the government had considered such an
event prior to 9-11.
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which
manages US spy satellites, had scheduled well in advance
of 9-11 an exercise in which a simulated civilian jet
crashed into one of the four towers at the agency's
headquarters in Chantilly, Va. The simulated attack was
scheduled on the morning of 9-11-01 at approximately the
time that American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the
Pentagon, which was less than 4 miles away. The
simulation was intended to test NRO's employees' ability
to respond to a disaster. (Those employees in the
simulation would be in the position of tourists on the
earthquake ride at Universal Studio theme park at the
time of a real earthquake).
The simulation was organized and managed by John
Fulton, a CIA officer assigned as chief of NRO's
strategic gaming division. Fulton, a member of U.S.
Joint Forces Command's Project Alpha - a "think tank"
for advanced concepts related to such issues as homeland
security, had formerly served as the mission director
for the satellite imagery program.
The NRO, after 9-11, officially described the
exercise as just an errant aircraft that crashed into
one of its buildings — "a simulated accident." But that
begs the question why the NRO, which is concerned with
real-time intelligence from satellites at a time of a
national emergency, would be concerned with an
unintentional rather than intentional crash. The real
issue is what intelligence, or risk assessment data,
caused the CIA and NRO to conduct this simulation.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command
(NORAD) also planned a hijacking drill involving two
American passenger planes, including scrambling
interceptors to respond to the simulated highjackings,
and one scenario that included shooting down the
airliners. According to Major Mike Snyder, a NORAD
spokesman, the scenario was planned before the September
11 terrorist attacks, but not carried out until the
following summer.
So the possibility was not beyond the imagination
of the government.
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