9/11: Debunking NORAD Conspiracies

Many conspiracies surrounding 9/11 have persisted since that fateful day, and seemed to have grown, if websites serve as any indication.

Following a discussion with a conspiracy theorist, I decided to do some fact-hunting.

Sites such as Public Action, Stand Down, 9-11 Research, Prison Plant, etc. offer various conspiracies concerning NORAD actions/inactions during the 9/11 attacks. Such vast conspiracies as NORAD-controlled planes and/or missiles, intentional failure by NORAD, intentional misdirecting of scrambled jets, willful disabling of air defense systems, etc..

The reality is far more simple.

NORAD was not set up for internal flight threats. It utilized a linking of radar systems encircling US and Canada to track and intercept inbound international flights.

Because of this, no alarms went off in NORAD, and no one in NORAD was informed until the FAA reported a hijacking. 5 jets were scrambled within minutes, 2 from MA and 3 from VA. The next two calls from the FAA provided erroneous information.

The first call occurred at 8:37am EST. AA Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower at 8:46am EST. UA Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower at 9:03am EST.

NORAD only intercepted one plane over North America in the decade previous to 9/11.

At that time, rules prohibited intercepts at supersonic speed over the US.

With a cloud of jets flying hundreds of miles an hour throughout the area, with NORAD not having a system set up to track internal flights, with the FAA having privided faulty information to NORAD, and pilots having to rely on a mix of visual identification, on-board radar and relayed guidance, it's unfortunate, but understandable that fighters were unable to intercept in time.

Here's a recent sample snapshot in time of the JFK Int'l Airport area at a range of 80 miles to visualize common air traffic early in the morning. Remember the FAA hadn't ordered all flights to be grounded until 9:40am EST:




Screenshot taken from PASSUR, which provided live air traffic java visualization.

Since then, NORAD has added new radar, linked internal radar systems, changed engagement and flight speed rules, and eased the flow of information with the FAA.

NORAD should have prepared for this kind of threat, but I hope this sheds some light on the problems they faced then.

Some theorists cite large numbers of NORAD interdictions previous to 9/11. Those theories disregard that NORAD interdictions (mostly drug-related) dealt with flights from other countries to the US rather than purely domestic authorized flights in civil-controlled airspace which veered off course.


Excerpts of General Eberhart's 17 JUNE 2004 statement (PDF) to the 9-11 Commission Hearings:

Prior to the attacks on our Nation two and one half years ago, our air defense posture was aligned to "look outward" to counter external threats to North America. We considered flights taking off within the U.S. and Canada as "friendly by origin." Our aerospace warning and control missions were oriented and resourced to detect and identify all air traffic entering North American airspace. We were prepared to intercept potentially threatening inbound aircraft as necessary.

During the height of the Cold War, NORAD had over 50 fighters on alert ready to fly air defense missions. As the perceived external threat diminished after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the number of aircraft to support this mission was reduced. On 9/11, NORAD had 14 fighters on alert at seven sites in the continental United States.

Six minutes prior to the first attack on the World Trade Center, the FAA informed NORAD of the potential hijack of American Airlines Flight 11. As events unfolded throughout the morning, NORAD responded immediately with fighters and appropriate airspace control measures. Unfortunately, due to the constraints of time and distance, we were unable to influence the tragic circumstances.

(Emphasis added is mine)


Where vast conspiracy theories about air defenses on 9/11 fail is at the individual level.

What conspiracy theorists are apparently implying is that air defense services were shut off or ignored; All American soldiers, pilots, security personnel, and FAA employees involved were either part of, or commanded to go along quietly with some self-destructive anti-American conspiracy, or else were all entirely ignorant of their jobs and duties for those moments.

It may sound compelling on conspiracy theory websites. It doesn't work at the individual level.