19-07-2011, 02:54 AM
July 17, 2011
History Commons Update
This is one of an ongoing series of irregular email alerts notifying the community of special events.
New 9/11 Timeline Entries
Many new entries have been added to the Complete 9/11 Timeline at History Commons, most of them describing events that took place on the day of 9/11.
New Entries Added to the Complete 9/11 Timeline
Two important entries deal with events before 9/11, specifically regarding military training exercises. One entry reveals that prior to 9/11, NORAD practiced for hijackings five times per month five times per month at its operations center in Colorado. The other entry describes how, in the days before 9/11, the Army had been planning an exercise for the week after 9/11, based, remarkably, on the scenario of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center.
Several entries give new details about the actions of the two F-15 fighter jets launched in response to the first hijacked plane. After being told by the military that the fighters had been given a "bad heading," an air traffic controller had to redirect the two aircraft. When he did this, he also notified the lead fighter pilot that Flight 11 had crashed into the WTC. And yet the two pilots have both denied learning this news until about 10 minutes later, when they were told that a second plane had hit the WTC. After being given the new heading, the lead pilot contacted the military, but apparently neither he nor the person he spoke with mentioned the crash during their call. The two fighters then headed into military airspace over the ocean.
A number of entries deal with the actions of the US Park Police Aviation Unit in Washington, DC, on September 11. That morning, the unit had been holding a large training event. Its two Huey helicopters promptly responded to the Pentagon attack, with one of them providing live video footage of the crash scene and also being put in charge of controlling the Washington airspace. However, its pilot's request that the Maryland State Police send helicopters to help out at the Pentagon was bluntly refused. The other Park Police helicopter subsequently had to respond to numerous reported emergencies that turned out to be false alarms. Furthermore, contrary to official accounts, a new timeline entry reveals that one of the Park Police helicopters was in the air before the Pentagon attack and was instructed to intercept the approaching aircraft.
A US Border Patrol agent who saw the helicopter from his hotel window also described seeing an American Airlines plane taking off from Washington's Reagan National Airport, flying north toward the nearby Pentagon, about a minute before the Pentagon attack occurred. And several witnesses have described hearing secondary explosions inside the Pentagon following the attack there.
An entry describes how National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice thought the first plane hitting the WTC was an accident when she was informed of it by her assistant. While phoning President Bush about the incident, Rice was told that the crashed plane was a commercial airliner, and she passed on this news to the president. Rice has also described how those in the shelter conference room below the White House were unable to hear the audio from television broadcasts and the White House video teleconference at the same time throughout the day, due to technical problems.
Unlike Rice, those in the office of the vice chief of naval operations at the Pentagon realized right away that the first crash must have been deliberate, and even speculated that the Pentagon was a likely target for any subsequent attack. But when a senior officer there was told of a suspicious aircraft approaching Washington, he instructed his deputy to keep quiet and not pass on this crucial information.
Some entries describe how United Airlines, as well as having two of its aircraft hijacked that morning, had to deal with numerous false alarms. These included threats that were found to be "misunderstandings or hoaxes"; a loss of contact with three aircraft at around 10:00 a.m.; nine aircraft reported missing about an hour later; and another of its aircraft reported as missing by the Secret Service.
Later in the day, those in the White House were told that a US Airways plane flying to the US from Spain had been hijacked, but this also turned out to be a false alarm.
****
(9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Senior Navy Officer Wants Report of Hijacked Plane Approaching Washington Kept Secret
http://www.historycommons.org/context.js...et&scale=0
A senior Navy officer at the Pentagon is told in a phone call that another hijacked aircraft is heading toward Washington, DC, and yet he tells a colleague who also receives this news to keep the information to himself. [US NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER, 10/10/2001] Rear Admiral William Douglas Crowder is the executive assistant to Admiral William Fallon, the vice chief of naval operations. [US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, 9/26/2001; PROCEEDINGS, 9/2002] He is working in Fallon's office, on the fourth floor of the Pentagon's E-ring. [US NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER, 10/10/2001; WASHINGTON POST, 11/17/2006] Fallon is currently down the hall, in the office of Admiral Vern Clark, the chief of naval operations. Those in Fallon's office are aware of the attacks on the World Trade Center, and have speculated that if this is an organized attack, then Washington, and specifically the Pentagon, is a likely target (see (8:48 a.m.-9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001).
Crowder Told of Plane Approaching Washington - Crowder now answers a call from the Navy Command Center, which is on the first floor of the Pentagon's southwest face. His deputy, Commander David Radi, listens in on the call, as he is required to. Captain William Toti, the special assistant to the vice chief of naval operations, will later describe what Crowder is told. Toti will recall, "I was not listening in, but the gist of the conversation was there's another airplane that's been hijacked that's heading towards Washington." [US NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER, 10/10/2001] (An intelligence unit located within the Navy Command Center was recently notified of "indications of another aircraft that's been hijacked" and that is "heading out to DC" (see Shortly Before 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). [DAILY TELEGRAPH, 9/11/2002] ) Crowder replies to the caller, "Okay, got it."
Crowder Instructs Deputy to Keep Information Secret - Radi appears afraid. Presumably referring to the office staff's prediction of a possible attack on the Pentagon, he says: "Holy sh_t. Captain Toti, it's coming true." Crowder runs out of the office to go and tell Fallon what he has just learned. But as he is heading out, he calls back to Radi: "That's close hold. Don't tell anybody what you just heard." Toti will comment, "Remember that Crowder and Radi are the only two people who heard" about the approaching hijacked plane. Just then, the Pentagon is hit: "Not 30 seconds after Crowder hangs up and runs out the door," Toti will recall, "we hear the airplane, the jet engines, and feel impact. The building shook like an earthquake. We heard the explosion." [US NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER, 10/10/2001] No steps have been taken to evacuate the Pentagon or alert its workers before the building is hit (see Before 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). [VOGEL, 2007, PP. 429]
Officer Finds Crowder's Order 'Peculiar' - In an interview a month later, Toti will reflect: "In retrospect, I wonder what the hell was close hold about that fact that there was a hijacked airplane coming in towards the Pentagon. If anything, it would have been nice to alert people of that." He will add that he has not asked Crowder "why he said that," but says Crowder's instruction to Radi "stuck out in [my] mind at the time as kind of a peculiar thing to say."
Officer Told Not to Go to Command Center - Toti's life is likely saved because, just before the call about the approaching plane is received, Crowder told him not to go to the Navy Command Centera part of the Pentagon that suffers serious damage when the building is hit. After seeing the burning WTC on television, Toti had been uncomfortable that his office had not received any information about what was going on from the Command Center. After "a few minutes of hearing nothing," he had suggested to Crowder "that I go to the ops center to see if they had any information we should pass to senior Navy leadership." But, as Toti was heading out the door toward the Command Center, Crowder instructed him: "Wait, give them another minute. If they don't call by then, you can go down." Toti therefore returned to his desk. "Just then," Toti will recall, Crowder receives the call from the Command Center about the hijacked plane approaching Washington. [US NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER, 10/10/2001; PROCEEDINGS, 9/2002] Much of the Navy Command Center is destroyed when the Pentagon is hit (see 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001), and 42 of the 50 people working in it are killed. [WASHINGTON POST, 1/20/2002; NATIONAL DEFENSE MAGAZINE, 6/2003] Toti will say that Crowder "probably saved my life." [US NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER, 10/10/2001]
Entity Tags: David Radi, William J. Toti, William Douglas Crowder
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline
History Commons Update
This is one of an ongoing series of irregular email alerts notifying the community of special events.
New 9/11 Timeline Entries
Many new entries have been added to the Complete 9/11 Timeline at History Commons, most of them describing events that took place on the day of 9/11.
New Entries Added to the Complete 9/11 Timeline
Two important entries deal with events before 9/11, specifically regarding military training exercises. One entry reveals that prior to 9/11, NORAD practiced for hijackings five times per month five times per month at its operations center in Colorado. The other entry describes how, in the days before 9/11, the Army had been planning an exercise for the week after 9/11, based, remarkably, on the scenario of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center.
Several entries give new details about the actions of the two F-15 fighter jets launched in response to the first hijacked plane. After being told by the military that the fighters had been given a "bad heading," an air traffic controller had to redirect the two aircraft. When he did this, he also notified the lead fighter pilot that Flight 11 had crashed into the WTC. And yet the two pilots have both denied learning this news until about 10 minutes later, when they were told that a second plane had hit the WTC. After being given the new heading, the lead pilot contacted the military, but apparently neither he nor the person he spoke with mentioned the crash during their call. The two fighters then headed into military airspace over the ocean.
A number of entries deal with the actions of the US Park Police Aviation Unit in Washington, DC, on September 11. That morning, the unit had been holding a large training event. Its two Huey helicopters promptly responded to the Pentagon attack, with one of them providing live video footage of the crash scene and also being put in charge of controlling the Washington airspace. However, its pilot's request that the Maryland State Police send helicopters to help out at the Pentagon was bluntly refused. The other Park Police helicopter subsequently had to respond to numerous reported emergencies that turned out to be false alarms. Furthermore, contrary to official accounts, a new timeline entry reveals that one of the Park Police helicopters was in the air before the Pentagon attack and was instructed to intercept the approaching aircraft.
A US Border Patrol agent who saw the helicopter from his hotel window also described seeing an American Airlines plane taking off from Washington's Reagan National Airport, flying north toward the nearby Pentagon, about a minute before the Pentagon attack occurred. And several witnesses have described hearing secondary explosions inside the Pentagon following the attack there.
An entry describes how National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice thought the first plane hitting the WTC was an accident when she was informed of it by her assistant. While phoning President Bush about the incident, Rice was told that the crashed plane was a commercial airliner, and she passed on this news to the president. Rice has also described how those in the shelter conference room below the White House were unable to hear the audio from television broadcasts and the White House video teleconference at the same time throughout the day, due to technical problems.
Unlike Rice, those in the office of the vice chief of naval operations at the Pentagon realized right away that the first crash must have been deliberate, and even speculated that the Pentagon was a likely target for any subsequent attack. But when a senior officer there was told of a suspicious aircraft approaching Washington, he instructed his deputy to keep quiet and not pass on this crucial information.
Some entries describe how United Airlines, as well as having two of its aircraft hijacked that morning, had to deal with numerous false alarms. These included threats that were found to be "misunderstandings or hoaxes"; a loss of contact with three aircraft at around 10:00 a.m.; nine aircraft reported missing about an hour later; and another of its aircraft reported as missing by the Secret Service.
Later in the day, those in the White House were told that a US Airways plane flying to the US from Spain had been hijacked, but this also turned out to be a false alarm.
****
(9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Senior Navy Officer Wants Report of Hijacked Plane Approaching Washington Kept Secret
http://www.historycommons.org/context.js...et&scale=0
A senior Navy officer at the Pentagon is told in a phone call that another hijacked aircraft is heading toward Washington, DC, and yet he tells a colleague who also receives this news to keep the information to himself. [US NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER, 10/10/2001] Rear Admiral William Douglas Crowder is the executive assistant to Admiral William Fallon, the vice chief of naval operations. [US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, 9/26/2001; PROCEEDINGS, 9/2002] He is working in Fallon's office, on the fourth floor of the Pentagon's E-ring. [US NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER, 10/10/2001; WASHINGTON POST, 11/17/2006] Fallon is currently down the hall, in the office of Admiral Vern Clark, the chief of naval operations. Those in Fallon's office are aware of the attacks on the World Trade Center, and have speculated that if this is an organized attack, then Washington, and specifically the Pentagon, is a likely target (see (8:48 a.m.-9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001).
Crowder Told of Plane Approaching Washington - Crowder now answers a call from the Navy Command Center, which is on the first floor of the Pentagon's southwest face. His deputy, Commander David Radi, listens in on the call, as he is required to. Captain William Toti, the special assistant to the vice chief of naval operations, will later describe what Crowder is told. Toti will recall, "I was not listening in, but the gist of the conversation was there's another airplane that's been hijacked that's heading towards Washington." [US NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER, 10/10/2001] (An intelligence unit located within the Navy Command Center was recently notified of "indications of another aircraft that's been hijacked" and that is "heading out to DC" (see Shortly Before 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). [DAILY TELEGRAPH, 9/11/2002] ) Crowder replies to the caller, "Okay, got it."
Crowder Instructs Deputy to Keep Information Secret - Radi appears afraid. Presumably referring to the office staff's prediction of a possible attack on the Pentagon, he says: "Holy sh_t. Captain Toti, it's coming true." Crowder runs out of the office to go and tell Fallon what he has just learned. But as he is heading out, he calls back to Radi: "That's close hold. Don't tell anybody what you just heard." Toti will comment, "Remember that Crowder and Radi are the only two people who heard" about the approaching hijacked plane. Just then, the Pentagon is hit: "Not 30 seconds after Crowder hangs up and runs out the door," Toti will recall, "we hear the airplane, the jet engines, and feel impact. The building shook like an earthquake. We heard the explosion." [US NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER, 10/10/2001] No steps have been taken to evacuate the Pentagon or alert its workers before the building is hit (see Before 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). [VOGEL, 2007, PP. 429]
Officer Finds Crowder's Order 'Peculiar' - In an interview a month later, Toti will reflect: "In retrospect, I wonder what the hell was close hold about that fact that there was a hijacked airplane coming in towards the Pentagon. If anything, it would have been nice to alert people of that." He will add that he has not asked Crowder "why he said that," but says Crowder's instruction to Radi "stuck out in [my] mind at the time as kind of a peculiar thing to say."
Officer Told Not to Go to Command Center - Toti's life is likely saved because, just before the call about the approaching plane is received, Crowder told him not to go to the Navy Command Centera part of the Pentagon that suffers serious damage when the building is hit. After seeing the burning WTC on television, Toti had been uncomfortable that his office had not received any information about what was going on from the Command Center. After "a few minutes of hearing nothing," he had suggested to Crowder "that I go to the ops center to see if they had any information we should pass to senior Navy leadership." But, as Toti was heading out the door toward the Command Center, Crowder instructed him: "Wait, give them another minute. If they don't call by then, you can go down." Toti therefore returned to his desk. "Just then," Toti will recall, Crowder receives the call from the Command Center about the hijacked plane approaching Washington. [US NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER, 10/10/2001; PROCEEDINGS, 9/2002] Much of the Navy Command Center is destroyed when the Pentagon is hit (see 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001), and 42 of the 50 people working in it are killed. [WASHINGTON POST, 1/20/2002; NATIONAL DEFENSE MAGAZINE, 6/2003] Toti will say that Crowder "probably saved my life." [US NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER, 10/10/2001]
Entity Tags: David Radi, William J. Toti, William Douglas Crowder
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline
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