NUTS!! NRO exercise
If someone would tell you that for Sept 11,2001 had been
planned an exercise by the most secretive US government
agency involving a jet flying into a building, you'd
think they are nuts, huh?
Well listen to Art Haubold, the
NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE
spokesman...
[...] About a minute after the Learjet took off, an
explosion would be heard, and the pilot would complain
that one of the engines was on fire and he was losing
altitude. Around 9:32 a.m., the plane would crash into
tower 4 at the NRO headquarters. Since the Pentagon was
hit at 9:37 a.m., this means the crash in the scenario
was scheduled to occur just five minutes before the
actual attack occurred at the Pentagon, which is 24
miles away from the NRO headquarters. --
published September 7, 2009
9/11 Training Exercise Planned for Simulated Plane Crash
Five Minutes before Pentagon Attack Took Place
Filed under: Complete 911 Timeline, Document Collection -- Matt @ 10:02 am
Five minutes before the Pentagon was hit on September
11, 2001, a training exercise being run by a US
intelligence agency just over 20 miles from the Pentagon
was set to include the scenario of a small private jet
plane crashing into a building. It is unclear whether
the scenario was played out, or if the exercise had been
called off by that time.
Important details of the exercise, which was being
conducted by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) at
its headquarters in Chantilly, Virginia, are revealed in
a document obtained by the 9/11 Commission. The
document, titled "Early Morning Flight Activity
September 11, 2001,"
was part of a series of 9/11 Commission records moved to
the US National Archives at the start of this year. It
was found there, and posted online, by History Commons
contributor paxvector.
Exercise Observers Meet at 9:00 a.m.
The NRO exercise, which had been planned for several
months, was set to commence at 9:00 a.m. on September
11, when its observers would meet to be briefed. The
observers and exercise role players were to move to
their positions for the exercise 10 or 15 minutes later.
In the exercise scenario, a Learjet 35A with two pilots
and four passengers on board would take off at 9:30 a.m.
from Washington Dulles International Airport. This
airport, which is located four miles from the NRO
headquarters, is where American Airlines Flight 77--the
plane that reportedly hit the Pentagon--took off from
earlier that morning.
About a minute after the Learjet took off, an explosion
would be heard, and the pilot would complain that one of
the engines was on fire and he was losing altitude.
Around 9:32 a.m., the plane would crash into tower 4 at
the NRO headquarters. Since the Pentagon was hit at 9:37
a.m., this means the crash in the scenario was scheduled
to occur just five minutes before the actual attack
occurred at the Pentagon, which is 24 miles away from
the NRO headquarters.
Several People Killed and Injured in Scenario
The Associated Press has revealed
that no real plane was going to be used in the exercise,
and the crash was to be the result of mechanical
failure, not terrorism. But the consequences of the
simulated crash would be similar to those of the actual
9/11 attacks, albeit on a smaller scale. The newly
released document describes the scene: "Various parts of
the aircraft struck the outside portions of the
building, spraying jet fuel. The final portions of the
wreckage were scattered around the entryway between
tower 1 and 2. Jet fuel was burning uncontrollably in
the vicinity of the flagpoles. There are a number of
injured and dead NRO employees." Some stairwells and
exits at the NRO headquarters were going to be closed
off in order to simulate the damage from the crash,
thereby forcing employees to find other ways to evacuate
their building.
Exercise 'Inputs'
The document reveals that the exercise was set to
include numerous "inputs," which appear to have been
communications and other actions intended to make it
appear more realistic to its participants.
Planned inputs included, at 9:30 a.m. a smoke generator
was going to be started, to simulate the fire resulting
from the crash. At 9:32, numerous phone calls would
begin flooding in, from people reporting fires in
various locations in the building. At 9:34, after
someone reported that a small civilian jet had crashed,
NRO personnel were to be instructed to evacuate their
building.
At 9:37, the first engine from Fairfax County Fire
Department was scheduled to arrive on the scene. (It is
unclear whether real fire department personnel were
going to participate in the exercise. The document
states that "inputs from simulated Fairfax responders"
were to be used "if Fairfax does not play.") At 10:03,
four more fire department trucks and emergency medical
technician vehicles would respond to the crash. By 10:30
all the simulated fires would have been put out, but it
would be confirmed that at least four NRO employees died
in the crash. The exercise was set to end at 11:45 a.m.
Exercise Canceled
The exercise was reportedly called off
in response to the morning's real world attacks.
However, the specific time when it was canceled is
unclear. NRO spokesman Art Haubold has said
http://www.boston.com/news/packages/sept11/anniversary/w
ire_stories/0903_plane_exercise.htm
only that "as soon as the real world events began, we
canceled the exercise." It is therefore unknown whether
the simulated plane crash was played out, or whether the
exercise had been brought to an end before it took
place. After the exercise was canceled, all but the
NRO's most essential employees were sent home.
The Highly Secretive National Reconnaissance Office
The National Reconnaissance Office is a highly secretive
organization. The New York Times called it "probably the
most secretive of the intelligence agencies." Until
1992, its existence had not even been officially
disclosed. It is an agency of the US Department of
Defense, and is responsible for ensuring "that the US
has the technology and spaceborne and airborne assets
needed to acquire intelligence worldwide." According to
the New York Times, the NRO "designs, builds, and
operates spy satellites that photograph and overhear
what other countries are up to." It employs some 3,000
people, who are drawn from the CIA and the military.
http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=art_haubold_1
more
http://www.google.com/search?q=haubold+exercise+historycommons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Assessments_Branch#A_strategic_analyst_on_9.2F11
A strategic analyst on 9/11
"On the morning of September 11, 2001, [John] Fulton and his team at the
CIA were running a pre-planned simulation to explore the emergency
response issues that would be created if a plane were to strike a
building." So said an advance-publicity pamphlet for a security
conference held in 2002.
A subsequent Associated Press report expanded on the statement,
clarifying that the exercise occurred at the National Reconnaissance
Office, west of Washington. Officials at the Chantilly, Virginia, based
NRO "had scheduled an exercise that morning in which a small corporate
jet crashed into one of the four towers at the agency's headquarters
building after experiencing a mechanical failure." The exercise was
designed "to test employees' responses to a disaster, said spokesman Art
Haubold".
The exercise was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. "The agency is about four
miles from the runways of Washington Dulles International Airport",
where American Airlines Flight 77 took off, to return and hit the
Pentagon. "'It was just an incredible coincidence...', Haubold said."
The simulation was out of the usual line of John Fulton's work. "25
years in the intelligence community has contributed to his recognition
as an expert in risk & threat response analysis, scenario gaming, and
strategic planning. He is on staff for the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA), currently [2002] serving as Chief of the Strategic War Gaming
Division of the National Reconnaissance Office....
http://web.archive.org/web/20030212092040/http://www.nlsi.net/hs-alc-info.htm
One week after The Memory Hole first reported this story (14 August
2002), it was picked up by the Associated Press in the following
article: Agency planned drill for plane crash last Sept. 11
Associated Press
August 22, 2002
WASHINGTON -- In what the government describes as a bizarre coincidence,
one U.S. intelligence agency was planning an exercise last Sept. 11 in
which an errant aircraft crashed into one of its buildings. But the
cause wasn't terrorism -- it was to be a simulated accident. Officials
at the Chantilly, Va.-based National Reconnaissance Office had scheduled
an exercise that morning in which a small corporate jet crashed into one
of the four towers at the agency's headquarters building after
experiencing a mechanical failure. The agency is about four miles from
the runways of Washington Dulles International Airport. Agency chiefs
came up with the scenario to test employees' ability to respond to a
disaster, said spokesman Art Haubold. To simulate the damage from the
plane, some stairwells and exits were to be closed off, forcing
employees to find other ways to evacuate the building. "It was just an
incredible coincidence that this happened to involve an aircraft
crashing into our facility," Haubold said. "As soon as the real world
events began, we canceled the exercise." Terrorism was to play no role
in the exercise, which had been planned for several months, he said.
Adding to the coincidence, American Airlines Flight 77 -- the Boeing 767
that was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon -- took off from Dulles
at 8:10 a.m. on Sept. 11, 50 minutes before the exercise was to begin.
It struck the Pentagon around 9:40 a.m., killing 64 aboard the plane and
125 on the ground. The National Reconnaissance Office operates many of
the nation's spy satellites. It draws its personnel from the military
and the CIA. After the Sept. 11 attacks, most of the 3,000 people who
work at agency headquarters were sent home, save for some essential
personnel, Haubold said. An announcement for an upcoming homeland
security conference in Chicago first noted the exercise. In a promotion
for speaker John Fulton, a CIA officer assigned as chief of NRO's
strategic gaming division, the announcement says, "On the morning of
September 11th 2001, Mr. Fulton and his team ... were running a
pre-planned simulation to explore the emergency response issues that
would be created if a plane were to strike a building. Little did they
know that the scenario would come true in a dramatic way that day." The
conference is being run by the National Law Enforcement and Security
Institute.
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