{"id":2296,"date":"2010-03-26T15:19:13","date_gmt":"2010-03-26T19:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oredigger61.org\/?p=2296"},"modified":"2010-12-08T23:17:43","modified_gmt":"2010-12-09T03:17:43","slug":"9-11-faa-tactical-net-a-window-into-the-fbi-sioc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oredigger61.org\/?p=2296","title":{"rendered":"9-11: FAA Tactical Net; a window into the FBI SIOC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

The purpose of this article is to document primary source information concerning the Federal Aviation Agency’s (FAA) Tactical Net.\u00a0 The source is Herndon Center tape 5DCC 1923 Ops Phone 5128, Position 28 13-15-1415 UTC.\u00a0 Thanks to the inclination of air traffic specialists at Herndon Center to leave lines open we have a window into FAA Headquarters and, by extension, a brief window into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Strategic Information and Operations Center (SIOC).<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Commission Staff interview with Mike Weikert<\/a><\/strong> established who was sitting where in the FAA’s Washington Operations Center (WOC).\u00a0 Pete Falcone was running the Tactical Net, his recorder was Chuck Gaffey.\u00a0 Mike Weikert was running the Primary Net, his assistant was Tom Taffe.\u00a0 A sketch of the WOC positions<\/a><\/strong> is\u00a0 in notes from the Weikert interview.<\/p>\n

According to Weikert there was “little traffic on his net.”\u00a0 According to Major Chambers<\/strong> <\/a>at the National Military Command Center nothing was passed on the Primary Net.\u00a0 From notes I took, “virtually nothing being said–dead air space–dropped at some point.”<\/p>\n

When I interviewed Taffe he could identify everyone who was on the dais at the front of the WOC, his line of sight was through the operations position for the Primary Net.\u00a0 He could not identify who was operating the Primary Net.\u00a0 According to a memo<\/strong> <\/a>I prepared, “he could not recall who manned the primary net and was reluctant to place Mike Weikert at that position.”<\/p>\n

At some point, the Primary Net was for all intents and purposes merged with the Tactical Net, “dropped at some point” in Chambers words.\u00a0 On the tape for position 28 we hear one potential Primary Net participant, the FBI’s Jeff Bauer at the SIOC come up on the Tactical Net.\u00a0 My assessment is that he did that because the net he should have been on, the Primary Net, was not available.\u00a0 The Primary Net was activated at 9:20; Bauer called at 9:21 and was directed to the Tactical Net as we shall hear.<\/p>\n

We begin by identifying position 28 as an open line to the Tactical Net.<\/p>\n

Tactical net identified<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was confusion within FAA as to which net was which.\u00a0 At 9:18 Marcus Arroyo, Eastern Region manager called Pete Falcone and asked which net he was on.\u00a0 That conversation can be heard here.\u00a0 091800 FAA Tactical Net<\/a><\/strong> That was two minutes before the Primary Net was activated, an indication that the Primary Net was redundant.<\/p>\n

FBI calls seeking information
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Immediately after the Primary Net was activated Jeff Bauer called to establish contact with FAA.\u00a0 That request can be heard here. 092100 Bauer SIOC announced<\/a>. <\/strong> Seconds later he is announced as joining the Tactical Net.\u00a0 That continuation can be heard here. 092116 Jeff Bauer joined tactical net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bauer leaves the line open<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bauer did not hang up on the Tactical Net.\u00a0 For the next nearly eight minutes background conversations at the SIOC are heard.\u00a0 It is clear from those conversations that the FBI had no new information and was in the process of getting itself organized at the SIOC.\u00a0 For example,\u00a0 the date of the last World Trade Center attack was discussed.\u00a0 At one point Bauer is heard explaining that he is on the FAA’s “Ops” net.\u00a0 That statement can be heard hear.\u00a0 092315 FBI on FAA Ops Net<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

FAA realizes there is an open mike<\/strong><\/p>\n

The window into the FBI SIOC continued for over five more minutes before someone, probably Pete Falcone, realized he had an open mike on his net.\u00a0 That realization can be heard here. 092850 Open Mike on Tac Net<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Situation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The time of the open window into the FBI SIOC was just under 8 minutes, from 9:21 to nearly 9:29.\u00a0 That covers the time that the national level was getting itself organized.\u00a0 The FAA’s Primary Net was activated at 9:20.\u00a0 The White House Secure Video Teleconference, chaird by Richard Clarke, was activated at 9:25 and becaome operational at 9:40.\u00a0 The NMCC was in the process of convening a Significant Events Conference which was terminated in favor of an Air Threat Conference.\u00a0 Not one of the three entities, four included the FBI, knew that a fast moving unknown, AA 77, was approaching from the West.<\/p>\n

In his testimony to the Commission, Norman Mineta cited a time of 9:20 that he was operational in the President’s Emergency Operations Center (PEOC).\u00a0 Logs of the day, as reported by the Commission in its report, place both Mineta and the Vice President in the PEOC after 10:00.<\/p>\n

Mineta was simply wrong in his recall and researchers and writers who argue from a position of accepting Mineta’s testimony have placed themselves in an untenable position.\u00a0 There is no primary or secondary information that supports Mineta’s testimony.\u00a0 Indeed, the convergence of evidence is conclusive that Mineta misspoke and information he claimed pertained to AA 77, in fact, pertained to UA 93.<\/p>\n

93, Go pass that<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is one brief background conversation just before 10:15 at Operations Position 28 which suggests that erroneous information concerning UA 93 was being passed along from the FAA’s Washington Operations Center (WOC).<\/p>\n

The background voice said, “OK, number one is 93, it’s 20 minutes outside of DC, go pass that.”\u00a0 That brief transmission can be heard here. 101430 UA 93 20 minutes out.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the known status of UA 93, someone at the WOC decided to pass along erroneous information, information that could only have come from a Traffic Situation Display which depicted the new flight plan for UA 93 as entered by Cleveland Center.\u00a0 According to landing records at Reagan National, UA 93 “landed” at 10:28.<\/p>\n

The Battle of 9-11, Redux
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The attack began at 5:45 when Mohammed Atta entered the National Airspace System at Portland, Maine.\u00a0 The counterattack began when Boston Center declared a hijack at 8:25.\u00a0 The air defense response began when NEADS was notified at 8:40, according to the MCC\/T log.\u00a0 The FAA Tactical Net was activated at 8:50.\u00a0 At 9:03 the nation knew it was under attack.<\/p>\n

As we have learned in this article it took the national level an additional 15-45 minutes to get itself organized.\u00a0 No one at any level had the situational awareness to accurately inform the National Command Authority which as of at least 10:15 was being misinformed.<\/p>\n

To be continued….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction The purpose of this article is to document primary source information concerning the Federal Aviation Agency’s (FAA) Tactical Net.\u00a0 The source is Herndon Center tape 5DCC 1923 Ops Phone 5128, Position 28 13-15-1415 UTC.\u00a0 Thanks to the inclination of air traffic specialists at Herndon Center to leave lines open we have a window into … Continue reading 9-11: FAA Tactical Net; a window into the FBI SIOC<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-linear-processes"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oredigger61.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oredigger61.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oredigger61.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oredigger61.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oredigger61.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2296"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.oredigger61.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2321,"href":"https:\/\/www.oredigger61.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296\/revisions\/2321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oredigger61.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oredigger61.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oredigger61.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}