9/11 War Games
Directed by James Corbett (2018)
Film Review
This documentary presents a well-produced investigation into the multiple war games the Pentagon coincidentally scheduled simultaneous with the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center. In conjunction with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), NORAD (North American Aerospace Command have a well established protocol of using Air Force jets to intercept hijacked airliners and either forcing them to land or shooting them down. On 9-11, the protocol failed – no fighters jets were scrambled to intercept the three planes that reportedly crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. All available evidence suggests that four Air Force war games (three involving simulating hijackings) created so much confusion for air traffic controllers and FAA and NORAD officials that they paralyzed their ability to respond to the real hijackings.
The film is based on research by the late Michael Ruppert, archived audio recordings of air traffic controllers and FAA and NORAD, and testimony to the 9-11 Commission.
Much detailed information about these simulated attacks remains classified. However the names of four of the simulation exercises are known:
- Northern Vigilance – an exercise which sent most of the US fighter jets on duty to northern Canada and Alaska for the day.
- Vigilant Guardian and Tripod 2 – exercises which inserted numerous false radar blips on air traffic controller screens to test their ability to respond to them.
- Vigilant Warrior – an exercise consisting of numerous “live fly” hijack drills, in which military personnel dressed as civilians would board civilian flights and simulate fake hijackings.
FAA/NORAD officials confronted with 22 possible hijackings had only eight fighter jets available to respond to them most were in Canada participating in Northern Vigilance). In three instances (Delta 1989, United Airlines 177 and Continental 321), fighter jets intercepted “simulated” hijackings and forced airliners to land.
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