Secrets of 9/11: New Details of Chaos, Nukes Emerge

NBC News ^ | 09/11/16 | William M. Arkin and Robert Windrem

[Enlightened1]

When chief of staff Andrew Card knelt down and told George Bush “America is under attack” 15 years ago Sunday, the words he whispered in the president’s ear in a Florida classroom launched what was supposed to be a planned, orderly response to a national emergency.

But what followed instead was chaos, a breakdown in communication and protocol that risked international conflict and could have made Sept. 11, 2001, a still bigger tragedy. There were live nukes on the tarmac at U.S. airbases, a failed communications system, and a security protocol for the president and his potential successors — the “continuity of government” plan — that only one top official followed.

Based on a review of newly unclassified documents, memoirs and other published accounts, and interviews with U.S. officials, NBC News has learned that:

Three dozen live nuclear weapons were aboard U.S. Air Force bombers at three airbases when al Qaeda struck New York and Washington. Because of inadequate communications equipment and procedures, top U.S. officials couldn’t talk to each other or to anyone else. Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to speak to Bush to know why the U.S. was preparing to go to DEFCON 3 — but the White House couldn’t put him through to Air Force One. Bush had no way to receive phone calls. After Bush left Florida, where he had been reading a book to schoolkids, his plane was low on fuel but for hours had nowhere to land. Most of the top 10 people in the president’s line of succession, including Vice President Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, either refused to follow the protocol and go to their designated secure sites, or were out of the country, or were never contacted.

[CodeToad]

The entire article is nothing but Internet rumors and make-believe by basement dwelling nerds that want to be thought of a knowledgeable.

As someone who is knowledgeable in the matter of nuclear warfare, I know for fact that this article is more full of poop than a Christmas goose.

[antidisestablishment]

The military was decimated after Bush I, and Clinton was too busy spending the Peace Dividend to worry about military readiness. It wouldn’t be any better today, except for 9/11.

We have been at war for 15 years now, but we had been turning swords into plowshares for a decade prior to 9/11. After Gulf War I, Washington acted as if that was The Last War. Both administration’s made debilitating cuts. With the exception of the post-Vietnam era, our military had never been in worse shape.

[T-Bone Texan]

I’ve given it thought, and have read a lot of scenarios, and can only conclude that Continuity of Government gives a low priority to the continuity of people.

[Secret Agent Man]

Unfortunately, your assessment is correct.