It was one of the most gripping movies I have ever seen, however I thought that the military came across as unprepared. The liaison to the FAA could not be found and then when he was he didn't seem to know what to do. Almost no planes were available to scramble, only 2 were armed and the ones that got off the ground wasted time heading out over the Atlantic Ocean, I guess, as they had been practicing for an invasion from outside the country. They reported events to each other crisply but seemed unable to act in a timely manner. I kept thinking of the lack of support for our military during the Clinton years.
The FAA, on the other hand, was certainly operation on something new, but handled it well. It was the head man, who called for all planes to land and no others to enter the country, all this on his first day on the job. Everyone was doing his best in a very frightening situation.
But the guys in the military command bunker were right on top of things---the problem was that the major/captain? couldn't get authority from above to shoot down potentially hostile planes . . . and, they got bad info from the FAA, which told them Flight 11 was gone, then was back.
. . . . for which we all can thank Mr. Clinton. Bush had only been in office for 7-8 months yet I'm sure some lib has sniffed that he should've had everything up and running like a Caddillac by then.