Considering on 9/11 NORAD was totally unable to respond to a quick crisis, I can pray their reponse times have improved and they are drilling to respond to Russian bombers.
That was a totally different scenario than they had prepared for, not a fair comparison. No one had ever considered finding and then downing civilian aircraft full of innocent passengers.
I worry that those manning NORAD may be as arrogant as most of these FReepers. Having old bombers doesn’t really matter. Last I checked they have plenty of nukes. My point in all of this is that it is dangerous to underestimate ones advesary. More importantly, we really should do what we can to keep Russia a friendly, or somewhat friendly, country. We have enough problems to deal with.
In fact, a Tu-95 approach was happening on 9/11! That was a definite factor.