Global Guardian

Not to be confused with Global Guardians.

Global Guardian is an annual training exercise sponsored by the United States Strategic Command in conjunction with Air Force Space Command and NORAD. Its main purpose is to test the military's command and control procedures in the event of nuclear warfare.

Global Guardian is performed in conjunction with "Vigilant Guardian", the annual training exercise conducted by NORAD in which a threat to North American airspace is simulated. The simulated scenario is varied from year to year.

Global Guardian and the September 11 Attacks

The September 11 attacks in 2001 occurred during that year's Global Guardian and Vigilant Guardian joint exercises. That year, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, Vigilant Guardian 'postulated a bomber attack from the former Soviet Union' on North America. The Russian 37th Air Army was, in fact, conducting major bomber exercises across the Arctic and Atlantic at this time, amongst the largest carried out by them since 1993. Both the American and the Russian exercises were cancelled after the attack.

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States investigated the possibility that Vigilant Guardian preparations compromised the military's response to the attacks on September 11. They concluded that the exercise may have had, in fact, the effect of expediting the response to the attacks.

On page 17 of the 9/11 Commission Report when Boston center calls NEADS (Northeast Air Defense Sector), the response from NEADS was "is this real world or exercise?". According to the 9/11 Commission's staff statement No. 17,^[1] for instance, page 26 of the Commission's final report documents FAA's report of a "phantom flight 11" at 9:21,^[2] 35 minutes after the real flight 11 crashed into the WTC and even longer after the war games are alleged to have been aborted. However, General Ralph Eberhart told the 9/11 Commission “it took about 30 seconds” to make the adjustment to the real-world situation (note 116 to chapter 1).

The Vigilant Guardian war game was discussed in chapter 1, footnote 116 of the 9/11 Commission Report:

"On 9/11, NORAD was scheduled to conduct a military exercise, Vigilant Guardian, which postulated a bomber attack from the former Soviet Union. We investigated whether military preparations for the large-scale exercise compromised the military's response to the real-world terrorist attack on 9/11. According to General Eberhart, "it took about 30 seconds" to make the adjustment to the real-world situation. Ralph Eberhart testimony, June 17, 2004. We found that the response was, if anything, expedited by the increased number of staff at the sectors and at NORAD because of the scheduled exercise. See Robert Marr interview (Jan. 23, 2004)."

The following is a list of all the operations being carried out on September 11 by the military:

1. OPERATION NORTHERN VIGILANCE: This was planned months in advance of 9/11; On the morning of 9/11, where military resources were sent to Alaska in response to Russian military exercises. .^[3]

2. BIOWARFARE EXERCISE TRIPOD II: Rudolph Giuliani made referenced to Tripod 2 in his testimony to the 9/11 Commission. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) arrived in New York on September 10 to set up a command post located at Pier 29 under the auspices of a 'biowarfare exercise scheduled for September 12. This explains why Tom Kenney of FEMA's National Urban Search and Rescue Team, told Dan Rather of CBS News that FEMA had arrived in New York on the night of September 10. Giuliani was to use this post as a command post on 9/11 after he evacuated WTC Building 7. "We were operating out of there when we were told that the World Trade Center was gonna collapse," Rudolph Giuliani told Peter Jennings of ABC News.^[4]

3. OPERATION VIGILANT GUARDIAN: This exercise simulated hijacked planes in the north eastern sector. Lt. Col. Dawne Deskins, NORAD unit's airborne control and warning officer, was overseeing the exercise. At 8:40am she took a call from Boston Center which said it had a hijacked airliner. Her first words, as quoted by Newhouse News Service were, "It must be part of the exercise".^[5]

4. OPERATION NORTHERN GUARDIAN: The details of this exercise are still scant but it is considered to be part of Vigilant Guardian, relating to simulating hijacked planes in the north eastern sector.

5. OPERATION VIGILANT WARRIOR: This was referenced in Richard Clarke's book 'Against All Enemies'. It is thought to have been the 'attack' component of the Vigilant Guardian exercise.^[6]

See also

• September 11 attacks
• Military simulation
• United States government operations and exercises on September 11, 2001

References

1. ^ 9/11 commission staff statement No. 17 - Security - MSNBC.com
2. ^ The 9/11 Commission Report
3. ^ http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=vigilant_guardian History Commons Profile: Vigilant Guardian
4. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vCg8Fp8aw8 Rudolph Giuliani discusses exercises with Peter Jennings, ABC News
5. ^ http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/08/norad200608?printable=true&currentPage=all Thw NORAD tapes. Vanity Fair
6. ^ Against All Enemies, Richard A. Clarke (Page 5)

• The 9-11 Commission Report Final Report, see notes to Chapter 1, Note 116.
• Russia: Archived Strategic Bomber Force Developments at the NTI

External links

• Global Guardian and Vigilant Guardian entries at globalsecurity.org
• Strategic Command on 9/11 at Offutt AFB, from a Major at the Air Force Weather Agency.
• Amid Crisis Simulation, `We Were Suddenly No-Kidding Under Attack' at Newshouse News Service - account of 9/11 at the Northeast Air Defense Sector headquarters near Rome, New York
• Vanity Fair - 9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes