inbound aircraft. In the apt description of one witness,"It drops below the radar
screen and it's just continually hovering in your imagination; you don't know
where it is or what happens to it." Eventually, the shelter received word that
the alleged hijacker 5 miles away had been a medevac helicopter.
224
Transmission of the Authorization from the White House
to the Pilots
The NMCC learned of United 93's hijacking at about 10:03.At this time the
FAA had no contact with the military at the level of national command.The
NMCC learned about United 93 from the White House. It, in turn, was
informed by the Secret Service's contacts with the FAA.
225
NORAD had no information either. At 10:07, its representative on the air
threat conference call stated that NORAD had "no indication of a hijack head-
ing to DC at this time."
226
Repeatedly between 10:14 and 10:19, a lieutenant colonel at the White
House relayed to the NMCC that the Vice President had confirmed fighters
were cleared to engage inbound aircraft if they could verify that the aircraft
was hijacked.
227
The commander of NORAD, General Ralph Eberhart, was en route to the
NORAD operations center in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, when the
shootdown order was communicated on the air threat conference call. He told
us that by the time he arrived, the order had already been passed down
NORAD's chain of command.
228
It is not clear how the shootdown order was communicated within
NORAD. But we know that at 10:31, General Larry Arnold instructed his staff
to broadcast the following over a NORAD instant messaging system: "10:31
Vice president has cleared to us to intercept tracks of interest and shoot them
down if they do not respond per [General Arnold]."
229
In upstate New York, NEADS personnel first learned of the shootdown
order from this message:
Floor Leadership:
You need to read this. . . .The Region Commander
has declared that we can shoot down aircraft that do not respond to
our direction. Copy that?
Controllers:
Copy that, sir.
Floor Leadership:
So if you're trying to divert somebody and he won't
divert--
Controllers:
DO [Director of Operations] is saying no.
Floor Leadership:
No? It came over the chat. . . .You got a conflict on
that direction?
Controllers:
Right now no, but--
Floor Leadership:
Okay? Okay, you read that from the Vice President,
right? Vice President has cleared. Vice President has cleared us to
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THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT
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