ANSWERS TO THE ACTIVITY 9/11/2001 - WHAT HAPPENED? TEACHER:

You accessed access https://millercenter.org/the-p... and projected it for the class. You instructed the students to follow the timeline and attempt to identify the agencies, or at least the types of agencies, that would have had contact with the terrorists or knowledge that something was wrong. Each agency, each contact, each indication that there was a problem, represents an opportunity to intervene and stop the even from happening.

ANSWERS YOU SHOULD LOOK FOR:

5:45 AM – Mohamed Atta and Abdul Aziz al-Omari, pass through security at the Portland International Jetport in Maine. They board a commuter flight to Boston Logan International Airport. At Boston Logan International Airport disembark and board American Airlines Flight 11.

Agencies involved:

1. Local law enforcement such as city police and county sheriffs are contracted by airports to provide a law enforcement presence. 2. There are airline representatives where passengers check in that would have had contact with the terrorists. 3. There are security checkpoints that passengers must pass through before entering the gate areas of each terminal. Today TSA mans the checkpoints, but in those days it was private security agencies under contract with the individual airline carriers. 4. Passengers went through Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening (CAPPS) which was designed to identify people, such as suspected terrorists who were subject to closer security. Mohamed Atta was identified by this system. Unfortunately that only required the airlines to hold up loading his checked baggage until he had boarded the plane. ANSWERS TO THE ACTIVITY 9/11/2001 - WHAT HAPPENED? 7:59 AM Flight 11 takes off with 5 hijackers aboard. The additional hijackers would have also passed through contact with airline representatives, security checkpoints and been within the jurisdiction of local law enforcement assigned to the Boston Logan International Airport. They were also screen though CAPPS.

8:15 AM United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from the same airport in Boston. There are 5 hijackers aboard. They would have passed through local law enforcement, United Airlines representatives, a different security checkpoint and been subject to CAPPS screening.

8:19 AM American Airlines flight attendant on flight 11, Betty Ann Ong alerts ground personnel that a hijacking is underway, and that the cockpit is unreachable. This was clearly a notification to authorities that something was wrong.

QUESTION: An obvious question here is who did she call and how did she call them?

ANSWER: According to the 9 11 Commission Report she did this by using an AT&T airphone. She called the American Airlines Southeastern Reservation Office in Cary, North Carolina to make the report.

8:20 AM American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Dulles, outside of Washington DC. It has 5 hijackers who also pass through local law enforcement, American Airlines representatives, security at the security checkpoint, were screened by the CAPPS system and, upon boarding, were in contact with the American Airlines crew.

8:24 AM Mohamed Atta, a hijacker, tries to use the intercom to talk to the passengers about the hijacking. He unintentionally broadcasts this to the air traffic controllers in Boston. Boston Logan Airport administration should now be aware of the hijacking.

ANSWERS TO THE ACTIVITY 9/11/2001 - WHAT HAPPENED? 8:37 AM (13 minutes later.) Boston Logan Airports notifies the US Air Force's Northeast Defense Sector who then mobilize the Air National Guard to follow the plane. So now the military should be aware of this hijacking. They are in a position to follow the plane and take it down if necessary.

8:42 AM United Flight 93 takes off from Newark, New Jersey. There are 4 hijackers aboard who also would have been in contact with United Airlines representatives, would have passed through local police agencies, the security checkpoints and have been screened by CAPPS.

8:46 AM American Flight 11 hits the World Trade Center's North Tower, it catches fire.

Building security would have been made aware of this. Local police (NYPD) and fire agencies (NYFD) would be made aware. Rescue and evacuation efforts would begin.

9:03 AM United Flight 175 hits the World Trade Center's South Tower. More fire results. Building security, NYPD and NYFD would be alerted and responding.

9:05 AM The President is alerted. This should have meant that potentially all of the federal agencies could be brought to bear on the problem.

9:28 AM Hijackers attack on Flight 93.

9:37 AM Flight 77 crashes into . Pentagon police, security, local police and fire are now involved.

9:45 AM US is shut down under Operation . All civilian aircraft are ordered to land at the nearest airport. This would involve the Federal Air Administration (FAA), the military and every airport of any size in the .

9:55 AM Air Force One with the President aboard takes off from Florida. ANSWERS TO THE ACTIVITY 9/11/2001 - WHAT HAPPENED? 9:57 AM Passengers aboard Flight 93 attack the terrorists in the cockpit.

9:59 AM The South Tower of the World Trade Center Collapses. (Clouds of noxious and toxic gas and smoke billow throughout New York City.) Now, all of the various law enforcement agencies within the city are involved as are fire agencies and ambulance companies.

10:02 AM Flight 93 crashes into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Local law enforcement and fire would now be involved.

10:18 AM President Bush authorizes any non-grounded planes to be shot down. This involves the military and potentially any local law enforcement and fire department in the United States that would have to deal with any subsequent crashes.

10:28 AM The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses. Again, all of the local police agencies and fire departments would be involved as would ambulance companies.

10:53 AM Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld orders the US military to move to a higher state of alert, going to DEFCON 3.

11:45 AM Air Force 1 lands at Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, Louisiana.

We can stop here for identifying the agencies involved in the initial event and ask the students the KEY QUESTIONS:

Who was coordinating the response to this threat?

Have the students discuss this question.

(Answer -There is no obvious person or agency coordinating the response although the Federal Aviation Administration states, “Our continuing mission is to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world.” They are responsible for the regulation and oversight of all civil aviation within the U.S.) ANSWERS TO THE ACTIVITY 9/11/2001 - WHAT HAPPENED? )

As a result of this attack, the Department of Homeland Security was created.

Epilog-

At first glance you would think that, after the attack, public safety agencies' roles would be ended and the danger abated. Actually agencies from all of the nation sent personnel to the crash sites to aid in rescue, evidence collection, crowd control and investigation. Many of those people were also injured and died from issues such as toxic chemicals.

For further information check out https://www.odmp.org/search/in...

This is the list of fallen officers from the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks. They are only a small portion of the lives lost during the attacks and the aftermath.