In the two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) conducted exercises simulating what the White House says was unimaginable at the time: hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into targets and cause mass casualties. One of the imagined targets was the World Trade Center. In another scenario, the target was the Pentagon but that drill was not run after Defense officials said it was unrealistic.

BACK   |   TOP   |   NEXT