Reply #36: NRO "war game" LOL [View All]

The Record (Bergen County, NJ)

August 22, 2002 Thursday All Editions

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A12

LENGTH: 338 words

HEADLINE: Planned exercise a weird coincidence;
Sept. 11 'crash' quickly canceled

SOURCE: Wire Services

BYLINE: JOHN J. LUMPKIN, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BODY:
WASHINGTON - In what the government describes as a bizarre coincidence, one U.S. intelligence agency was planning an exercise last Sept. 11 in which an errant aircraft would crash into one of its buildings. But the cause wasn't terrorism - it was to be a simulated accident.

Officials at the Chantilly, Va.-based National Reconnaissance Office had scheduled an exercise that morning in which a small corporate jet would crash into one of the four towers at the agency's headquarters building after experiencing a mechanical failure.

....

Agency chiefs came up with the scenario to test employees' ability to respond to a disaster, said spokesman Art Haubold. No actual plane was to be involved - to simulate the damage from the crash, some stairwells and exits were to be closed off, forcing employees to find other ways to evacuate the building.

"It was just an incredible coincidence that this happened to involve an aircraft crashing into our facility," Haubold said. "As soon as the real world events began, we canceled the exercise."

Terrorism was to play no role in the exercise, which had been planned for several months, he said.

....


The National Reconnaissance Office operates many of the nation's spy satellites. It draws its personnel from the military and the CIA.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, most of the 3,000 people who work at agency headquarters were sent home, save for some essential personnel, Haubold said.






Guelph Mercury (Ontario, Canada)

August 22, 2002 Thursday Final Edition

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A11

LENGTH: 135 words

HEADLINE: Intelligence agency planned to crash plane into building

SOURCE: Mercury news services

DATELINE: WASHINGTON

BODY:
A U.S. intelligence agency was planning an exercise last Sept. 11 in which an errant aircraft would crash into one of its buildings.

Officials at the Chantilly, Va. -based National Reconnaissance Office had scheduled an exercise that morning in which a small corporate jet would crash into one of the four towers at the agency's headquarters building after experiencing a mechanical failure.

The agency is about 6.5 kilometres from the runways of Washington Dulles International Airport.

Agency chiefs came up with the scenario to test employees' ability to respond to a disaster, said spokesman Art Haubold. No actual plane was to be involved -- to simulate the damage from the crash, some stairwells and exits were to be closed