Air defense system failed
NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) is a system of defense that deploys fighter jets that have the ability and authority to intercept planes that are a potential threat to US security. This system had been used a lot in the year prior to 9/11 attacks, and required no special order to set it off. On September the 9th, the system that could have prevented the loss of over 3,000 lives failed.
U.S Airforce General Ralph Eberhart (pictured above) was in command of NORAD at the time of the attacks. and had been for over a year. After the disaster NORAD and Eberhart released different versions of the story of why the planes had not been scrambled in enough time to intercept any of the hijacked planes. The times of notification of the hijackings, and the excuses for no action varied in each of the four stories. They claimed that they had been informed too late to try to intervene, and in one case the plane had already crashed before they were told about the hijackings.
On the day of the attacks there was only a small number of planes available for their purpose. A lot of the planes were out on a training exercise, which did not leave a secure enough number of planes to be deployed.
U.S Airforce General Ralph Eberhart (pictured above) was in command of NORAD at the time of the attacks. and had been for over a year. After the disaster NORAD and Eberhart released different versions of the story of why the planes had not been scrambled in enough time to intercept any of the hijacked planes. The times of notification of the hijackings, and the excuses for no action varied in each of the four stories. They claimed that they had been informed too late to try to intervene, and in one case the plane had already crashed before they were told about the hijackings.
On the day of the attacks there was only a small number of planes available for their purpose. A lot of the planes were out on a training exercise, which did not leave a secure enough number of planes to be deployed.