COMMISSION SENSITIVE
In
preparation for this visit we spent the last two weeks reviewing the documentsproduced to the Commission by NEADS and other NORAD facilities. With the exceptionof three logs totaling eight pages, the only document produced by NEADS was a
"Transcript
from
Voice Recorder," (SeeDoDIndex
#NCT0000049-130).
This transcript
was
made within
a
week
of
9/11
and wasproduced
relatively early
in
response
to the
Commission's requests
- on
June 2
nd
.The transcript purports to capture the communications of various NEADS personnel,including the mission crew commander, on the morning of
9/11.
Because the transcriptends at10:15am, we asked in repeated telephone conversations that the tape be
further
transcribed. This request was memorialized in an email on September 8
th
. (See Tab B).
On
October 20,
after
receiving no response to our September 8
th
message, we again wroteandstressed the importance of both continuing the NEADS transcript and of receiving allrelevant NEADS documents priorto
flying
out toRome,NewYork. (SeeTab C).Finally, last Friday we met in person with DoD
officials,
and once again stressed thesignificance of receiving all tapes and transcripts relevant to 9/11, prior to
flying
to NewYork.Once on the ground at NEADS we uncovered the following information:
1.
Thetranscript NEADS producedisfatally incompleteandinaccurate:
When we arrived at NEADS, we began to listen to the tapes
from
which thetranscript
was
made.
It was
apparent immediately
- and
acknowledged
by
NEADS
officials
-
that there
are
significant relevant omissions
in the
transcript.Voices that
are
clearly audible
in the
tape were
nottranscribed. Moreover,
significant
portions of the transcript are simply inaccurate; the words on the paper
do
not track what is clearly heard on the tape. Put simply, the transcript is useless
as
a
formal
record of NEADS conversations
from
9/11 and will have to be doneover.
2.
The transcript of the tapes NEADS produced represents at best one-thirdofthe total relevant recorded materials NEADS possesses from 9/11:
Wediscovered
further
that the one transcript produced by NEADS - which capturesapproximately
five
channels
of
communication
-
constitutes only
a
fraction
- at
best one-third
~
of the
relevant recorded telephone lines
in the
facility.
Specifically,
welearned thattheNEADS transcript doesnotreflect conversationsby personnel assigned to key positions at the SOCC (Sector Operations ControlCenter) on
9/11.
As we understand it, there are 46 channels that can be recorded
from
the SOCC
floor.
Of these 46 channels, only five or six were transcribed andproduced to the Commission prior to our visit to NEADS.
3.
The omitted and untranscribed statements and conversations contained on
the
tapes
are
critical
to
understanding
the
events
of
9/11.
One
example should
suffice.
In
media interviews
and in
testimony before this Commission, NORAD
officials
have
claimed
that
fighter
jets
were scrambled
from
Langley
Air
Force
Base in response to the threat posed to Washington, D.C. by the hijacking ofAmerican Airlines 77. This explanation has caused consternation among thevictims'
families,
who have wondered why the fighters did not travel directly to
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