The 9 11 Commission Report Omissions And - Amazon Noir

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air traffic.1e fact that air cover should have been ordered is also
shown by the fact that it belatedly was. Just before 10:00, the 9/11
Commission itself reports, "The White House requested . . . fighter
escorts for Air Force One" (38). According to Richard Clarke, this
request was made after Secret Service Director Brian Stafford, in the
same conversation mentioned above, asked Clarke: "When Air Force One
takes off, can it have fighter escorts?" 11 It is doubly difficult to
believe that this report reflects historical reality. In the first
place, the Director of Secret Service surely did not need to make this
request to Richard Clarke. The head of the Secret Service, having the
primary responsibility to protect the president, can surely order
fighter cover for Air Force One directly. (Indeed, the Commission
reports that the Secret Service ordered planes scrambled from Andrews
later that morning [44].) The second problem with this report is that
Stafford does not get around to making this "request" until after 9:30,
although the president's plane was scheduled to lift off about 20
minutes later. So, although Clarke says that he was amazed at how
quickly the permission was given after he relayed it to Vice President
Cheney, it was not until Air Force One was about to take off that Clarke
was reportedly able to relay the request to the Pentagon.12 It is not
clear, furthermore, that the request was actually made at that time,
because Cheney later reported that the fighter escort did not arrive
until after 11:1013-