(8:40 a.m.): ‘Hubbub’ at NEADS Headquarters

Ref: 9-11 Time Line Official Commission

At NEADS, a huddle of people is gathered around one of their radar scopes. NEADS Commander Robert Marr initially thinks this hubbub is part of the NORAD training exercise (presumably Vigilant Guardian). He says, “I've seen many exercises ? and as I saw that huddle I said, ‘There's got to be something wrong, something is happening here.’ You usually see that whenever they find a track on the scope that looks unusual; it's usually an indicator that something is getting ready to kick off.” He sends Lt. Colonel Dawne Deskins, the regional mission crew commander for the exercise, to check it out. According to Marr, she comes running back with urgency in her voice: The FAA needs help with a possibly hijacked civilian airliner that has just disappeared from the radar scope and was heading toward New York. [Air War Over America, by Leslie Filson, 1/04, p. 55] Presumably it is while she is checking out this 'hubbub' that Deskins speaks over the phone with FAA's Boston Control Center about the first hijacking (see (8:37 a.m.)). According to the 9/11 Commission, this call to NEADS begins at 8:37:52 a.m. However, Deskins has given the time for the call at 8:31 a.m.(see (8:37 a.m.)). [9/11 Commission Report, 6/17/04]

People and organizations involved: Northeast Air Defense Sector, Federal Aviation Administration, Dawne Deskins, Robert Marr, Vigilant Guardian