Pentagon and P-56 Preparations and Defenses and the Stand-Down on 9/11

[reprehensor]

Pentagon and P-56 Preparations and Defenses and the Stand-Down on 9/11

by John Judge
11 January 2006

My father, John Joseph Judge was a WWII Army Air Corps veteran and had been a crypotgrapher assigned overseas. He worked as a civilian at the Pentagon after his return from the war until his death in 1965. My mother and my aunt both worked there as civilian employees beginning in 1943 until they retired. I grew up visiting the offices of my parents, and spending time at the Pentagon library. When the weather was nice, we would all often arrange to buy some food at the canteen and walk outside into the central courtyard area to sit and eat lunch together. When I was 10 or 11, to the best of my memory, which means 1957 or 58, I recall going outside and sitting down on a silver metal box. My father told me to get off of it. When I asked why he said it was a surface to air missile. (I could be off by 2-3 years on this recollection, but it was certainly before 1961).

It only makes sense that the Pentagon, especially in the years after WWII and the rise of the Cold War would have had air defenses built in. There were reports over the years in the local papers about such missiles. One was also reportedly installed on the White House lawn following the incident in 1994 when a small plane crashed just before hitting the building.

snip

And finally, the Pentagon sits inside the P-56-A restricted air space section that extends 17 miles in all directions from the Washington Monument, and that activated air defenses from a joint FAA/Secret Service radar and air traffic control at Langley, VA for many years prior to 9/11. Interceptor fighter jets in that area, which is separate from and more restricted than FAA commercial air space, as well as much better defended, were regularly scrambled when small or commercial planes went off course or were not on scheduled routes within a larger Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) that extends 50 miles out to give time for the response. Andrews Air Force base, within 10 miles of the city as well as the 113th Air Wing of the National Guard at Anacostia NAS have provided consistent scramble-ready defenses for the P-56 sector which protects the most important government buildings. Having grown up and lived in the area for most of my life, I saw such defensive responses many times, guiding planes away from the restricted area. Commercial pilots have also long complained about the difficult curving maneuvers necessary to land or take off at Washington National Airport (now Reagan) to avoid entering P-56-B, the three mile inner restricted zone above the White House, Capitol and Pentagon.

These multiple layers of defense also inexplicably failed on 9/11 in the midst of a national crisis. Flight 77 was picked up by Langley entering the ADIZ according to the testimony of Mr. Minetta to the 9/11 Commission concerning a plane that was "50 miles out". That could only have been Flight 77, no others got that close, and the timing at 9:24-9:26 AM that he gives for the comment is also consistent with the timing of the impact. Neither was FAA/NORAD out of radar contact with the flight for more than a few minutes, since it was picked up by Indianapolis long before being seen by FAA ATC controllers in the DC area.

[sgsmith]

1. Wrong information

There is a lot of wrong information in this post. First, the Pentagon does NOT site inside P-56 A or B.

Per http://www.faa.gov/news/news_story.cfm?type=fact_sheet&year=2005&date=121305
P-56A & B are areas surrounding the White House and the vice president’s residence.

The only aircraft that are allowed to fly within these prohibited areas are specially authorized flights that are in direct support of the U.S. Secret Service, the Office of the President, or one of several government agencies with missions that require air support within P-56. These prohibited areas have been in effect for about 50 years.

P-56A covers approximately the area west of the Lincoln Memorial (Rock Creek Park) to east of the Capitol (Stanton Square) and between Independence Ave. and K Street up to 18,000 feet.

P-56B covers a small circle of about 1 nautical mile (about 1.2 statute miles) surrounding the Naval Observatory on Massachusetts Ave. up to 18,000 feet.

Also, P-56-A is not 17 miles in all directions. Look at the approach plate into Regan, and P-56 A and B are well delineated:
http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0513/00443VDG19.PDF

Second, the Washington ADIZ did not exist until Feb. 2003. Thus, Flight 77 could not have entered the ADIZ.

I'm sure that commercial pilots don't like the approach to Runway 19 at DCA, which is called the "River Approach", because it's not the typical 10 mile stabilized flight path like you have at Atlanta, Dallas or even Dulles. That's because the straight line extension of RWY-19 goes into P-56. However, the River approach isn't terribly difficult.

And even though I don't have personal information to validate whether or not the Pentagon had guided missles protection in it, I really don't think so. Especially in the 1960's, when the threat was seen as ICBMs launched from Russia. When I've seen pictures of guided missle setups, they're usually pretty large, and are located in areas that have clear views of the largest amount of airspace. Which certainly doesn't describe the conditions in the courtyard of the Pentagon. I do seem to recall that the White House security people were outfitted with shoulder launched ground to air misssles after the Cessna crashed inside the fence. These, however, are man portable and look something like the old style bazooka or current RPG. Again, not mounted in a underground box in the Pentagon courtyard.

[reprehensor]

2. Thanks for the information.

I'll try and pass this on to John Judge, and see what kind of response I get. I'll post back here.

[reprehensor]

3. Sarge,

For the record, 7 days +1, no response from John Judge.

Mis-- or Dis-- information is unacceptable.

[Sweet Pea]

4. A Bunch of Wrong information

The most glaring is the statement of the "113th Air Wing of the National Guard at Anacostia NAS"

Anacostia and the adjacent Bolling AFB were closed to fixed wing aircraft traffic in 1962 due to the advent of jet aircraft (needing longer runways, something impossible in the confined areas of the eastern shore of the mouth of the Anacostia River) and the proximity of National Airport across the Potomac.

The only flying done out of Anacostia now is by HMX-1, who fly the Presidential helicopters.

The DC Air National Guard, as well, including the 113th Air Wing have been based at Andrews since their creation in 1946. Mentioning Anacostia in this only contributes to questions about accuracy, credibility and competence regarding what the author speaks of.

Plus, besides the errors regarding the Prohibited areas, any Google search of "surface to air missiles at the Pentagon" shows that the only SAM capabilities existed in the northern VA area up until the early 60's with the NIKE AJAX system, and none of these were located at the Pentagon due to the size and complexity of the launcher site requirements.

The rest of the questionable points in this Judge article were well rebutted by Sarge.