Finally, there is some more confusion to the matter. In an interview with “Meet the Press" on Sept. 16Th, Cheney suggested that “the question of whether or not we would intercept a commercial aircraft, as well as the the question of whether it would be shot down was “a presidential-level decision.” General Richard Myers, then Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added to the haze by saying, in testimony: “After the second tower was hit, I spoke to the commander of NORAD, General Eberhart. And at that point, I think the decision was at that point to start launching aircraft.” Like Cheney's statement, this implies that fighter would be sent up to intercept, only if ordered to by commanders at the highest level. Interception occurs at least 100 times a year, so even if it was “a presidential-level decision”, like Cheney and Myers implied, why was normal procedure still not followed? Some accept the view that a hijacked plane requires “a presidential-level decision” in order to be shot down, but Thierry Meyssan point out that the military regulations seem to say otherwise. Accordingly...
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In the event of a hijacking, the NMCC will be notified by the most expedititions means by the FAA. The NMCC will, with the exception of requests neeeding an immediate response...forward requests for DoD assisstance to the Secretary of Defense for approval.
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Meyssan concludes that these regulations give the Secretary of Defense the responsibility for shooting down hijacked planes. It says “with the exception”, so this shows that if the SoD cannot be contacted in time, the responsibilites will be passed onto the next person in line of command. According to a DoD document cited by Meyssan:
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It is possible to formulate to any element in the chain of command “Requests needing Immediate Response.” These arise from imminently serious conditions where only an immediate action taken by an official of the Department of Defense or a military commander can prevent loss of lives, or mitigate human suffering and great property damage.
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Many people in the line of command would have the authority to prevent this “loss of lives, or mitigate human suffering and great property damage” to save lives when Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower. One could argue that at the time, no one would have known Flight 11 was going to hit the North Tower. But, surely that argument would not apply to the second, third, or fourth plane.