FIRST DAY JITTERS: Leidig, Sliney, Myers

SLINEY, LEIDIG, MYERS: THREE DEFENSE LINKS SWAPPED AT THE LAST MINUTE
Original link:
they-let-it-happen.blogspot.com...

9/11 was just such a weird day, who could think it relevant that among the other oddities of that morning The FAA was being run by a first-day rookie? Benedict Sliney was just getting his feet wet as the National Operations Manager when four civilian airliners were hijacked amid confused reports of about a dozen possible hijacks. USA Today, which described Sliney as the nation’s “air traffic chess master,” reported that in his job interview he was told by the man promoting him he had “unlimited” authority. Indeed, while Sliney had superiors like FAA administrator Jane Garvey, he was called on to make major decisions that morning. He told the 9/11 Commission: “NORAD […] asked me if I were requesting military intervention. And I indicated to NORAD that I’m advising you of the facts of this particular incident – I’m not requesting anything. I wasn’t sure I even had the authority to request such a thing.” Perhaps he hadn’t watched the training video closely enough the day before.

But was the Chain of Command he and the others at FAA informing any better organized? The National Military Command Center (NMCC), beneath the Pentagon, is the command and control “nerve center” for the military leadership if America comes under attack. While this usually does not happen, the NMCC sits ready, watched over and coordinated by the Deputy Director of Operations (DDO) and is used for other activities requiring centralized coordination – like
passing on requests for fighter assistance in case of a hijacking and, I’d guess, coordinating air-based War games, of which there were at least five on 9/11.

Army Brigadier General Montague Winfield was originally slated to be in charge of the NMCC that morning, but the previous day he had decided to take some time off, asking a recently qualified but inexperienced rookie, Navy Captain Charles Leidig, to stand in as DDO in the morning. This is confirmed by Leidig’s own testimony to the 9/11 Commission. His written statement was the shortest they received at just over one page, large font, double spaced. It stated blandly “on 10 September 2001, Brigadier General Winfield, US Army, asked that I stand a portion of his duty […] on the following day. I agreed and relieved Brigadier General Winfield at 0830 on 11 September 2001.” At that very minute, the first plane was right between its hijacking (about 8:15) and its impact with the WTC (8:46).

The remarkable request was presumably for some other, lesser, reason. But Leidig’s rookie status (only qualified to be DDO a few weeks earlier) and the emerging crisis did not interrupt the transfer and Winfield left. I can’t say whether this had any operational role in 9/11 or the lack of defense against it, or was related to the air-based war games that have been acknowledged, but both seem probable. And while certainly the timing of this admitted September 10 request is beyond coincidence, none of the involved parties have offered any explanation - it has remained both curiously open and unexplained.

But war games or no, Leidig’s job there wound up more than a drill. As the 9/11 Commission’s final report explained “the job of the NMCC in such an emergency is to gather the relevant parties and establish the chain of command between the national command authority […] and those who need to carry out their orders.” This includes, among others, the Defense Secretary and JCS Chairman. Acting Joint Chiefs Chairman, Air Force General Richard Myers – like Leidig, filling in as of the morning of 9/11 - claims total ignorance of the attack until about 9:40, and the 9/11 Commission confirmed that he arrived at the NMCC and joined the conference in session just before 10:00, over an hour after the attack began and just as it was ending.

By the time Myers arrived at 10:00, regular DDO Montague Winfield had taken the center over again from Leidig, but Rumsfeld, the middle link in the “national command authority” chain Leidig was tasked with “gathering,” was still MIA. Winfield would later state “for 30 minutes we couldn't find him. And just as we began to worry, he walked into the door” at 10:30 – nearly a half hour after the attack was over. While he’d been at the building all morning, officially he’d been too busy loading injured into ambulances for the TV cameras to take his part in the defense, though accounts of his whereabouts vary greatly.


So here is the graphic representation of Leidig’s unorthodox stand-in shift and the results of his work to “gather the relevant parties” during the 111 minutes that hijacked attack craft were attacking the heart of America’s financial and military might. By whatever confluence of factors, the room was kept vacant of upper leadership until Leidig relenquished control and the attack ended. We should be left wondering why the parties weren’t gathered, what was so special about Leidig that he had to be there to fail to gather them, and who knew the day before just how badly he would fail when inserted in the morning?

Since that day, Leidig has been promoted – first to Commandant of Midshipmen in September 2003, then to U.S. Defense Representative to the Pacific micro-states. Later he assumed command of U.S. Naval Forces Marianas and Navy Region Marianas and advanced to Rear Admiral status. Leidig is recipient of numerous service medals over his distinguished career, none specifically for his service on 9/11, of which his official Navy bio makes no mention whatsoever.

Also; This is too weird for sheer coincidence, no?
And too obvious for comfort, no?
I’m not blaming anybody of anything in particular, I feel a need to mention that when naming names, Mrs. Sliney, Myers, Leidig, Rumsfeld, Winfield, etc. Nothing personal, it’s just all so damn weird…


[edit on 16-3-2007 by Caustic Logic]

Bump y'all! Good circumstantial evidence of Letting It Happen. Is this just too old a story? Too confusing? Too specific? Too dangerous? Why no comments?

OMG! That is a fascintaing story, firt day rookies all in key spots unuaware of their abilities and responsibilities it seems, I did not know, blah blah blah.
One more and final bump into catoonsville before I jet for the job I must still maintain to offset my meager CIA disinfo paycheck.
cheers all and good luck out there
I am feeling hated

Here's what i dont get;

We have the most expensive and highly sophisticated air defense system on the planet. We have the best radar, computers, aircraft, and the best damn military personnel on the planet.

Our air force is on constant guard to protect us from surprise attack by foreign militaries with SUPER SONIC fighter aircraft.

If we cant even intercept a BIG, SLOW sub-sonic jumbo jet just because they turned off their transponders, how are we supposed to defend this country?

Why didnt russia take advantage of this during the cold war? The apparently could have flown right over the white house, NO PROBLEM. They could have flown big bomber planes all over the country and dropped nukes before we had a chance to respond.

Why dont the chinese attack us? Especially after it has become so evident that our air defenses are a joke?

Why dont iran or north korea fly their air forces over us and destroy us, if it is soooooo easy to avoid our air defenses?

How does osama convince his hijackers to do this? What was his rationale? Lets attack them so they continue to expand upon their imperialism! Lets give them an excuse to bomb more of our innocent people! Lets confirm that we are goddless bastards that hate the very things that our religion is based on, those infidels will pay!

[edit on 3/17/2007 by sp00n1]

Exactly, and thank you Spoon. Our air defenses were just a little broen on 9/11 - and got broken at about 8:00 am that morning. Nothing to see here, carry on...

The thing is that sliney stated he didn't know if he had the authority to call for air support. What a crock. The ball was dropped there and no one picked it up. Sliney could have prevented it all from happening but he failed to act. This brings the question: were all these people just incompitent or did they knowingly allow the attacks to go off without a hitch. I agree although circumstantial, it's too fishy. Someone could have done something yet no one did.

Yeah, Leidig was my main focus, I didn't explain Sliney too well, but he has "unlimited authority" and on day one knows not what heas authority for. OOOPS! Thanks for scanning. Ummm, Sorry nothing more to say at the moment....

Going on liedig he was new to the DDO thing but as someone qualified for the post he knows his responsibilities and all should have been carried out. I really don't buy the we couldn't contact Rumsfeld, the thing that gets me all around is what are the odds that all these new people in key positions would all be in place at the exact time that the attacks were going on and nothing was done about it. I think Liedig(yes mispelled on purpose) needs to be looked at a little more, with him screwing the pooch on 9/11 there should at least something in his record. Maybe Liedig was a co conspirator on the inside (just a thought to try and give reason for the anomalies). Or he was placed in that position at the right time to provide a convinient scapegoat if something was amiss. Any way you slice it. It could have been nipped in the bud but was seemingly allowed to happen. It was either planned out that way or it was one hell of a coincidence for everything to go the way it did. I can speculate all day on it but one thing is it's convienient to look at all the new guys on the jobs, but surely someone somewhere would have set things straight without the massive gaggle# that went on that day.

[edit on 3/17/2007 by ShAuNmAn-X]

Great thoughts Shaunman, sorry I wasn't there - weird people here tonight, friends... drinking, distraction... I pop in every few...

Leidig did pass on the fake story that Flight 11 was STILL airborne and targetting DC at 9:30. FAA, not Leidig, made this up. Or so we hear.

Otherwise, I'm not sure of anything in particular Leidig did or didn't do besides the "gathering" thing, however relevant that was. It was after all at 10:30 Rummy finally got to the NMCC, and perhaps not coincidentally, 10:31 that the shoot-down order (passed Bush-Cheney-NMCC-stall) was finally passed from NMCC to NEADS. Of course none of this started till 10:15 or so, with Bush on AF1, Cheney asks if we should start shhoting, and he sez "you bet." About the time they could be sure the order would NOT impede the attack.

OOOOPS!

From NEADS the shoot-down order went nowhere. No fighter pilots ever given auth.
So yeah, we have a huge cluster# of screw-ups, everybody dropped the ball a little, a lot, whatever, but no particular sticking point for blame... how convenient.

Now with or without Leidig's placement, this NMCC vacancy coulda happened the same if Winfield stayed, but we get this guy in there for 90 of the 111 minutes of the attack, a big ol' ugly seam down the middle. Techinically necessary, or a distraction/red herring? If so it was planted the day before the attack, which is itself telling...

On 9/11 I recall feeling "this is way too coincidental - all defenses fail, right up to the planes and then the buildings, then even they fail." first words, seconds later: "bush is behind this." A bit simple, but... I felt inside job, at least as far as engineering the window for it. But no, I'm just cynical, I thot. Wait and see, this'll sort itself out. there'll be a retaliation, but also the window - that scares me, they're gonna - they better - ask who left that open. A couple of heads should roll, something, please just gimme a sign that something screwed up, someone's angry...

Nothing. No blame. A giving mood. A happy mood. Nothing went wrong, it all went just right. I sunk into a depression...

AND MISERY LOVES COMPANY!!!!
I'm not sad anymore, BTW, it's now just a fact of life, tho I do remain serious and earnest in general...


[edit on 17-3-2007 by Caustic Logic]

As far as all this goed I remember on 9/11 after the attacks we were just told to ramp up security on my installation. It always bothered me that we were never given any ROE (rules of Engagement), noone knew what to do. The catastrophic failure started with sliney and ended with the nations military on alert without any orders. I remember thinking on that day that someone dropped the ball in a bad way but I always wondered if the ball was dropped on purpose. It may be coincidence but it just seems everything was set up that day for a catastrophic failure. It's just insane how many people "dropped the ball" so to say.
This is what I like getting into. Not all the hologram, no planes BS, but WHO was responsible for allowing the attacks happen. In my opinion that is where we need to be looking.

Yes.

Yes.

US citizens, world citizens. This is real. Not a cartoon. I'm often embarassed to stand up here and be real only to find myself in a Roger Rabbit world of cartoons. Oops. That's a good way to get on lists. I passed the bad king of IQ test, and seem to have compelled Shaunman to do the same. For that I am sorry.

My mane for anyone is Adam J Larson, i live in Spokane, WA. If I should disappear mysreiously, pllllllllllllll

Originally posted by Caustic Logic
Yes.

Yes.

US citizens, world citizens. This is real. Not a cartoon. I'm often embarassed to stand up here and be real only to find myself in a Roger Rabbit world of cartoons. Oops. That's a good way to get on lists. I passed the bad king of IQ test, and seem to have compelled Shaunman to do the same. For that I am sorry.

My mane for anyone is Adam J Larson, i live in Spokane, WA. If I should disappear mysreiously, pllllllllllllll

I don't think you will disappear. It's just a breath of fresh air to see people looking at things other than cartoons, reptilians, thermite, exotic weaponry, etc.

This is what researching 9/11 is about for me.

Nah, just Kidding. I didn't get dragged off there.

Originally posted by ShAuNmAn-X
As far as all this goed I remember on 9/11 after the attacks we were just told to ramp up security on my installation. It always bothered me that we were never given any ROE (rules of Engagement), noone knew what to do. The catastrophic failure started with sliney and ended with the nations military on alert without any orders. I remember thinking on that day that someone dropped the ball in a bad way but I always wondered if the ball was dropped on purpose. It may be coincidence but it just seems everything was set up that day for a catastrophic failure. It's just insane how many people "dropped the ball" so to say.

This is an interesting perspective, and I'm somehow not surprised. Fear with no direction, no outlet, was the order of the day. We need direction! oh, they had direction all right...

This is what I like getting into. Not all the hologram, no planes BS, but WHO was responsible for allowing the attacks happen. In my opinion that is where we need to be looking.

Foreign terrorists? I don't care what anyone says, it's at least possible. So is remote control and a handful of faked calls. However the missiles got moving, it is our government that is sworn to protect us, and we're to buy incompetence cop-outs as to why they didn't. Things screw up, yes. But these guys run a country. A big one. They do most of what they mean to, and do it about right. When they seem to "screw up," it's because we don't understand what it really is they MEANT to do.

It all makes sense if we have the guts to admit it. History shows us this, but Americans think themselves immune from History. It's been partly true for a while due to a historically unique confluence of factors. But the illusion is fading, the millennial discomfort steered into "imperial mobilization" is ultimately the tension of US mental bubbles near bursting. If we cannot hide from the world, we must control it. if we cannot hide from history we must seek to end it. This is the basis of World War IV. I think...

We all know Foriegn Terrorists were responsible for the attacks, but no one else other than those few here at home in the know were responsible for allowing it to happen. It's really alarming and quite inconcievable that people would have unintentionally had their heads up their arses for long enough to "act" once the attacks were over. It's disturbing

Originally posted by ShAuNmAn-X
We all know Foriegn Terrorists were responsible for the attacks, but no one else other than those few here at home in the know were responsible for allowing it to happen. It's really alarming and quite inconcievable that people would have unintentionally had their heads up their arses for long enough to "act" once the attacks were over. It's disturbing

Initially agreed al Qaeda 100%
And I know it makes me sound like the loonies again, but -
I heard of remote control theories - home Run? maybe. Northwoods? Definitely a spooky precedent. Drones of airliners possible? Easily so by 2001. Cell calls from on planes possible? I've heard it both ways, dunno. Faked calls? Possible but troublesome. Passengers alive? Nah, dead and buried at crash sites. Any fakery just to keep them from calling out news of RC instead of terrorists. If you want it done right mentality. Patsy-like behavior from the hijackers, at least as reported, suspicious passports, etc. It makes sense.
So al Qaeda maybe 30% sure at that point.
Then I realized disinfo was afoot on many fronts. I realized the significance of that Northwoods was published via NSA-connected channels in May 2001 - just four months before 9/11 and so perfectly timed to make people like me think things like that -
Now I'm less certain. Being led astray into cartoonland there as well?
I've come back around to more a LIHOP stance, but stilll...
Final stance now: al Qaeda 70%
and also al Qaeda, or parts of that nebuolus thing called that, as a US assett is fairly well illustrated, running errands for uncle sam from Afghanistan in '79 to Kosovo in '99. Could this 2001 attack be an inside job carried out VIA al Qaeda? These are all possible.

Anyway, but yes, otherwise we agree that's not the mian point. I'm not convinced that was all accidental, and I'm not happy we have to keep being distracted by dumb issues.


[edit on 18-3-2007 by Caustic Logic]