FEMA 9/11 mystery explained?

[paulthompson]

Hi,
Check out this timeline entry:

September 10, 2001 (O): There is a possibility that FEMA's National Urban Search and Rescue Team arrived in New York the night before the attacks. FEMA member Tom Kennedy says in a CBS interview on September 13: "We're currently one of the first teams that was deployed to support the City of New York in this disaster. We arrived on late Monday night (September 10) and went right into action on Tuesday morning (September 11)." FEMA officials said Kennedy misstated his team's arrival date. (CBS, 9/13/01, link is to an audio file) The Boston Herald later says Kennedy's name is actually Tom Kenney, and his wife claims he merely confused the dates. (Boston Herald, 9/5/02) Even if true, perhaps they had other reasons to be in New York that day? When did FEMA in fact go into action?


Someone recently sent me this. Could this explain why FEMA officials were in NYC, and, if so, why the post-9/11 denials?

On the morning of September 12, Richard Sheirer, director of the mayor's Office of Emergency Management, was scheduled to conduct a biological-terrorism drill in a cavernous commercial warehouse on the Hudson. Known as tripod -- short for "trial point of distribution" -- the exercise was to test how quickly Sheirer's staff could administer treatments at the kind of ad hoc medical centers that would be set up all over the city in the event of an actual attack. For an audience, Sheirer had lined up Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the police and fire commissioners, and representatives of the FBI and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He had hired over 1,000 Police Academy cadets and Fire Department trainees to play terrified civilians afflicted with various medical conditions, allergies, and panic attacks. He had even arranged for a shipment of 70,000 M&Ms to be delivered and divided by color into medical packets representing different prophylactics and vaccines. But the M&Ms never arrived.

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/sept11/features/5270/

[For PaisAn]

1. That's what I don't get

"Could this explain why FEMA officials were in NYC, and, if so, why the post-9/11 denials?"

If there was a reasonable explanation for Tom Kenney's statement about FEMA's arrival date in NY then why the denials?

BTW Paul, I'm in the middle of reading "The New Pearl Harbor" by David Ray Griffin. He references the details and evidence in your timeline throughout his book. Once again, you did an excellent job.

[OudeVanDagen]

2. my viewpoint

FEMA was based on, and still closely follows the old national response plans established by the NCD or National Civil Defense ... so it will deploy USAR teams and other support and logistical efforts regionally ... 3 regions (East, Central, West) that for over 60 years are still called RED, WHITE, and BLUE.

USAR teams are selected and rejected by FEMA by an annual review process that considers among other criteria; manpower availability, level of training and number of responses. FEMA will only deploy up to 1/3 of a city's USAR to a disaster site so that 2/3 will be available for the lending city and for rotation of crews.

Every USAR team deployed by FEMA is accompanied by a IST or Incident Support Team. IST will among other things be the go-between to expedite actions and communications between the Incident Command at a disaster and the USAR teams and deal with other collateral agencies.

IST will normally arrive days before the USAR will participate in a drill or practice session. IST will very often be present in a city that is conducting disaster drills even though USAR isn't being deployed. IST will be the eyes and ears .... observers ... and will offer constructive criticism or take notice of procedures to better define their roles and function.

Collapse investigation follows a very similar protocol ...

It is my experience that dates and times are very often confused by responders to these incidents. Example: Some field notes taken show dates written month-day (9-11) some show day-month (11-9); both mean September 11, 2001 but were just written in ways that can be very confusing. I use military time, I was trained in Army Corps of Engineers; most crews used MT. I'll write 1915, others 7:15 pm.

There has been a great deal of confusion over dates and times in this incident. Common problem, especially when considering the amount of manpower deployed.

[Abe Linkman]

3. WHAT Mystery?

"They" knew what was going to happen on 9-11, and Tom Kennedy was probably telling the truth about when the FEMA team arrived in NYC. I don't think they're psychic; just efficient. After all, they arrived in Oklahoma City the night before the unpleasantness at the Murrah Federal Building. Don't we WANT them to be "Johnnie On-The-Spot"?

Only crazed conspiracy theorists would try and claim that FEMA's arrival date and purpose in being in NYC was just a little bit too convenient to
be coincidental.

About the only "mystery" I can think of that you might be referring to is why FEMA wasn't negligent, or incompetent, or criminally negligent, or crippled by poor intelligence or poor intelligence sharing.

[Bolo Boffin]

4. Chortle.

I don't think they're psychic; just efficient.

Efficient? The Bush Administration efficient?

Have you seen Iraq lately? These people couldn't plan to meet at a restaurant later.

[Abe Linkman]

5. Stick to the subject, bolo. It's about FEMA.

Don't try and change the subject. That seems to be a common tactic of people who are here to promulgate the "Wacky Cave People Did It" Conspiracy Theory.

[Bolo Boffin]

7. I am discussing the subject, Abe.

Pay attention.

We are being told that the Bush Administration is so incredibly efficient that they can pull off an operation that involves diverting four passenger planes, substituting planes with missiles and remote control flight, aerial ballets over the skies of New York and Washington, and then conducted an evidence-planting operation under the eyes of a world watching on television. The logistics of such an endevour are mindboggling, right down to making sure (we are being told to believe) that FEMA task forces were deployed the day before 9/11 to help with the crowds and the plywood.

And yet in every other element of their government, the Bush Administration shows exactly none of this superhuman ability to plan and execute. If they hadn't had Bill Clinton's military, they'd be asking some homeless guy for directions to Baghdad.

It seems to me that an administration so hopelessly inept couldn't have faked the 9/11 attack if Osama had sent them a terrorize-by-numbers kit.

That FEMA unit was in town for something else, and after the attack, the FEMA guy tried to calm some people down by saying that FEMA was on top of it. He wasn't thinking about how it might sound to some crank with a pirated copy of Photoshop and a Paypal button - he was trying to give some frightened people a little comfort.

You are blowing this out of proportion.

[Abe Linkman]

10. No, you're distorting the subject, bolo.

The subject is why FEMA arrived in NYC the night before 9-11.

You don't need to try and change the subject every time something comes up that's uncomfortable for you promoters of the "Cave People Did It" Conspiracy Theory. On second thought, maybe you do need to.

[demodewd]

16. Its going quite well..thank you.

Lets account for the 2-6 trillion not accounted for in the DOD budget the last decade or so. Where's that money/hardware gone? Intelligence-military black ops? And with the exception of perhaps Cheney and Rumsfeld...what front line Bush administrator is really on the up and up to all this? I say this administration is purposefully inept. Lets dig a big hole in the ME and make the American public pay for it. And Kerry...is he going to renege on the on going privatization of Iraq? Is he going to reduce this gargantuan military budget? Are we going to demilitarize ourselves in Afghanistan? Does the CIA gain from the heroin industry there as distributors? More black op money...more third world occupation...more military coups...more sweet deals for the oil industry...more globilization...more privatization...more out sourcing...more private armies...its going as planned and most of the American public passively lets it happened because terrorism must be fought and Al Qaeda is plotting now to bomb LA...so they tell us.

[OudeVanDagen]

6. I'm no fan of FEMA

... they're just the plywood and toilet paper people to me ... bunch of GS12s looking for ways to justify their jobs ... find something simple and complicate it.

"TRIPOD" as described in the original message was just one of many disaster preparedness drills planned for the NYC Metro area in 2001. There were others: "Three Rings" for example was one conducted in the Spring at a former Schafer Brewery (Three Rings of Schafer Beer: Purity, Body, Flavor).

FEMA always sends advance IST. IST sent for drills are always dual teams; one experienced and one not. The experienced team works out the disaster drill preplanning with the lead agency but the inexperienced team goes to the drill cold ... having no knowledge of where what when etc.

Of course FEMA was in NYC prior to 9-11. FEMA is always in NYC 24/7 ... FEMA took over when CD ended.

If it's not an error ... misspeaking a date ... I believe the date 9-10 that is being discussed is the date that the IST arrived for the disaster preparedness drill planned for 9-12.

FYI: TRIPOD might have also included freshly revised USAR protocols as follows:
1. Size up and recon
2. Surface Rescue (aka Primary Search)
3. Void Space Search (aka Secondary Search)
4. Selected Debris Removal
5. General Debris Removal

I have tremendous respect for USAR teams. It has been through their efforts in SAR (steps 2&3 above) that key collapse elements are often discovered making my job and steps 4&5 run smoother.

[RedSock]

9. lexus nexus

paul can you check lexus-nexus for any advance word of this drill in the new york papers like in late august or early september? or was it too secret?

ALSO
I read somewhere (in a DU thread?) that someone was coming out of WTC 1 shortly after the first place hit and was surprised to see so many FBI agents swarming around. it seemed to this person that they arrived VERY quickly.

it reminded me of what some people on oklahoma city said that there were bomb people on the scene within a minute or so.

does anyone remember reading this anywhere (in the last week)?

[OudeVanDagen]

19. swarming around

"surprised to see so many FBI agents swarming around"

Just part of the FBI's MRP or Metropolitan Response Program established after the 1995 Sarin nerve agent attack in Tokyo. Common sight in NYC ... both before and after 911 ... during early moments of major incidents; they arrive, stay or leave as each situation warrants. FBI office in every major US city mobilizes MRP for major incidents.

"it reminded me of what some people on oklahoma city said that there were bomb people on the scene within a minute or so."

Of course the "bomb people" were there asap .... they're part of the OC Fire Department ... just a phone call away ... just minutes to respond.

[gandalf]

22. Lexis Nexis SEARCHES are for free

you can do it for yourself (to my knowledge, Paul has no access to this database at the moment).

You have only to pay if you want to read an article (3$ or so each).

[DeadBroke]

23. OEM & FEMA drills ...

.... have been, and still are, conducted in NYC and surrounding counties several times a year. Drills, a certain number each year, are actually a requirement if these agencies are going to receive federal and state funding. Each drill is numbered sequentially and summary performance reports are provided to responders. There are so many drills that they are given nicknames, which are easier to use than the official number system. It's easier, for example to say "MetroPark" than NYC2003-17; so calling a drill TriPod would make sense.

Newspapers and TV usually do not report or cover these drills unless they are notified or invited. These drills are common and seldom newsworthy. There was increased public and news interest after 911, but it has since fell off and it's back to ho-hum business as usual. The most that happens now, and what was happening back before 911, would have been traffic advisories for city drivers to stay away from certain streets and locations.

As a firefighter who is a part of a Northern New Jersey OEM I can state that we receive notification of NYC and NYC area drills; specifically information as to time and place, lead agency, type of drill and if it will or will not involve or require actions by our OEM. We are part of a mutual aid that provides support to NYC. We, for example provided fire companies to NYC on Sept 11th and 12th. These companies manned vacated fire stations and responded to fire and other emergency calls while FDNY was at the Trade Center and regrouping.

It is my understanding that our OEM was not to be part of the September 12th exercise. The bioterror drill planned for that date was for the NYC based agencies only and did not require action by or support from any NJ OEM.

It's not at all unusual for FEMA or any other agency to arrive days or weeks before drill dates. There is a lot to do; site selection, preplanning and numerous other logistical considerations. A very recent drill conducted at Port Newark involving container shipments had to be carefully planned and timed so that; ships would be in port, there would be adequate containers (size/shape/contents), all agencies (Coast Guard, FBI, DEA, ATF, INS etc) would be available, and as far as our OEM was concerned we had to be assured - in writing - that overtime tabs would be picked up. BTW: The press was notified for this drill because new hi-tech robotic bomb sniffing units and new bioterror personnel protection suits were going to be used. Only two local TV news stations showed.

[DeadBroke]

24. Following up ....

... it appears that the primary participants in the preparedness drill in question were FDNY-EMS, NYPD-ESU and NYC-HHS; (EMS = Emergency Medical Services, ESU = Emergency Services Units, HHS = Health and Hospital Services).

Representatives and members of these agencies had recently completed training at the CDP or Center for Domestic Preparedness at Fort McClellan, (which if memory serves me right, is in Alabama) and they were going to put their skills to the test.

Back in 1998-99 NYC was one of 10 cities chosen to participate in Bio-Terrorism training at CDP, and these cities also received grants for specialized chemical monitoring equipment and personnel protection equipment for responders such as chemical suits and CP-SCBA, or Constant Pressure Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus. The equipment wasn't delivered and the training wasn't completed until Summer 2001; hence the Fall drill at TriPod.

This training was offered by DOJ to the cities due in part to the chemical attacks in Tokyo (sarin in the subway) and elsewhere. As of this date 15 more cities have sent personnel to CDP.

CDP was, back then prior to 9-11 run by DOJ, Department Of Justice. I think it's now Department of Homeland Security and that FEMA has control. It's the only training center using some real chemical agents.

After 9-11 FEMA has also sent some National Guard to CDP.

[DeadBroke]

26. Some more ...

... information. Today (May 5) I spoke with a NYPD officer who is presently assigned to the Mid-Manhattan North Precinct on West 42nd Street near 10th Avenue (diagonally across the street from my union hall). He was previously assigned to the 1st Precinct on Varick Street near the Holland Tunnel, and was on duty Sept 11th.

Sept. 12th would have been his scheduled off duty day, but it was also his turn for overtime at barricade duty. Off duty NYPD officers get overtime delivering and erecting or dismantling and loading crowd control barricades. Barricades are those blue NYPD POLICE LINE things that resemble a carpenter's saw horse.

His barricade assignment on 9-12 would have been the OEM bio-terror drill under scrutiny in this thread. He also informed me that NYPD had several chemical decontamination shelters and "PPS" or Personal Protection Suits delivered, on hand and readied for the drill.

[TrogL]

17. Ooooooo, the ubiquitous "they"

:scared:

[Bolo Boffin]

18. Ladies and gentlemen...Pink Floyd.

Us and Them
And after all we're only ordinary men
Me, and you
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do
Forward he cried from the rear
and the front rank died
And the General sat, as the lines on the map
moved from side to side
Black and Blue
And who knows which is which and who is who
Up and Down
And in the end it's only round and round and round
Haven't you heard it's a battle of words
the poster bearer cried
Listen son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside
Down and Out
It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about
With, without
And who'll deny that's what the fightings all about
Get out of the way, it's a busy day
And I've got things on my mind
For want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died

[medienanalyse]

8. Sorry Paul, it is misleading. Kennedy just mixed up data.

And this was discussed here on DU as far as I remember. I will have a look what I saved. It was just a mix-up. Nothing spectacular. If you are in business and totally tired and very much concentrated on your work this can happen, and Kennedys explanation was totally convincing.

But there was another circumstance about Pentagon- people being on alert immediately which is very different.

Washington, D.C., Sept. 21, 2001 — "The Department of Defense (DoD) World Trade Center in New York City Sept. 11. ... Air National Guard and Reserve planes were in the air "moving stuff within an hour," he said."
http://www.mdw.army.mil/news/DoD_helps_authorities_began_helping_civil_authorities_almost_immediately_after_the_first_hijacked_airliner_hit_the_north_tower_of_the_after_attack.html
"Immediately"? "within an hour" ? So the DoD KNEW what to do - except poor Rumsfeld, who -one hour after the first attack- still "did not know anything"? From the first impact to the impact into the Pentagon it is exactly this one hour. Ecerybody moved, even Bush had had his 9:30 speech in Sarasota - only the criminal in the Pentagon was with his senators and had breakfast untill AA77 hit the reinforced wedge.

THAT is the clear and undeniable smoking gun.

Sorry I do not get the link working.

[Abe Linkman]

11. Please say what you mean, in a simple declarative sentence. Thanks.

I'm not exactly sure I understand what your point is.

[medienanalyse]

12. Just replace the word monday by "tuesday"

in this sentence:
"We're currently one of the first teams that was deployed to support the City of New York in this disaster. We arrived on late Monday night (September 10) and went right into action on Tuesday morning (September 11)."

The explanations in brackets were not said but introduced. And how many times hve we all, everbody of us, mixed up two days? It is just that simple.

[Abe Linkman]

13. Can't you just say what you mean? Your message is STILL unclear.

Instead of saying substitute this for that, is there some particular reason why you can't just SAY what you mean?

Is it too much trouble for you to get your name in the bright lights again by just responding as though it was your first response to the original message by Paul Thompson?

[medienanalyse]

14. ???

If you do what my proposal is you get a sentence by Mr. Kennedy which carries no mysteries at all.

And this was explained by Mr. Kennedy some days later. He had thought tuesday was monday. That is all.

No mystery. No more explanations. I do not know what you want me to tell you more.

[Abe Linkman]

15. I do not want you to tell me anymore. I've tried twice and that's enough.

I'll just assume that your response to the original message isn't important.

N.B. I DID understand your unsubstantiated, evidence-free claim that FL 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

[medienanalyse]

21. I do not want Paul reporting misleading non-informations

is it such a sentence you are looking for?

If Mr. Kenney mixes up data it is a non-information. Not my comment is not important, not important is to take such a misleading bulls... into the timeline.

It is introducing conspiracy theories, rumors, hearsay, false data into a brilliant timeline of facts and events. It spoils the timeline.

[OudeVanDagen]

20. another circumstance about Pentagon

"But there was another circumstance about Pentagon- people being on alert immediately which is very different."

Key personnel at the Pentagon;
a)Initial Incident Commander - Arlington Fire Dept Asst Chief Jim Schwartz
b)FBI Commander and MRP (Metropolitan Rsponse Team) leader- Christopher Combs, Special Agent
c)2nd in Command for FBI- Bob Beckwith
d)FEMA Leader - Jim Strickland Fairfax County Fire Dept USAR (IST leader for FEMA East or RED team)

Each participated in unified command and control for the first 20 hours of the incident. Schwartz (a) responded with Arlington fire department. Combs (b) and Beckwith (c) responded with FBI's MRP. Strickland (d) responded with Fairfax fire department.

On alert ... or just doing their jobs?

FYI: It was Combs who ordered the second evacuation of fire and search crews (Schwartz did first 0955 HRS ... collapse concerns). Combs received 2nd plane warning from WFO (Washington Field Office) 1015 HRS ... warning cancelled 1038 HRS.

[Dancing_Dave]

25. Only the M and M's are news to me.

It's sad to hear that even the makers of M and M's got mixed up in this conspiracy somehow. No wonder people wonder if there's anyone they can trust anymore.

As for Giuliani and FEMA's involvement...well, that's very old news for anyone who's aware of what's really going on.

[NecessaryOnslaught]

27. Hi, we're here for the "bioterror" drill

Grab a manual and have a seat.

[PATRICK]

28. Serious investigation

should ferret out whether that that team was in place for that exercise on that date.

It might suggest that this shows awareness of the germ warfare plane plots of the terrorists that cropped up so quickly after 911 and were a very big deal that dissolved even after the anthrax killings.
it suggest the WH has special knowledge and acted upon it in deep detail regarding types of attack, targets and exact date.

Is FEMA team member bound by some secrecy oath when the assignment would be innocuous on its face?

Has any intrepid reporter ever recontacted these people?

I hate all this whistling in the dark and interesting theories when even a modest investigation can start the real ball rolling.

[OudeVanDagen]

29. See replies #6 & #19

for WHY those FEMA boys were and still are so busy in major cities with mass transportation systems ... the Tokyo SARIN attack is reason #1.

Why assume or suggest FEMA would be or is bound by secrecy? The opposite is true ... the 411 I offered in this thread was obtained by a phone call and a fax ... good thing too - saved me the time and energy I would have spent filing a FOI (Freedom Of Information) or RTK (Right To Know). If an old 80 year old fart like me can get it .... anyone can ...

This FEMA issue by the way was very well covered by the NY press ... FEMA just in town for a drill ... no monkey business, no smoke, no mirrors, just some GS-12 asskissers doing their job.

[BassettWilliams]

30. According to the 9/11 commission hearings

held in public in NYC on live tv & radio on 5/18&19/04 FEMA was in NYC on 9/10/01 for bio-chemical terrorism drill scheduled for 9/12/01. Transcripts: 9-11commission.gov

[troublemaker]

31. FEMA's not a person. FEMA can be more than one place.

What am I missing here?

>>>There were FEMA people in NYC on the 10th connected with a disaster drill scheduled for the 12th.

>>>After 9/11 FEMA people were sent to NYC that hadn't previously planned to be there. One of those people mis-spoke about when he arrived, or was misquoted on the topic.

Are those the data points? If so I can't see any controversy.

[dinyc]

32. I also thought this was cleared up a long time ago

Mr. Kenney is a member of the Massachusetts Urban Search & Rescue Task Force. (www.matf.org)  They are contracted by FEMA to respond immediately upon receiving activation orders. As was noted above in a FEMA  press release, Massachusetts, designated as Task Force 1 Area, were one of the first two teams to arrive at the WTC.

In other words these guys had nothing to do with the September 12 bio drill and arrived on the 11th after the WTC collapsed. Kenney isn't even FEMA. He's a contract employee, he worked a long shift under terrible conditions and then during the interview with Dan Rather he got confused about the date. Not really that hard to imagine. Harder to imagine that FEMA would have search and rescue teams waiting in NY prior to the attack.

http://www.devvy.com/foia_20021128.html

[DougFir]

33. FEMA info partly true, partly not

this article lays to rest the "fema in new york on monday" myth
BUT, it points to some real information that is more damning.



http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/060704_tripod_fema.html
TRIPOD II AND FEMA
Lack of NORAD Response on 9/11 Explained
by Michael C. Ruppert

For six weeks I have been investigating a number of other 9/11 wargames that link directly to the work done by Global Free Press on Tripod II and other wargames. I am not exaggerating when I say that we may be close to the Holy Grail of 9/11.

I am certain that it will not be too long before these wargames receive serious coverage in the mainstream press. If they are reported on while still linked to the FEMA myth , the Bush administration will have a free shot to discredit the Tripod story (and all of the wargame stories) by disproving the FEMA part to the press and then asking, "Why should we even respond to the rest?"

The wargames will tie Bush and/or Cheney and Rumsfeld directly into a complete paralysis of fighter response on 9/11. I have gone directly to many NORAD, DoD, NRO, and other sources directly and questioned them. I have knocked on many doors and I have even obtained some documents. I have obtained an on-the-record statement from someone in NORAD, which confirmed that on the day of 9/11 The Joint Chiefs (Myers) and NORAD were conducting a joint, live-fly, hijack Field Training Exercise (FTX) which involved at least one (and almost certainly many more) aircraft under US control that was posing as a hijacked airliner. That is just the tip of what I have uncovered.

There never was a stand down order issued. That would have been way too incriminating and risky a piece of incriminating evidence. And it also might have been ignored by eager fighter pilots who had trained their whole lives to respond to a hostile aircraft killing Americans. There are several statements that the "new" NORAD procedures transferring scramble authority to Rumsfeld on June 1, 2001 were ignored by several NORAD commanders on 9/11 including General Larry Arnold. That's exactly what I would have expected. ....


Question 1 - Prior to 9/11, when various military commands were conducting multiple simultaneous training exercises across various commands and services, what office or person at the Department of Defense was charged with coordinating all of them so that they did not overlap or interfere with each other, or occupy enough military assets at one time to jeopardize operational readiness?

Question 2 - Since the Tripod II biowarfare exercise was a joint New York-Department of Justice exercise we now must ask: Prior to 9/11, under US government Executive Branch procedure, what part of the government or official was responsible for and had the authority to coordinate and act as liaison between the military, federal agencies and state and local agencies and private corporations so that they did not overlap or interfere with each other, or occupy enough essential assets at one time to jeopardize operational readiness or impair the national security of the United States? Was it the White House? Was it the Office of National Preparedness? Was it the National Security Advisor? Was it the CIA?