Blast from the past (2004): NYT's Pre-9/11 Pentagon Wargames

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WASHINGTON, April 13 2004 — At least five months before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, air defense planners proposed a war-game situation in which a terrorist group hijacked an airliner and flew it into the Pentagon, but the Joint Staff rejected the idea, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

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The proposal was described in an e-mail message disclosed on Monday by the Project on Government Oversight, an advocacy group, and was confirmed by military officials. The message was written Sept. 18, 2001, by Terry Ropes, identified as a former member of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or Norad, which is responsible for defending United States airspace.

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"The Norad exercise developers wanted an event having a terrorist group hijack a commercial airliner (foreign carrier) and fly it into the Pentagon," the message said. "Joint Staff action officers rejected it as unrealistic."

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An investigator for the advocacy group, Peter Stockton, said the hijacking proposal was suggested by Special Operations personnel trained to think like terrorists.

Read More: The New York Times archive

That might me a clue. There exists Special Forces trained to "think like terrorists". Even so far as to rig buildings with explosives? :shrug: :tinfoilhat: