Originally Posted by
spotnik
Yes, 9/11 was successful because, as of 9/10/01, hijacking was one of the safest, most trouble-free crimes by which to be victimized.
Success of the operation may also have been related to (as
reported to the 9/11 Commission, later
confirmed and
reconfirmed by eyewitness Norman Mineta, then U.S. Secretary of Transportation)
Dick Cheney's issuance of an order for NORAD to stand-down as the hijacked jetliner approached the Pentagon.
Mineta's testimony on May 23, 2003, to the 9/11 Commission included:
There was a young man who had come in and said to the vice president, “The plane is 50 miles out. The plane is 30 miles out.” And when it got down to, “The plane is 10 miles out, “the young man also said to the vice president, “Do the orders still stand?” And the vice president turned and whipped his neck around and said, “Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?"
Mineta has since explained that at the time he assumed that the orders to which the young man referred were to shoot down the hijacked plane, but learned later that this was not the case. Note that
Mineta's testimony to the 9/11 Commission was not included in the 9/11 Commission Report.
Also likely related: a
June 1, 2001, change in NORAD and Pentagon orders that revoked the default standing orders to shoot down errant or hijacked aircraft and instructed them instead to
stand down until they were given orders by the President, Vice President or Secretary of Defense.