SEPT. 11 PROBE Panel to give answers on air defense role

A critical failing was a focus on intercepting Soviet bombers.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Sept. 11 commission hopes to shed light today on a critical issue confronted by military leaders: Could a quicker response by jet fighters have saved lives by somehow intercepting the hijacked airliners?
It is a question at the forefront for many relatives of Sept. 11 victims, who have been frustrated and confused by answers from aviation and defense officials about an emergency response they believe was woefully inadequate.
"When you think about a criminal investigation, your first step is a timeline of events. But nearly three years after the attacks, we still don't know what happened," said Mindy Kleinberg, whose husband, Alan, was killed in the World Trade Center collapse.
Communication faulted
Commission members say the hearing will provide some definitive answers, with a staff report faulting, in part, the chaos and poor communication between the Federal Aviation Administration and the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
Another critical failing, panel members have said, was NORAD's post-Cold War focus on intercepting Soviet bombers rather than hijacked airliners. Aviation and military officials have acknowledged problems during the attacks, but say they've made improvements since then.
"The real issue is first establishing the facts minute-by-minute," said Republican commissioner John Lehman, a former Navy secretary. "Who knew what when? What orders were given? From there we can learn the lessons of what went right.
"For the first time, you will see a clear picture of what happened that everyone can understand and not dispute," he said.
Some successes
Democratic commissioner Jamie Gorelick, a former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, said the hearing will also highlight some success stories that day.
"You'll see some heroic efforts made. There were some very talented people operating at peak capacity and improvising when faced with a challenge they had not planned for," she said.
In the hours just after the attacks, nearly 4,500 planes had to be landed as quickly as possible. While stunned colleagues were glued to TVs nearby, air traffic controllers first had to focus on rerouting about a quarter of them -- 50 times as many planes as they usually reroute each hour.
The responses by President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney also will be reviewed, including when a shootdown order was delivered to NORAD.
Scheduled to testify today are Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as officials from NORAD and the FAA.
The commission, facing a July 26 deadline for a final report, is winding down its 11/2-year investigation after interviewing more than 1,000 witnesses, including Bush, and reviewing more than 2 million documents.
On Wednesday, the commission opened a two-day hearing into the Sept. 11 plot. It found the terror network had originally envisioned a much larger attack and was working hard to strike again, most likely in the form of a chemical, radiological or biological attack.