Blame it all on NORAD, sure

[Geggy]

USA Today reports that at this time, "a joint FBI/CIA anti terorist task force that specifically prepared for this type of disaster" is on a "training exercise in Monterey, Calif." Consequently "as of late Tuesday, with airports closed around the country, the task force still hasn't found a way to fly back to Washington."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...1/security.htm

At the time of the first WTC crash, three F-16s assigned to Andrews Air Force Base, ten miles from Washington, are flying an air-to-ground training mission to drop some bombs and hit a refueling tanker, on a range in North Carolina, 207 miles away from their base. However it is only when they are halfway back to Andrews that lead pilot major Billy Hutchison is able to talk to the acting supervisor of flying at Andrews, Lt Col Phil Thompson, who tells him to return to the base "buster" (as fast as aircraft will fly). After landing back at Andrews, Hutchinson is told to take off immediately and does so at 10:33 am. The other two pilots Marc Sasseville and Heather Penney take off from Andrews at 10:42 am, after having loaded their planes with 20mm training rounds. These three pilots will therefore not be patrolling the skies above Washington until after about 10:45 am.

http://web.archive.org/web/200209291...s/aw090971.xml

From 9/10 to 9/14, The NORAD fighters are due to stay in Alaska and Canada until the end of of the Russian exercise during Operation Northern Vigilance. At the some time between 10:32 am and 11:45 am on 9/11, Russian President Vladimar Putin will call the White House to say the Russians are voluntarily halting their exercise.