1:45 p.m. September 11, 2001: Defense Department Finally Distributes Written Rules of Engagement for Fighters

The Department of Defense finally circulates written rules of engagement, which will give fighter pilots an understanding of the circumstances under which a hostile aircraft can be shot down. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 465] Since arriving at the Pentagon’s National Military Command Center (NMCC), at around 9:58 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. respectively, General Richard Myers, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld have worked on establishing these rules (see (Between 10:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 3/23/2004 ; George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, 8/3/2012] However, Myers will later admit that in the “initial period”—apparently meaning the first hour—after he entered the NMCC, “he did not do anything to ensure that effective rules of engagement were communicated to pilots.” [9/11 Commission, 2/17/2004 ] In fact, Rumsfeld only approved the final recommended rules of engagement, which Myers had received from General Ralph Eberhart, the commander of NORAD, at around 12:40 p.m. (see 12:40 p.m. September 11, 2001). [Myers and McConnell, 2009, pp. 157-158] And the Department of Defense only circulates written rules of engagement “sometime after 1:00 p.m.,” according to the 9/11 Commission Report. It apparently does so at 1:45 p.m. At this time, it faxes a memo that includes the rules to Andrews Air Force Base, just outside Washington, DC. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 465] Journalist and author Andrew Cockburn will comment that Rumsfeld and Myers’s work on rules of engagement was therefore “an irrelevant exercise,” since the times at which the rules are completed and issued are “hours after the last hijacker had died.” [Cockburn, 2007, pp. 7]