CHAPTER 21 - THE PHONE CALLS
Summary
(1) Following the 9/11 attacks, mainstream media outlets reported that numerous cell phone calls had been made from passengers aboard the hijacked planes. Examples include calls made by Barbara Olson, Mark Bingham, Jeremy Glick, Peter Hanson, Thomas Burnett, Brian Sweeney, and Marion Britton (AP (x2), CNN, BBC, CBS, WAPO (x3), NYT, Sacramento Bee, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). In the case of the last four, the cell phone media reports were corroborated by FBI interviews of the recipients of their calls (FBI-Burnett, FBI-Hanson, FBI-Sweeney, FBI-Britton contact, FBI-Hanson, FBI-Olson)
(2) Thomas Burnett’s wife Deena even specifically said that she knew the calls were from Thomas because the caller ID feature on her phone flashed his cell phone number (FBI-Deena Burnett). Plus, the FBI was actively listening in to the majority of Thomas’ multiple calls to Deena in real-time (AP 9/12). Further, Deena was perfectly consistent that the calls came from her husband’s cell phone in a media interview two years later (CBS). And, in the case of Brian Sweeny, the FBI listened to the message he left on the answering machine of his wife Julie in which he specifically said he was calling from his cell phone (FBI-Sweeny).
(3) All of the aforementioned calls took place when the planes from which they were purportedly made were above 20,000 feet, many of them from 35,000 to 40,000 feet (NTSB x2, Com-pgs. 11-12, 29, DOJ). However, several news reports stated that in 2001 cell phone calls from high altitude airliners were highly unlikely or impossible (WAPO, NYT, SF Chronicle, QUALCOMM, San Diego Metropolitan).
(4) The 9/11 Commission Report appeared to endorse the cell phone media reports and FBI interviews (Com-pg. 12, 454-456 FN 48, 49, 58, 80), but a later-released supplementary report said they were all made from GTE (“backseat”) airphones (Com-untitled staff report), as did a series of Justice Department memoranda (DOJ) provided to the 9/11 Commission. The FBI then flipped flopped from its original position and likewise said all the aforementioned calls were GTE airphone calls during the 2006 Zacarias Moussaoui trial (FBI-Moussaoui Trial). Neither the 9/11 Commission nor the FBI ever publicly released the billing or location data associated with the cell phones of the reported 9/11 cell phone users (PR Newswire).
(5) CNN commentator Barbara Olson purportedly, repeatedly called her husband, US Solicitor General Theodore “Ted” Olson at the Department of Justice, from Flight 77 before it crashed into the Pentagon (CNN, Com-pg. 455 FN 57). Her calls became a primary piece of evidence for the 9/11 Commission’s narrative that just three or four Flight 77 hijackers were able to subdue two pilots and 60 passengers with nothing more than knives and box cutters (CNN, Com-pgs. 9, 455 FN 57, 58). However, the hijackers were slender, between 5’5″ and 5’7″ in height, and not physically imposing (Com-Staff Statement #16), while one of the pilots was a former Navy pilot, weightlifter, and boxer – all of which prompted the Consensus 9/11 Panel to call the 9/11 Commission’s narrative implausible (Consensus 9/11).
(6) In media interviews Olsen repeatedly flip-flopped about whether the call came from Barbara’s cell phone or an airphone (CNN (x3), FOX, Telegraph, FBI-Olsen). The FBI eventually conclude an airphone (FBI-Moussaoui Trial), but the Consensus 9/11 Panel cited documentation showing that the Boeing 757 airphone system had been deactivated the previous January (Consensus 9/11, Boeing). Further, the Department of Justice determined that Barbara Olson only made one call that was “unconnected” and lasted “0 seconds” (DOJ). This same evidence was presented by the FBI during the 2006 Zacarias Moussaoui trial (FBI-Moussaoui Trial, PR Newswire).
(7) Todd Beamer reportedly led a passenger revolt against the Flight 93 hijackers, which led to the plane crashing in a Pennsylvania field rather than a high-profile target in Washington D.C. A statement he purportedly uttered just before the revolt began – “Are you guys ready? Okay, let’s roll.” – was subsequently used by President Bush in a November 2001 speech to rally support for the burgeoning War on Terror (Time).
GTE Verizon supervisor Lisa Jefferson reportedly had a now-famous 13-minute conversation with Beamer before the crash. The phone call contained several strange features.
First, Beamer told Jefferson not to patch him through to his wife because he didn’t want to worry her with bad news. Yet the only reason Beamer’s call was routed to Jefferson in the first place was because his repeated attempts to call his wife failed (Jefferson-pg. 47-48)).
Second, phone records cited by both the 9/11 Commission and FBI showed Beamer’s call lasted over an hour – way beyond after Flight 93 crashed (DOJ, FBI-Moussaoui Trial, PR Newswire, Consensus 9/11).
Third, Jefferson considered it miraculous the call was not dropped because GTE airphone calls were constantly being dropped all over the country due to high call volume during the attacks (Jefferson-pg. 217).
Fourth, despite the circumstances, Beamer sounded so tranquil and devoid of stress that Jefferson recalled doubting the caller’s authenticity (Jefferson-pg. 36), Telegraph, Beamer-pg. 211)).
Fifth, in a breach of convention, Beamer’s call was not recorded either by Jefferson or by the adjacent Airfone Operations Surveillance Center (AOSC), to whom Jefferson immediately reported the call. As a result, no one who knew Todd could confirm that it was his voice on the call (Daily Mail-Morgan).
Sixth, Beamer’s Verizon cell phone records obtained by the FBI showed that 19 outgoing calls were placed from Beamer’s phone that same day after Flight 93 crashed (FBI-Moussaoui Trial, PR Newswire, Consensus 9/11).
Seventh, there is no first-hand evidence that the famous line – “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll!” – was ever spoken by Beamer or anyone. In fact, Jefferson specifically told the FBI another passenger initiated the revolt, not Beamer (FBI-Jefferson).
Eighth, the 9/11 Commission Report said Flight 93 was hijacked at 9:28. This included a physical struggle for control of the cockpit which caused the plane to fly erratically (Com-pgs. 11, 14, 456 FN 70-71). However, Beamer’s phone records and Jefferson’s FBI interview agree that Beamer called at 9:48 and they spoke several minutes before the hijackers attempted to enter the cockpit, at which point the aircraft flew erratically (FBI-Moussaoui Trial, FBI-Jefferson).
Ninth, Jefferson told the FBI she never heard any sounds of the passenger revolt, the plane diving or crashing, or of passengers reacting to their imminent deaths. In fact, after a passenger other than Todd Beamer supposedly initiated the revolt, she heard nothing at all. Nevertheless, the call remained inexplicably connected for another twenty minutes, long past the time of the plane crash (FBI-Jefferson).
(8) Days after 9/11, the government recovered the Flight 93 cockpit voice recorder, which might have gone long way toward substantiating the accuracy of the phone calls reportedly made from that flight (Guardian, NYT). In April of 2002, the FBI was forced to let the relatives of the deceased listen to the tape under heavy security. The relatives later reported that the tape ended with struggling sounds followed by a loud “rushing sound.” The tape then went silent at 10:03 with no sound of impact (Daily Mail-Morgan).
In April of 2006, the jury of the Zacarias Moussaoui trial heard the final minutes of the Flight 93 cockpit voice recorder, which ended completely differently – with the hijackers shouting praises to Allah (CNN). For some, this confirmed suspicions of tape-tampering (Daily Mail-Morgan).
Ten years after 9/11, the Flight 93 cockpit voice recorder tape remained classified (NYT). Numerous media outlets pointed out that the dramatic accounts of the final moments of Flight 93 were necessarily pure conjecture due to the government’s concealment of the tape (Independent-citing NYT & Newsweek, Guardian-citing Time & CNN)).
(1) Sources:
Associated Press, 9/11/2001, “Experts, U.S. Suspect Osama bin Laden, Accused Architect of World’s Worst Terrorist Attacks”
Associated Press, 9/12/2001, “Passengers May Have Thwarted Hijackers”
BBC, 9/12/2001, “‘I know we’re all going to die’”
CBS News, 9/10/2003, “Two Years Later…”
CNN, 9/12/2001, “Wife of Solicitor General Alerted Him of Hijacking from Plane”
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Deena Burnett
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Eunice Hanson
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Julie Sweeney
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Marion Britton contact [name redacted]
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Peter Hanson
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Theodore Olson (U.S. Solicitor General)
New York Times, 9/22/2001, “A NATION CHALLENGED: THE INVESTIGATION; Tape Reveals Wild Struggle On Flight 93”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/22/2001, “13-Minute Call Bonds Her Forever with Hero”
Sacramento Bee, 9/11/2002, “Widow Tells of Poignant Last Calls”
Washington Post, 9/13/2001, “Bid to Thwart Hijackers May Have Led to Pa. Crash”
Washington Post, 9/16/2001, “September 11, 2001,” (reposted 9/20 with different title)
Washington Post, 9/20/2001, “Another workday becomes a surreal plane of terror”
(2) Sources:
Associated Press, 9/12/2001, “Passengers May Have Thwarted Hijackers”
CBS News, 9/10/2003, “Two Years Later…”
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Deena Burnett
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Julie Sweeney
(3) Sources:
National Transportation Safety Board, 2/19/2002, “Flight Path Study – United Airlines Flight 93”
National Transportation Safety Board, 2/19/2002, “Flight Path Study – American Airlines Flight 77”
New York Times, 4/18/2008, “Era of In-Flight Mobile Phone Use Begins In Europe”
QUALCOMM, 7/15/2004, “American Airlines and QUALCOMM Complete Test Flight to Evaluate In-Cabin Mobile Phone Use” (Press Release)
San Diego Metropolitan, October 2001, interview with Marco Thompson, President of the San Diego Telecom Council
San Francisco Chronicle, 12/15/2004, “Can You Hear Me On A 747? / FCC Set To Consider In-Flight Cell Phones”
Washington Post, 12/9/2004, “Cell Phones In Flight Considered”
9/11 Commission, 4/26/2004, U.S. Department of Justice response “to the Commission’s Document Request No. 14 to the Department, which requested documents that describe cell phone and airphone calls placed by passengers and crew aboard American Airlines Flight No. 11, American Airlines Flight No. 11, United Airlines Flight No. 175, and United Airlines Flight No. 93 on September 11, 2001.”
9/11 Commission, 5/13/2004, “Memorandum for the Record: Department of Justice Briefing on Cell and Phone Calls from UA Flight 93”
9/11 Commission, 5/20/2004, “Memorandum for the Record: Department of Justice Briefing on Cell and Phone Calls from AA Flight 77”
9/11 Commission, July 2004, “9/11 Commission Report,” pgs. 11-12, 29
(4) Sources:
FBI, 2006, “United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui, Exhibit Number P200055”
PR Newswire, 5/16/2013, “The 9/11 Phone Calls: Disturbing Irregularities Uncovered in the Calls that Flashed around the World”
9/11 Commission, 4/26/2004, U.S. Department of Justice response “to the Commission’s Document Request No. 14 to the Department, which requested documents that describe cell phone and airphone calls placed by passengers and crew aboard American Airlines Flight No. 11, American Airlines Flight No. 11, United Airlines Flight No. 175, and United Airlines Flight No. 93 on September 11, 2001.”
9/11 Commission, 5/13/2004, “Memorandum for the Record: Department of Justice Briefing on Cell and Phone Calls from UA Flight 93”
9/11 Commission, 5/20/2004, “Memorandum for the Record: Department of Justice Briefing on Cell and Phone Calls from AA Flight 77”
9/11 Commission, July 2004, “9/11 Commission Report,” pg. 12, 454-456 (Footnotes 48, 49, 58, 80)
9/11 Commission, 8/24/2004, untitled staff report, “Part 1: ‘We Have Some Planes’: The Four Flights – a Chronology,” pg. 45
(5) Sources:
Consensus 9/11 Panel Website, “Point PC-2: The Reported Phone Calls from Barbara Olson”
CNN, 9/12/2001, “Wife of Solicitor General Alerted Him of Hijacking from Plane”
9/11 Commission, 6/16/2004, “Staff Statement No. 16: Outline of the 9/11 Plot”
9/11 Commission, July 2004, “9/11 Commission Report,” pgs. 9, 455 (Footnotes 57, 58)
(6) Sources:
Boeing Corporation, 1/28/2001, “757 Aircraft Maintenance Manual (757 AMM)”
Consensus 9/11 Panel Website, “Point PC-2: The Reported Phone Calls from Barbara Olson”
CNN, 9/12/2001, “Wife of Solicitor General Alerted Him of Hijacking from Plane”
CNN’s Larry King Live, 9/14/2001, “America’s New War: Recovering from Tragedy” (Interview with Ted Olsen)
CNN, 9/10/2002, “On September 11, Final Words of Love”
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Theodore Olson (U.S. Solicitor General)
FBI, 2006, “United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui, Exhibit Number P200055”
Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes, 9/14/2001, Interview with Ted Olsen
PR Newswire, 5/16/2013, “The 9/11 Phone Calls: Disturbing Irregularities Uncovered in the Calls that Flashed around the World”
Telegraph, 3/5/2002, “She Asked Me How to Stop the Plane”
9/11 Commission, 5/20/2004, “Memorandum for the Record: Department of Justice Briefing on Cell and Phone Calls from AA Flight 77”
(7) Sources:
Daily Mail, 8/19/2006, “Flight 93 ‘Was Shot Down’ Claims Book”
FBI, 2006, “United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui, Exhibit Number P200055”
Lisa Beamer and Ken Abraham, 2002, “Let’s Roll: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage,” pgs. 211, 217
Lisa Jefferson and Felicia Middlebrooks, July 2006, “Called,” pgs. 33, 36, 47-48
PR Newswire, 5/16/2013, “The 9/11 Phone Calls: Disturbing Irregularities Uncovered in the Calls that Flashed around the World”
Telegraph, 10/21/2001, “The Extraordinary Last Calls of Flight UA93”
Time, 11/9/2001, “Bush: ‘My Fellow Americans, Let’s Roll’”
9/11 Commission, 9/11/2001, FBI Interview of Lisa Jefferson
9/11 Commission, 9/29/2001, FBI Document (heading is redacted); states: “Lead Control Number NK 5381… Todd Beamer… On September 11, 2001 the below-listed calls were made on cellular telephone (908) 202-4940.”
9/11 Commission, 5/13/2004, “Memorandum for the Record: Department of Justice Briefing on Cell and Phone Calls from UA Flight 93”
9/11 Commission, July 2004, “9/11 Commission Report,” pgs. 11, 14, 456 (Footnotes 70-71)
(8) Sources:
CNN, 4/13/2006, “On Tape, Passengers Heard Trying to Retake Cockpit”
Daily Mail, 8/19/2006, “Flight 93 ‘Was Shot Down’ Claims Book”
Guardian, 2/18/2008, “Imagined Valour”
Independent, 8/13/2002, “Unanswered Questions: The mystery of Flight 93”
New York Times, 9/22/2001, “A NATION CHALLENGED: THE INVESTIGATION; Tape Reveals Wild Struggle On Flight 93”
New York Times, 9/9/2011, “Newly Published Audio Provides Real-Time View of 9/11 Attacks”
Telegraph, 10/21/2001, “The Extraordinary Last Calls of Flight UA93”
Numerous 9/11 In-Flight Cell Phone Calls Are Reported in Media and Corroborated by FBI
Following the 9/11 attacks, mainstream media outlets reported that numerous cell phone calls had been made from passengers aboard the hijacked planes. Examples include:
Barbara Olson
Peter Hanson
Thomas Burnett
Jeremy Glick
Mark Bingham
Brian Sweeney
Marion Britton
Many of these reports were also corroborated by FBI interviews of the recipients of those calls. Now let’s look at several examples of mainstream media reports and FBI interviews.
On 9/11, CNN reported that its commentator Barbara Olson was aboard Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, and that she called her husband, U.S. Solicitor General Theodore “Ted” Olson, at the Department of Justice twice about half an hour before impact. However, the FBI’s summary of its interview with Ted Olson said:
“Olson doesn’t know if the calls were made from her cell phone or the telephone on the plane.”
Barbara Olson’s phone calls will be discussed in more detail in a future section.
On 9/11, the Associated Press reported that businessman Peter Hanson on Flight 175, which hit the World Trade Center, called his father Lee Hanson of Connecticut and that “a minister confirmed the cell phone call to Lee Hanson.”
Likewise, both Lee Hanson and his wife Eunice Hanson said in their interviews with the FBI that Peter had called with a cell phone.
The day after 9/11, the BBC reported:
“A senior U.S. intelligence official told MSNBC.com that mobile phone communications from Flight 93 indicate that three passengers overpowered the hijackers but were unable to maintain control of the plane.”
The Associated Press reported on September 12:
“Among them was [Flight 93 passenger] Thomas Burnett, a 38-year-old business executive from California. In a series of four cellular phone calls, Burnett had his wife, Deena, conference in the FBI and calmly gathered information about the other hijacked flights.”
“She called 911, who patched her through to the FBI. She was on the phone with agents when his second call came.”
Similarly, the Sacramento Bee reported a year later that Deena Burnett had been “strangely calmed by her husband’s steady voice over his cell phone.”
Also, a September of 2003 CBS News segment featuring an interview with Deena Burnett stated:
“Tom Burnett made four cell phone calls from Flight 93 to Deena Burnett at home, telling her he and some other passengers were going to ‘do something.’”
The summary notes of the FBI’s interview with Deena likewise said:
“Burnett received a series of three to five cellular phone calls from her husband… Burnett was able to determine that her husband was using his own cellular telephone because the caller identification showed his number…”
Two days after 9/11, the Washington Post reported:
“[Jeremy] Glick’s cell phone call from Flight 93 and others like it provide the most dramatic accounts so far of events aboard the four hijacked aircraft... [Regarding] the 30-minute call with her husband… FBI agents monitored the last 20 minutes of the call and are studying a tape and transcript.”
The same Washington Post article also stated:
“31-year-old Mark Bingham… in his cell phone call… at 9:44… managed to tell his aunt and mother, Alice Hoglan, only that the plane had been hijacked and that he loved them before the phone ‘went dead’
Once again, the same Washington Post article likewise stated regarding Flight 93:
“Aboard the other doomed flights, passengers and flight personnel also frantically used cell phones to describe the terror unfolding in the sky.”
The Washington Post reported on September 16:
“[Flight 175 passenger] Brian Sweeney called his wife Julie: ‘Hi, Jules,’ Brian Sweeney was saying into his cell phone. ‘It’s Brian. We’ve been hijacked, and it doesn’t look too good.’”
However, the FBI’s October 2, 2001 interview with Julie Sweeney clarified that Brian had actually left a message on her answering machine since she was out during the call. The interview notes state:
“…Sweeney returned home to find that her husband had left a message, made from his cell phone aboard the plane, on their answering machine. The answering machine recorded that the message was left at approximately 8:58 a.m.”
On September 22, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported:
“[Flight 93 passenger Marion Britton] called longtime friend Fred Fiumano, from whom she had borrowed a cell phone.”
Likewise, the notes from the FBI’s 9/11/2001 interview state:
“Marion Britton was a passenger on UA 93… [redacted] received a cellular telephone call from Britton during the hijacking.”
That same day, the New York Times stated:
“In the past week, officials have said that the passengers appeared to have stormed the cockpit after the four hijackers commandeered the flight. That account has been based primarily on cellphone conversations between passengers and people on the ground.”
Sources:
Associated Press, 9/11/2001, “Experts, U.S. Suspect Osama bin Laden, Accused Architect of World’s Worst Terrorist Attacks”
Associated Press, 9/12/2001, “Passengers May Have Thwarted Hijackers”
BBC, 9/12/2001, “‘I Know We’re All Going to Die’”
CBS News, 9/10/2003, “Two Years Later…”
CNN, 9/12/2001, “Wife of Solicitor General Alerted Him of Hijacking from Plane”
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Deena Burnett
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Eunice Hanson
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Julie Sweeney
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Marion Britton contact [name redactd]
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Peter Hanson
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Theodore Olson (U.S. Solicitor General)
New York Times, 9/22/2001, “A NATION CHALLENGED: THE INVESTIGATION; Tape Reveals Wild Struggle On Flight 93”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/22/2001, “13-Minute Call Bonds Her Forever with Hero”
Sacramento Bee, 9/11/2002, “Widow Tells of Poignant Last Calls”
Washington Post, 9/13/2001, “Bid to Thwart Hijackers May Have Led to Pa. Crash”
Washington Post, 9/16/2001, “September 11, 2001,” (reposted 9/20 with different title)
Washington Post, 9/20/2001, “Another Workday Becomes a Surreal Plane of Terror”
Numerous Media Outlets and Experts Report High Elevation In-Flight Phone Calls Impossible in 2001
The times of the aforementioned reported phone calls were later documented in a handful of 9/11 Commission documents, such as the Flight 77 and 93 Phone Calls memoranda and the Justice Department’s response to 9/11 Commission Document Request No. 14. When these times are compared with the National Transportation Safety Board Flight Path Studies for the 9/11 Flights, it is clear that all of them occurred from above 20,000 feet and many of them from 35,000 to 40,000 feet, or more. For example, a number of the calls were made from Flight 93 between when it was hijacked at around 35,000 at 9:28 and when it reached 40,700 feet and 9:38, according to pages 11-12, 29 the 9/11 Commission Report.
However, these reports stood in contrast to several other news reports which stated that in 2001 cell phone calls from high altitude airliners were highly unlikely or impossible. For example, in December of 2004, Sprint spokeswoman Mary Nell Westbrook told the Washington Post:
“…most cell phones won't work once a plane reaches its cruising altitude… ‘Once you get to a certain height, you are no longer in the range of the cellular network’ because cell phone towers aren't built to project their signals that high…”
That same month, the San Francisco Chronicle reported:
“Today's vote by the FCC is intended to address whether technology has improved to the extent that cell phone calls now are possible above 10,000 feet – they weren't in the past.”
Likewise, in an untitled blurb in the October 2001 issue of San Diego Metropolitan magazine, Marco Thompson, president of the San Diego Telecom Council stated the following regarding the use of cell phones on airplanes. (The three sentences in parenthesis are summary statements by the interviewer. All others are direct quotations.):
“Cell phones are not designed to work on a plane. Although they do. (The rough rule is that when the plane is slow and over a city, the phone will work up to 10,000 feet or so.) Also, it depends on how fast the plane is moving and its proximity to antennas. At 30,000 feet, it may work momentarily while near a cell site, but it’s chancy and the connection won’t last. (Also, the hand-off process from cell site to cell site is more difficult. It is created for a maximum speed of 60 mph to 100 mph.) They are not built for 400 mph airplanes.”
Also, in July of 2004, American Airlines and Qualcomm announced a successful demonstration of a new type of cell phone technology that would allow passengers “to place and receive calls as if they were on the ground,” potentially becoming commercially available in 2006.
Similarly, in 2008, the New York Times reported new technology beginning to be implemented on European flights allowed cell phone users to make low-quality cell phone calls. The article stated:
“But there are still a number of hurdles to be overcome. The technology, which lets users make and receive calls through a satellite-linked, on-board base station, delivers a patchy quality that keeps most in-flight calls short and tinny.”
In contrast to all these reports, 3 days after 9/11, the New York Times, quoted one industry expert who made a contrary claim. Marvin Sirbu, professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, stated:
“The fact of the matter is that cell phones can work in almost all phases of a commercial flight.”
Sources:
National Transportation Safety Board, 2/19/2002, “Flight Path Study – United Airlines Flight 93”
National Transportation Safety Board, 2/19/2002, “Flight Path Study – American Airlines Flight 77”
New York Times, 9/14/2001, “AFTER THE ATTACKS: COMMUNICATIONS; New Perspective on the Issue of Cell Phone Use in Planes”
New York Times, 4/18/2008, “Era of In-Flight Mobile Phone Use Begins In Europe”
QUALCOMM, 7/15/2004, “American Airlines and QUALCOMM Complete Test Flight to Evaluate In-Cabin Mobile Phone Use” (Press Release)
San Diego Metropolitan, October 2001, interview with Marco Thompson, President of the San Diego Telecom Council
San Francisco Chronicle, 12/15/2004, “Can You Hear Me On A 747? / FCC Set To Consider In-Flight Cell Phones”
Washington Post, 12/9/2004, “Cell Phones In Flight Considered”
9/11 Commission, 4/26/2004, U.S. Department of Justice response “to the Commission’s Document Request No. 14 to the Department, which requested documents that describe cell phone and airphone calls placed by passengers and crew aboard American Airlines Flight No. 11, American Airlines Flight No. 11, United Airlines Flight No. 175, and United Airlines Flight No. 93 on September 11, 2001.”
9/11 Commission, 5/13/2004, “Memorandum for the Record: Department of Justice Briefing on Cell and Phone Calls from UA Flight 93”
9/11 Commission, 5/20/2004, “Memorandum for the Record: Department of Justice Briefing on Cell and Phone Calls from AA Flight 77”
9/11 Commission, July 2004, “9/11 Commission Report,” pgs. 11-12, 29
9/11 Commission Discreetly Denies All Reported Cell Phone Calls; FBI Suddenly Changes Its Position
When the 9/11 Commission released its final report in July of 2004, it gave the appearance of supporting the media reports and FBI interviews regarding the widespread use of passengers’ cell phones. For example, on page 12 it said of Flight 93:
“Shortly [after 9:32], the passengers and flight crew began a series of calls from GTE airphones and cellular phones. These calls between family, friends, and colleagues took place until the end of the flight and provided those on the ground with firsthand accounts.”
Likewise, footnote 80 on page 456 stated:
“We have relied mainly on the record of FBI interviews with people who received calls. The FBI interviews were conducted while memories were still fresh and were less likely to have been affected by reading the accounts of others or hearing stories in the media… See FBI reports of investigation, interviews of recipients of calls from Mark Bingham… Marion Britton, Thomas Burnett… Jeremy Glick…”
Similarly, the report cited FBI interviews of recipients of phone calls from Brian Sweeny, Peter Hanson, and Barbara Olson in footnotes 48, 49, and 58, respectively.
However, the following month the 9/11 Commission staff generated an untitled, heavily footnoted 120-page peripheral report dated August 26, 2004. In Part 1 (entitled, “‘We Have Some Planes’: The Four Flights – a Chronology”), on page 45, the report specified its position that only two calls from the hijacked flights were made with cell phones. Both of them occurred from Flight 93 at 9:58 when the plane’s elevation was around 5,000 feet. All others were made from the GTE (“backseat”) Airphones.
The 9:58 callers were Edward Felt and CeeCee Lyles – not any of the aforementioned individuals who were reported by the media and/or the FBI to have used cell phones. The durations of the calls were not specified. As additional 9/11 Commission supplementary documentation – such as the Flight 77 and 93 Phone Calls memoranda and the Justice Department’s response to 9/11 Commission Document Request No. 14 – became publicly available, it corroborated the untitled staff report.
Finally, during the 2006 Zacarias Moussaoui trial, the FBI overruled its own investigation from years earlier and presented Exhibit Number P200055 – a series of slides that summarized every single phone call made by passengers aboard hijacked flights on 9/11. The presentation agreed with the untitled 9/11 Commission staff report that only Edward Felt and CeeCee Lyles’ 9:58 call had been made on cell phones.
As discussed previously – numerous media reports aside – notes from FBI Interviews with Lee and Eunice Hanson (mother and father of Lee Hanson), Deena Burnett (wife of Thomas Burnett), Julie Sweeny (wife of Brian Sweeney), and a friend of Marion Britton all state that the corresponding 9/11 passengers called using cell phones. Of particular interest are the calls made to Deena Burnett and Julie Sweeney.
The FBI’s interview with Deena Burnett specifically stated that she knew the call was from Thomas because the caller ID feature on her phone flashed his cell phone number. Furthermore, the FBI was actively listening in to the majority of Thomas’ multiple calls to Deena in real-time. Finally, Deena was perfectly consistent that the call came from her husband’s cell phone in multiple media interviews in the years that followed.
In the case of Julie Sweeny, the FBI report said they learned Brian had used his cell phone by listening to the message he left on Julie’s machine, so there is no possibility that Julie misheard or misremembered what Brian said.
Finally, as PR Newswire pointed out, citing research by the 9/11 Consensus Panel, neither the 9/11 Commission nor the FBI ever publicly released the billing or location data associated with the cell phones of the reported 9/11 cell phone users.
Sources:
FBI, 2006, “United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui, Exhibit Number P200055”
PR Newswire, 5/16/2013, “The 9/11 Phone Calls: Disturbing Irregularities Uncovered in the Calls that Flashed around the World”
9/11 Commission, 4/26/2004, U.S. Department of Justice response “to the Commission’s Document Request No. 14 to the Department, which requested documents that describe cell phone and airphone calls placed by passengers and crew aboard American Airlines Flight No. 11, American Airlines Flight No. 11, United Airlines Flight No. 175, and United Airlines Flight No. 93 on September 11, 2001.”
9/11 Commission, 5/13/2004, “Memorandum for the Record: Department of Justice Briefing on Cell and Phone Calls from UA Flight 93”
9/11 Commission, 5/20/2004, “Memorandum for the Record: Department of Justice Briefing on Cell and Phone Calls from AA Flight 77”
9/11 Commission, July 2004, “9/11 Commission Report,” pg. 12, 454-456 (Footnotes 48, 49, 58, 80)
9/11 Commission, 8/24/2004, untitled staff report, “Part 1: ‘We Have Some Planes’: The Four Flights – a Chronology,” pg. 45
Source of Flight 77 Call from Barbara Olson (CNN Commentator) Unclear; Evidence Contradicts Either Case
On 9/11, CNN reported that its commentator Barbara Olson was aboard Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, and that she called her husband, US Solicitor General Theodore “Ted” Olson, at the Department of Justice twice about half an hour before impact. Ted Olson told CNN that his wife said “all passengers and flight personnel, including the pilots, were herded to the back of the plane by armed hijackers,” who had “knives and cardboard cutters.”
Although Olson told CNN that his wife used a cell phone, the FBI’s summary of its September 11th interview with him said:
“Olson doesn’t know if the calls were made from her cell phone or the telephone on the plane.”
During a September 14th interview on Hannity & Colmes, Olson said she called him using the “airplane phone.” However, that same day he also told Larry King of CNN that she used her cell phone. On September 16th, the Washington Post said it had been a cell phone call. In March of 2002, Olson told the Daily Telegraph she called using “the phone in the passengers’ seats.” And one year after 9/11, CNN again reported that Barbara Olson had called her husband “on her cellular phone.”
The FBI eventually concluded in May of 2004 that:
“All of the calls from Flight 77 were made via the onboard airphone system.”
However, the 9/11 Consensus Panel argued that no airphone calls could have been made from Flight 77 during 9/11. They cited as evidence a page in the Boeing 757 Aircraft Maintenance Manual (757 AMM), dated January 28, 2001, which stated:
“The passenger telephone system was deactivated by ECO FO878.”
Furthermore, the 9/11 Commission’s May of 2004 Department of Justice Memorandum said their records only showed one call from Barbara Olson that was “unconnected” and lasted “0 seconds.” These same numbers were presented by the FBI as evidence during the 2006 Zacarias Moussaoui trial. This point was also raised by the 9/11 Consensus Panel, per PR Newswire.
Contrarily, the 9/11 Commission Report said in Chapter 1 footnote 57 that both the FBI and Department of Justice believed Barbara Olson had made a total of 4 calls. The first three were placed when Flight 77 was flying at typical airliner cruising elevations and the fourth was placed when it was flying erratically between 6,000 and 7,000 feet, according to the National Transportation Safety Boards’ Flight 77 Flight Path Study.
Neither the telephone company records, nor the Department of Justice phone call records (where Ted Olson was working when Barbara called him), nor Barbara Olson’s cell phone call records have ever been made public.
Ted Olson retelling of Barbara’s call became a primary piece of evidence for the 9/11 Commission’s narrative (pgs. 9, 455 (Footnotes 57, 58)) that about 60 passengers and the pilots were held off in the back of the plane by just three or four hijackers with knives and box cutters. However, 9/11 Commission Staff Statement number 16 pointed out that the hijackers were “not physically imposing, as the majority of them were between 5’5″ and 5’7″ in height and slender in build.” This fact (combined with the aforementioned May of 2004 DoJ memorandum showing that Barbara’s call never actually got through) led the Consensus 9/11 Panel to conclude that 9/11 Commission’s Flight 77 narrative was “implausible,” particularly since one of the pilots was Charles Burlingame, a former Navy pilot who was also a weightlifter and boxer.
Sources:
Boeing Corporation, 1/28/2001, “757 Aircraft Maintenance Manual (757 AMM)”
Consensus 9/11 Panel Website, “Point PC-2: The Reported Phone Calls from Barbara Olson”
CNN, 9/12/2001, “Wife of Solicitor General Alerted Him of Hijacking from Plane”
CNN’s Larry King Live, 9/14/2001, “America’s New War: Recovering from Tragedy” (Interview with Ted Olsen)
CNN, 9/10/2002, “On September 11, Final Words of Love”
FBI, 9/11/2001, Interview of Theodore Olson (U.S. Solicitor General)
FBI, 2006, “United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui, Exhibit Number P200055”
Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes, 9/14/2001, Interview with Ted Olsen
PR Newswire, 5/16/2013, “The 9/11 Phone Calls: Disturbing Irregularities Uncovered in the Calls that Flashed around the World”
Telegraph, 3/5/2002, “She Asked Me How to Stop the Plane”
Washington Post, 9/16/2001, “September 11, 2001,” (reposted 9/20 with different title)
Washington Post, 9/20/2001, “Another workday becomes a surreal plane of terror”
9/11 Commission, 5/20/2004, “Memorandum for the Record: Department of Justice Briefing on Cell and Phone Calls from AA Flight 77”
9/11 Commission, 6/16/2004, “Staff Statement No. 16: Outline of the 9/11 Plot”
9/11 Commission, July 2004, “9/11 Commission Report,” pgs. 9, 455 (Footnotes 57, 58)
Contradiction-Laden Flight 93 Phone Call Becomes War on Terror Rallying Cry
Todd Beamer reportedly led a passenger revolt against the Flight 93 hijackers, which led to the plane crashing in a Pennsylvania field rather than a high-profile target in Washington D.C. A statement he purportedly uttered just before the revolt began – “Are you guys ready? Okay, let’s roll.” – was subsequently used by President Bush in a November 2001 speech to rally support for the burgeoning War on Terror, per Time Magazine.
GTE Verizon supervisor Lisa Jefferson reportedly had a 13-minute conversation with Beamer before the crash. Before his conversation with Jefferson, Beamer repeatedly tried to call his pregnant wife Lisa Beamer. On his last attempt, the call was routed to a GTE Verizon customer-service operator who forwarded the call to Jefferson, who was the operator’s supervisor. This call was included in The 9/11 Commission Report and was discussed in detail both by Lisa Jefferson in her July 2006 book, “Called,” and by Lisa Beamer in her 2002 book, “Let’s Roll: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage.”
The famous phone call contained several strange features. First, at one point Jefferson asked if Beamer:
“Would you like me to try to reach your wife and patch her call through?”
However, even though he had already tried to reach his wife, and even though he believed his death was imminent, which obviously would have upset his wife upon hearing the news, Beamer replied (Called, pg. 47-48):
“No, no. I don’t want to upset her unnecessarily. She’s expecting our third child in January, and if I don’t have to upset her with any bad news, then I’d rather not.”
Second, according to a 9/11 Commission memorandum on Flight 93 phone calls, Todd Beamer’s final phone call with Jefferson lasted over an hour. Similarly, during the 2006 Moussaoui Trial, the FBI provided telephone records showing that Beamer’s call reached Jefferson at 9:48:48 and lasted 3,925 seconds – over 65 minutes. Each of these records meant the call supposedly lasted way beyond Flight 93’s crash just after 10 AM. This point was also raised by the 9/11 Consensus Panel, per PR Newswire.
Third, according to Beamer’s 2002 book, Jefferson was amazed the call was not dropped. The book stated (Let’s Roll, pg. 217):
“…it was a miracle that Todd’s call hadn’t been disconnected… Because of the enormous number of calls that day, the GTE systems overloaded and lines were being disconnected all around [Jefferson]… She kept thinking, ‘This call is going to get dropped!’”
Fourth, despite the circumstances, Todd Beamer seemed remarkably devoid of stress during the call. In her book, Jefferson recalled (Called, pg. 33):
“[H]is voice was devoid of any stress. In fact, he sounded so tranquil it made me begin to doubt the authenticity and urgency of his call.”
Likewise, the Telegraph quoted Jefferson as saying:
“…he was calm all the way through our conversation.”
Also, in her book, Lisa Beamer recalled Jefferson telling her (Let’s Roll, pg. 211):
“If I hadn’t known it was a real hijacking, I’d have thought it was a crank call, because Todd was so rational and methodical about what he was doing.”
Fifth, Jefferson unconventionally did not have the call recorded, nor did the adjacent Airfone Operations Surveillance Center (AOSC), to whom Jefferson immediately reported the call. As a result, no one who knew Todd could confirm that it was his voice on the call. Also, Jefferson did not go through the routine questions in her distress-call manual (Called, pg. 36). Despite these basic missteps, she was given a “Verizon Excellence Award” for her handling of the call, per the Daily Mail.
Sixth, on September 29, 2001, the FBI obtained Todd Beamer’s cell phone records from Verizon which showed that 19 outgoing calls were placed from his phone that same day after Flight 93 crashed. This point was also raised by the 9/11 Consensus Panel, per PR Newswire.
Seventh, Beamer’s famous line – “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll!” – originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette following its interview with Lisa Beamer. However, Lisa Beamer never spoke to her husband during the flight and nothing close to this moment appeared in the summary of Lisa Jefferson’s interview with the FBI. In fact, Jefferson specifically said another passenger initiated the revolt. The summary states:
“…Beamer said the passengers were about to attack the hijackers… Next, Jefferson heard another passenger give the go-ahead to make their move. After that point, she heard nothing.”
Eighth, according to page 11 of the 9/11 Commission Report, at 9:28, the hijackers forced their way into Flight 93’s cockpit and engaged in a physical struggle for control of the plane, which resulted in the aircraft flying erratically. It states:
“The hijackers attacked at 9:28. While traveling 35,000 feet above eastern Ohio, United 93 suddenly dropped 700 feet. Eleven seconds into the descent, the FAA’s air traffic control center in Cleveland received the first of two radio transmissions from the aircraft. During the first broadcast, the captain or first officer could be heard declaring ‘MayDay’ amid the sounds of physical struggle in the cockpit. The second radio transmission, 35 seconds later, indicated that the fight was continuing. The captain or first officer could be heard shouting: ‘Hey get out of here – get out of here – get out of here.’”
The 9/11 Commission Report cited several studies from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), and the Aircraft Communication and Reporting System (ACARS) to substantiate the time of the beginning of Flight 93’s hijacking as 9:28 AM.
However, during the 2006 Moussaoui Trial, the FBI provided telephone records showing that Beamer’s call to Jefferson began at 9:48. Similarly, Jefferson told her FBI interviewers that Beamer called at approximately 9:45 and she spoke with him about seven minutes before the hijackers attempted to enter the cockpit, at which point the aircraft flew erratically. The interview summary stated:
“Beamer called to state that the airplane was about to be hijacked. He stated that three individuals, two wielding knives, the third with a bomb strapped to his waist with a red belt, were preparing to take control of the flight.
Jefferson estimated that she spoke to Beamer for seven minutes before the two hijackers with arms entered the cockpit, securing the door behind them… Beamer stated that after a short period, the aircraft maneuvered erratically and continued to do so.”
Therefore, the phone records and Jefferson’s interview put the Flight 93 hijacking more than twenty minutes later than the 9/11 Commission’s narrative.
Ninth, despite the 9/11 Commission Report stating that there was a physical struggle and shouts of “MayDay” and “Get out of here” from the cockpit during the hijacking, Jefferson’s FBI interview noted:
“…the call had an unusually low amount of background noise.”
In fact, Jefferson told the FBI that she never heard any sounds of the passenger revolt, the plane diving or crashing, or of passengers reacting to their imminent deaths. In fact, after a passenger other than Todd Beamer supposedly initiated the revolt, she heard nothing at all. Nevertheless, the call remained inexplicably connected for another twenty minutes, long past the time of the plane crash. The FBI interview summary stated:
“…at 9:00 a.m. Central Time [10 AM Eastern]… Jefferson heard another passenger give the go-ahead to make their move. After that point, she heard nothing. She kept the connection open for another twenty minutes without hearing anything, at which time she disconnected the call.”
Sources:
Daily Mail, 8/19/2006, “Flight 93 ‘Was Shot Down’ Claims Book”
FBI, 2006, “United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui, Exhibit Number P200055”
Lisa Beamer and Ken Abraham, 2002, “Let’s Roll: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage,” pgs. 211, 217
Lisa Jefferson and Felicia Middlebrooks, July 2006, “Called,” pgs. 33, 36, 47-48
PR Newswire, 5/16/2013, “The 9/11 Phone Calls: Disturbing Irregularities Uncovered in the Calls that Flashed around the World”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/16/2001, “The Phone Line from Flight 93 Was Still Open when a GTE Operator Heard Todd Beamer Say: ‘Are You Guys Ready? Let’s Roll’”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/22/2001, “13-Minute Call Bonds Her Forever with Hero”
Telegraph, 10/21/2001, “The Extraordinary Last Calls of Flight UA93”
Time, 11/9/2001, “Bush: ‘My Fellow Americans, Let’s Roll’”
Washington Post, 5/12/2002, “Hallowed Ground”
9/11 Commission, 9/11/2001, FBI Interview of Lisa Jefferson
9/11 Commission, 9/29/2001, FBI Document (heading is redacted); states: “Lead Control Number NK 5381… Todd Beamer… On September 11, 2001 the below-listed calls were made on cellular telephone (908) 202-4940.”
9/11 Commission, 5/13/2004, “Memorandum for the Record: Department of Justice Briefing on Cell and Phone Calls from UA Flight 93”
9/11 Commission, July 2004, “9/11 Commission Report,” pgs. 11, 14, 456 (Footnotes 70-71)
Potentially Corroborating Audio Recording Never Released to the Public
Days after 9/11, the government recovered the Flight 93 cockpit voice recorder, which might have gone long way toward substantiating the accuracy of the phone calls reportedly made from that flight. The Guardian in 2008 recalled a moment the day after 9/11 when CBS reporter Bob Orr told Dan Rather:
“…the cockpit tape and the flight data recorder, when they're recovered, might make this case…[that the passengers who reportedly led the passenger revolt] should be observed in this case, Dan, as heroes.”
Unfortunately, the contents were never fully publicly revealed. Here is a brief chronology.
On September 22, 2001, the New York Times, citing unnamed government officials, reported that the cockpit voice recorder revealed a “desperate and wild struggle” but “did not provide a clear or complete picture”
In April of 2002, per the Daily Mail, the FBI was forced to let the relatives of the deceased listen to the tape under heavy security. The relatives later reported that the tape ended with struggling sounds followed by a loud “rushing sound.” The tape then went silent at 10:03 with no sound of impact.
The Independent reported in August of 2002 that while media outlets such as the New York Times, Newsweek, and Vanity Fair had published dramatic accounts of the final moments of Flight 93, they were necessarily “pure conjecture” because government officials were:
“…unwilling to reveal… the full contents of the material gleaned from the cockpit voice- recorder, which was retrieved in perfect working order after the crash”
The Guardian likewise pointed to early Flight 93 reports of passenger heroism by Time Magazine and CNN, which used phrases like, “We'd like to think…,” and “We can only surmise…”
In April of 2006, CNN reported that the jury of the Zacarias Moussaoui trial heard the final minutes of the Flight 93 cockpit voice recorder, which ended completely different than what the family members said they heard – not with a rushing sound followed by silence, but with the hijackers shouting praises to Allah. Rowland Morgan, former journalist for the Independent and the Guardian, and co-author of the 2006 book, “Flight 93: What Really Happened On The Heroic 9/11 ‘Let’s Roll’ Flight,” said in an August of 2006 article for the Daily Mail this discrepancy “confirmed suspicions of tape tampering.” He further questioned whether the rushing sound heard by the relatives could “have been made by the plane being holed?”
In any event, the vast majority of the recording was still classified ten years after 9/11. The New York Times reported in September of 2011 that, while many other audio files related to the 9/11 investigation had been released to the public:
“…two essential pieces… remain restricted or classified. One is about 30 minutes of the cockpit recording of United Airlines Flight 93.”
Sources:
CNN, 4/13/2006, “On Tape, Passengers Heard Trying to Retake Cockpit”
Daily Mail, 8/19/2006, “Flight 93 ‘Was Shot Down’ Claims Book”
Guardian, 2/18/2008, “Imagined Valour”
Independent, 8/13/2002, “Unanswered Questions: The mystery of Flight 93”
New York Times, 9/22/2001, “A NATION CHALLENGED: THE INVESTIGATION; Tape Reveals Wild Struggle On Flight 93”
New York Times, 9/9/2011, “Newly Published Audio Provides Real-Time View of 9/11 Attacks”
Telegraph, 10/21/2001, “The Extraordinary Last Calls of Flight UA93”