Air Force Operations Center participated in the Pentagon's critical "air threat conference call," which lasted more than eight hours and was joined by numerous high-level government and military officials. [46] And CAT members activated a team to focus on "continuity of operations," which is the effort to ensure that the Air Force is able to continue its essential functions in an emergency. [47]

Since Air Force personnel eventually played a significant role in responding to the 9/11 attacks, then, surely the key Air Force officials in Jumper's meeting should have been responding to the attacks from the outset.

WHAT EFFECT DID THE AIR FORCE LEADERS' SLOW RESPONSE TO THE ATTACKS HAVE?

The behavior of the officials in John Jumper's staff meeting and some of their colleagues at the time of the9/11 attacks gives rise to some serious questions. For example, why did it take until about 9:00 a.m. for the officials to be alerted to the first crash at the World Trade Center when the crash had been reported on television since 8:49 a.m.?

Why, after they learned of the crashes at the World Trade Center, did the officials continue with their routine meeting, instead of responding immediately to the attacks? And did their slowness to respond affect the overall response of the Air Force to the attacks? Did it, for example, slow down the setting up of the CAT, since the CAT is under the command of the Air Force chief of staff--i.e. John Jumper? [48]

Furthermore, why did no one else in the Air Force interrupt Jumper's meeting