Jay Honeck wrote:
Agreed. But NORAD's response time also highlighted how porous our air
defenses had become with the post-Cold War draw-down in our Air Force.
The air defenses weren't porous at all. The threat didn't come from
outside our borders and that was the primary threat that NORAD was
created to defend against. It was never meant to defend from an attack
from within using commercial airplanes. Sheesh.

Missed the point completely -- again.

No, I got the point precisely. The point that you don't understand at
all the mission of NORAD.


The meager response to the scramble alert is the point -- not the
basis of the threat. Whether they're responding to a C-130 full of
midgets flying out of Oshkosh, or 10 SU-35s coming in at mast-top
level down the Potomac, the fact remains that NORAD could not scramble
more than a tiny handful of aircraft in response.

Do a little reading on the subject -- NORAD didn't have another
squadron of F-15s on stand-by. What responded was EVERYTHING we had
in the sector. And it was pathetic.

And there was no need to multiple squadrons on stand-by on the east
coast of the USA.

Matt