(After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Military’s Counterterrorism Force Cancels Preparations for Exercise Based on Terrorists Threatening to Attack US

Logo of the Joint Special Operations Command. [Source: Joint Special Operations Command]The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which is the US military’s elite counterterrorism force, cancels its final preparations for a large-scale training exercise that is based on the scenario of terrorists threatening to attack the US with an unconventional weapon. The exercise, code-named Ellipse Charlie, would involve Special Operations troops who are trained in hostage-rescue operations and counterterrorism missions “rehearsing a complicated mock attack from a foe like al-Qaeda,” according to journalists Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker. The goal of the 16-day exercise would be to find and thwart terrorists who have captured a nuclear, chemical, or biological weapon and are threatening to use it against the United States.
Exercise Canceled Due to Real-World Attacks - About 1,800 Special Operations forces and several other secret government operators have been preparing to take part in the exercise, which is overseen by the United States European Command, and is set to take place in six European and Mediterranean countries and on a ship at sea. The exercise is called off during its final planning stages following the terrorist attacks in the United States, and the commandos involved in it then hurry back to their normal bases. [Schmitt and Shanker, 2011, pp. 22-23] Further details of the exercise, including the date it is set to commence, are unknown. However, the previous Ellipse Charlie exercise, held throughout September 2000, reportedly involved “hostage rescue, vessel recovery, infiltration, re-supplying troops on the ground, and removal of Special Operations forces.” About 4,000 Special Operations Command personnel, ships, and aircraft participated in it. [GlobalSecurity (.org), 5/7/2011]
Command Is Responsible for Counterterrorism Missions - The highly secretive Joint Special Operations Command, which has been preparing for this year’s Ellipse Charlie exercise, is based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and also operates out of Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina. It is responsible for conducting the military’s most sensitive counterterrorism missions. [New York Times, 9/3/2002; GlobalSecurity (.org), 12/8/2011] JSOC’s counterterrorism activities, according to a 1994 report by the General Accounting Office, involve “the application of highly specialized capabilities to preempt or resolve terrorist incidents abroad, including (1) hostage rescue, (2) recovery of sensitive materiel from terrorist organizations, and (3) direct action against the terrorist infrastructure.” [General Accounting Office, 3/24/1994, pp. 11-12]