Pentagon MASCAL
The Pentagon MASCAL ( Pentagon Mass Casualty Exercise , often also Project Mascal ) was a simulation game-like exercise for mass casualties from October 24 to 26, 2000 in the conference room of the Office of the Secretary of Defense . The exercise involved the scenario of an accident in which a plane crashed into the Pentagon .
The exercise, using building models and toy cars, involved 17 emergency services who would have to work together for one to three weeks. It ended with 341 assumed fatalities. The scenarios served to ensure cooperation between the rescue forces in the event of accidents or major terrorist attacks dealt with in other scenarios.
conspiracy theories
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , in which a hijacked plane was actually driven into the Pentagon, some conspiracy theories held the United States as the author of the attacks and MASCAL as a preparation for it.
A pilot of American Airlines Flight 77 , which was hijacked on September 11th , Charles Burlingame, is said to have participated in the exercise as a former F4 pilot according to the presentation of the amateur film Loose Change and only started working for American Airlines a few months before the attacks , having previously worked for years in the Ministry of Defense. An investigation by the 911myths.com website disproved this claim. Burlingame had been with American Airlines since 1979 and worked at the Pentagon until 1996. He had developed anti-terror strategies, but participation in MASCAL was not proven. The only correct part is that Burlingame actually flown F4 planes as a Navy pilot at some point.
Web links
- United States Army Military District of Washington : Contingency planning Pentagon MASCAL exercise simulates scenarios in preparing for emergencies ( Memento from April 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). November 3, 2000
Individual evidence
- ↑ 911myths.com: Burlingame and Mascal (English). Retrieved January 4, 2010