In fact, no hijacked flights had been shot down, and none would be, and neither Major Kevin Nasypany nor anyone else at NEADS or NORAD had passed along shootdown authority to the fighter pilots from Otis or Langley. As it turned out, it wasn’t necessary. But Cheney’s comments revealed the depths of confusion, misinformation, and chaos52 at the highest levels of the U.S. government fully two hours after the crisis began.
