According to this story, Clinton military cutbacks eliminated a fighter wing that was much closer to New York than the one scrambled to intercept the hijacked planes. I wondered if this was actually true.

I had heard that the NORAD coastal air defense system was dropped, but knew nothing specific.

I tracked down the most likely fighter group, the New Jersey 177th Fighter Wing, a group of F-16s based in Atlantic City. Many of the web pages dedicated to this group are no longer active. I found one that discusses the group, and noticed this quote:

As a result of North American Aerospace Defenses Command (NORAD tasking, the 177th FW began conversion to the general-purpose F-16 mission on October 1 [1998]. This action ended the wing’s 25-year association as part of NORAD’s alert force. During that tenure, the wing’s NORAD responsibility included providing air sovereignty of the mid-Atlantic between Long Island, New York, and the Virginia capes.

Cripes.

I also found this.

Under "New Jersey," we have:

Atlantic City International Airport - The 177th FW (Air National Guard) will convert from a 15 aircraft F-16C/D air defense fighter unit to a 15 aircraft F-16C/D general purpose unit in early FY 99. The unit will also maintain it's home station alert. This action results in an increase of 14 part-time military, and one civilian manpower authorizations.

When last heard from, some of the 177th FW had been deployed to Saudi Arabia.

Does anyone know more? Are there still F-16s based in Atlantic City? Are they all overseas now? Would things have been different if jets had scrambled from Atlantic City instead of Cape Cod?

And most importantly, should our military rebuild our coastal defense system?