Seattle Residents Mark 25th 9/11 Anniversary, Honoring 2 North Tower Victims

Q: What secret military protocols were activated in Seattle's Elliott Bay while the nation's eyes were glued to the falling Twin Towers?

What was activated in Seattle was an emergency local-security response, not a publicly documented “secret protocol.” The reporting says Seattle officials were informed on Sept. 11 that a military ship was heading to Elliott Bay to help secure the city while major sites, including the Space Needle, were shut and flights at Sea-Tac were suspended. That points to a rapid maritime hardening of Seattle’s waterfront during the national crisis. In practical terms, it likely meant heightened protection for the harbor, downtown shoreline and critical infrastructure, coordinated among the military, Coast Guard, port authorities and local law enforcement. Such measures commonly include controlled access on the water, security patrols, monitoring of vessels and readiness for further threats. But the available material does not identify the ship by name, spell out classified rules of engagement, or show that any named covert protocol in Elliott Bay was formally disclosed to the public. The article’s wording is careful: officials were told a military vessel was inbound “to help secure the city.” So the strongest fact-based answer is that Seattle activated an emergency defense posture around Elliott Bay, reinforced by an incoming military ship, as authorities feared the attacks might widen beyond the East Coast. Beyond that, the exact operational protocols remain unspecified in the reporting.

3 articles · Updated · The Seattle Times · Sep 11

Twenty-five years after 9/11, Seattle families said the loss remains immediate as they remembered loved ones killed in the World Trade Center’s north tower.
Catherine Fleming recalled her brother Larry Kim, 31, who died on his first day at Marsh McLennan after starting a week early; she said grief still comes in waves.
Alex Fleming, 17, who was born after the attacks, skipped a school trip to be with family and said a visit to the 9/11 Memorial made the scale of the loss feel real.
Enumclaw friends Stacey Whitten and Wynona Tyson also honored Katherine Bantis, 44, a former Seattle co-worker at Marsh McLennan, by keeping their annual Sept. 11 dinner tradition.
The remembrances also revived Seattle’s own 2001 shock, when flights from Sea-Tac were halted, landmarks closed and a military ship headed to Elliott Bay.