fire department in New York, the many many people who dealt with the phenomenon on the ground, many of whom didn't survive it." Today, the NORAD files are freely accessible to the public - a degree of transparency we may not always associate with the United States. The seemingly endless content takes the listener right to the heart of 9/11. The files document the intimate moments of those directly connected to the events. Listening to them myself it is chilling to hear those who retain a reserved professionalism in the voices. While the Air Traffic Controllers can see exactly what's taking place, certain voices maintain an automative control, as moving as they are measured. The recordings are horrifying to listen to. In many ways it's exceptional that they have been released, inconceivable that anyone would want to relive these moments captured on tape. They are rich with military code rattled off like a typist would tap; automated, almost mechanical. Voices would layer each other as information is fired across with startling intensity, creating delirium from direct speech. Beneath all this is a doomly crackle of radio waves, like the messages are travelling with ghosts. Loaded into the intonation of the voices and the plaintive commentary there are infinite tales hiding behind them. So many in fact that it's not only their quantity that's overwhelming, but their nature. The Northeast Air Defense Sector, or NEADS, where NORAD is stationed and the tapes recorded, is a hollowed place, as the military depart