Well I guess there is always the highly unlikely case of the technical issue to which assistance could be rendered but I tend to agree that it is mostly, if not exclusively, a
PR move... A good practical exercise for the people involved I'd say.
My point was more about the geography... Except for France, Spain, Germany and maybe Italy the timing from contact lost, intercept and action is just on the edge of the impossible. Case in point a few years ago (Feb 2014) the Swiss air force was scolded for not being able to intercept an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft that was hijacked by an apparently mentally unstable pilot (!) to Geneva. Problem is that the plane was only for a few minutes in Swiss airspace, escorted initially by Italian then French fighters. What was the chain of command in this case ?!
As for the WaPo article... well, as many things about 9/11... but not the place to discuss (if at all possible).