Steve Quayle News Alerts

Dec. 29, 2003

WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that it was requiring foreign governments to place armed law enforcement personnel on high-risk flights entering the country to thwart terrorist incidents.

advertisementThe move is unrelated to any new threats, said Tom Ridge, the department's secretary, but other U.S. officials told NBC News that there was great concern that terrorists could take advantage of lax security at secondary airports in Europe and Latin America to stash weapons aboard international flights headed for the United States.

At special risk is Las Vegas, which has the highest concentration of hotel rooms in the world and which enters its busiest convention season next month. U.S. officials told NBC News on Monday that concerns that Las Vegas could be attacked over the New Year’s holiday were based on both intercepted al-Qaida communications and intelligence analysis.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it was considering Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn’s request Monday to close the airspace over Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve.

Tough standards
The new aviation requirement, which takes effect immediately, is “non-negotiable,” a government official told MSNBC.com. “No compliance [means] no clearance” to land or even fly through U.S. airspace, the official said.

At a news conference, Ridge said that “ultimately, the denial of access is the leverage that you have” against any government that refuses to comply. However, he said, the “spirit of cooperation” the United States has gotten in response to its request of foreign governments is a good sign.

The new security requirement comes on the heels of the Bush administration’s raising of the terrorist threat level to orange, or “high,” and Air France’s cancellation of six flights last week at Washington’s request based on intelligence that the flights were at high risk for a terrorist event.

The orange alert will remain in place through the holidays, Ridge said, adding that it was impossible to provide a specific date for lowering the threat level.

Rules kept confidential
The specific rules requiring foreign governments to place armed law enforcement personnel on high-risk flights entering the United States are not being made public. But according to a copy of the procedures obtained by NBC News, U.S. officials would notify foreign airlines when they believed the extra security is needed. "Specific flights will be identified by flight number, departure airport and dates of flight operation,” the procedures say.

Ridge told reporters that conversations about the need to place “trained, armed government law enforcement personnel” aboard foreign airliners bound for the United States “have been taking place for some time.”

“We know the increased security measures continue to disrupt or deter terrorist attacks,” said Ridge, who would not give specific examples.

Cargo planes eyed warily
Citing a continuing investigation, Ridge also would not say whether the move to cancel the Air France flights last week thwarted a known terrorist attack. But for months, U.S. security officials have feared that al-Qaida operatives will again hijack planes for use as missiles.

The most recent concerns center not on domestic passenger flights, but on airliners or cargo planes that take off from overseas and cross over U.S. airspace on their way to either a U.S. airport or a foreign one.

There are thousands of international commercial and cargo flights daily involving U.S. airspace, in addition to hundreds of international carriers.

Only a few countries have official air marshal corps. Ridge said Monday that “by sending out this notice ... [foreign governments] would be put on notice that sometime in the future we may ask them to put trained officials on and we are prepared to help with that training.”

A State Department spokesman said Monday that foreign countries had been receptive to the new U.S. directive.

Britain said Sunday that it had tightened security for trans-Atlantic flights and suggested that it might put armed sky marshals on some planes. The United States already places armed security officers on certain flights.

“The last few days have seen the United States increase their general threat and security levels, and what we are proposing is a proportionate and appropriate level of response at a time when the threat to both our countries and around the world remains real and serious,” said Britain's top law enforcement official, David Blunkett.

Thomas Jachnow, a spokesman for the German airline Lufthansa, said that after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington, Lufthansa began carrying sky marshals on some of its passenger flights to the United States.

By Brock N. Meeks of MSNBC.com and Lisa Myers of NBC News

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ID/3827789/