Friday, September 28, 2001

Generals can order planes shot down
By Pauline Jelinek
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Two Air Force generals have been authorized to order the military to shoot down any civilian airliner that appears to be threatening U.S. cities, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

Seeking to reassure America’s travelers of their safety, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said: “There are a lot of safeguards in place.”

He said he had crafted the new rules of engagement for military pilots with Gen. Henry H. Shelton, who is retiring as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“The last thing in the world that one of them wants to do is engage a commercial aircraft,” Shelton said. “And so don’t get the impression that anyone who’s flying around out there has a loose trigger finger.”

Rumsfeld was asked if Americans should be worried about the policy since passengers could be trying to overcome a hijacker as people attempted on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania Sept. 11. That was the only one of four hijacked planes that did not hit a terrorist target.

“The rules of engagement are addressed on a continuing basis with a great deal of care and sensitivity to all of the points that you’ve raised and others have raised,” Rumsfeld said, refusing to provide details.

“And I can assure that they are under continuous review and given the carefulest consideration. And it seems to me that is the same kind of assurance that the American people get with respect to a lot of things that the Defense Department’s involved in.”

White House spokesman Scott McClelland said that every attempt will be made to follow the chain of command from the commander in chief on down before any order to down a plane is issued and the decision would be made only by very senior-level officials.

“It’s an enormous burden to make that decision. As an absolute last resort, the most senior-level official at the absolute last moment of decision would have the authority to make that decision,” McClelland said. He said the circumstances for the decision would have to involve a plane headed nose down and posing a threat to the safety of Americans.

“These are different times we’re living in now. It’s a different world,” McClelland said.

Michael Perini, director of public affairs for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, stressed that only under the most extraordinary circumstances could the generals act without having consulted with the president, secretary of defense or other higher-ups — only as a last resort and only if there simply was not enough time to consult.

From NORAD offices in Colorado, Perini said he could not discuss a specific situation in which the regional commanders might take such action because it would reveal too much about military planning for the defense of U.S. airspace.

The move follows revelations by Vice President Dick Cheney that in the hours after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush had ordered the military to intercept and shoot down any commercial airliners that refused instructions to turn away from Washington.

After receiving warnings that commercial planes had veered off course, military fighter jets scrambled over Massachusetts and Virginia on the day of the terrorist attacks. But they were unable to respond in time, officials have said.

Maj. Gen. Larry K. Arnold at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., would have authority to order the downing of a threatening commercial flight over the 48 contiguous states. Lt. Gen. Norton A. Schwartz at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, would have authority for Alaska.

Following the terrorists’ attacks, Rumsfeld ordered fighter jets at 26 bases nationwide to be prepared to take off on 10-minute notice.

Reserve units have been called up to supplement the effort in which F-15s and F-16s fly 24-hour patrols over dozens of American cities.