The two-seat Cessna that strayed into restricted airspace in Washington, D.C., this week provided a frightening reminder of the difficulties defending the United States from terrorist attack. The small plane was practically over the vice president’s mansion when it was finally turned back by military troubleshooters. Yet it may prove useful to have had an unplanned test run of the nation’s post-Sept. 11 security response system.
The incident prompted a red alert – the first use of the nation’s highest threat level – and the frantic evacuation of the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court and Treasury Department. Two Blackhawk helicopters and two F-16 fighter jets were scrambled, firing warning flares at the Cessna and finally escorting the craft to the ground. It had come within 3 miles of the While House. The Secret Service decided it was an accidental breach by a clueless pilot, and no charges were filed.
It was a relief to know that President Bush was out of harm’s way in Maryland, but we found it odd that he was not notified of the possible threat while it was underway.
Former homeland security secretary Tom Ridge called the response a successful intervention by the security command and the military. Even so, the incident was an unsettling reminder of the capital’s inherent vulnerabilities. More than 3,000 planes have violated restricted airspace since the Sept. 11 attacks, and as the Cessna incident shows, there is little time to react. (Even the modest Cessna moves at 120 miles per hour.)
As for preparedness and coordination, the D.C. mayor grumbled that city officials were not told about the alert even as the White House went from yellow to code red.
The security decision-making and the military response were impressive in their speed and efficiency.
The alert level went from yellow to orange to red and back within 11 minutes. Seconds after the plane entered restricted airspace, dozens of officials from the Secret Service, Departments of Defense and Homeland Security and the military’s Northern Command in Colorado Springs were in communication. The F-16s could have blown the Cessna out of the sky when the pilot repeatedly failed to respond to radio communication. But one F-16 pilot saw the threat for what it was: “… it would not have hit anything in D.C. … it would have been dropped from the sky before that would have happened,” he said.
It was a frantic burst of activity for an incident triggered by a befuddled Pennsylvania airplane hobbyist who was flying to an air show in North Carolina.
But it served as a useful drill for the day we hope will never come.
