When an AirTran jet diverted in January to Colorado Springs, a pair of F-16s from Peterson Air Force Base scrambled to accompany the plane carrying an allegedly disruptive passenger.
The fighter-jet escort was the result of a conference call among an alphabet soup of agencies — TSA, FAA, FBI, DHS, FEMA and DOD. At the helm were the U.S. Northern Command (NorthCom) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
The handling of the incident was markedly different from those that came before Sept. 11, 2001, when four airlines were hijacked and crashed.
“Pre- 9/11, we focused on outward threats, on dirty, rotten terrorists who are out there,” said Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., commander of NORAD and NorthCom.
Today, those who defend U.S. airspace, land and waters share information and respond to potential threats coming from within — such as the AirTran incident.
NorthCom was created after 9/11 to lead the Department of Defense’s homeland defense and to coordinate actions with civil officials, such as Haitian earthquake-relief efforts and the upcoming Winter Olympics.
The result, Renuart said in a Denver Post editorial board meeting Tuesday, is a unified response instead of the former fragmented one.
In situations such as the AirTran incident, F-16 pilots give Renuart eyewitness information to plug into a decision matrix so he can lead a response.
Renuart is the one who could decide to shoot down a commandeered aircraft, with the authority coming down from the president to the secretary of defense.
However, Renuart said he’d rather it be a “national decision” made by the president or defense secretary since “it would have a large impact.”
For the past three years, Renuart has overseen a command center at Peterson Air Force Base that tracks thousands of planes in U.S. airspace, ships up to 500 miles offshore, a missile warning system and cyberspace threats.
An aide with a black bag carrying secure communication capabilities is never far away if Renuart must make a tough call.
“There’s a number of things I worry about,” Renuart said, “but not so much I lose sleep at night.”
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
