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| Sunday, 7 August 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Question of White House security Critical Issues by Lionel Yodasinghe The perception that America tried to draw in the minds of people in our part of the world was that at least a domestic fly would not be able to fly across the Pentagon sky - the military headquarters of the United States. This became a fallacy after the 9/11 tragedies where Pentagon was also damaged. Anybody would expect that security in Washington especially in White House to be tightened after the incident. However, that perception too was questionable now after a stray plane tried to enter the White House sky recently. The pandemonium in the city was similar to that of incidents in Colombo and the only difference was that US security helps the ordinary people to evacuate themselves while ours is trying to protect the VIPs only. The White House security reaction towards the stray plane was not the kind we would have expected. Having boasted of an array of sophisticated modern weapons and surveillance equipment, they failed to spot the plane before it reached a one-minute distance to White House premises. We were a group of Jefferson fellows to White House on a study visit that Wednesday. We had left the place just before the officials began evacuating staff and guests in fear of another September 11 style attack. A private plane on training strayed into the no fly zone in Washington City where the White House - the official residence of the President of the United States of America is housed, and put the city security into test. Police hurried to evacuate White House guests and presidential staff and those in the adjacent Congress building where lawmakers were sitting as the Cessna 150 intruder ignored the interception signals by government Black Hawk helicopter and continued to fly towards the White House building. President George W Bush was away from the office at the time of the incident but Vice President Dick Cheney, First lady Laura Bush and White House guest and former first lady Nancy Reagan who were in the executive residence were taken to an unidentified location for safety, a White House spokesman Scott McClellan told newspapers. In a split second, two F-16 fighter jets took off from nearby Reagan national Airport and from Andrews Air force Base and encircled the plane and fired signal flares until it veered away three miles from the restricted airspace of the city center, according to spokeswoman of the North American Aerospace Defense Command Lt.Jody Vazquez. Later the plane was escorted to Maryland and two pilots aboard were questioned and were discharged, as the intrusion appeared to have been accidental, Secret Service spokesman Tom Mazur told journalists. That was the third highly public evacuation in the past year. A plane carrying Kentucky' Governor to Ronald Reagan's Memorial service prompted a false alert on June 9. A cloud that appeared on radar screens prompted an alert April 27, USA TODAY reported. The incident led to a flurry of emergency activity throughout the capital, which was targeted on September 11, 2001, and has been under a heightened state of alert ever since. Rules following WTC attack require private planes to follow special procedure before coming within 23 miles of the three major Washington airports. No private planes are allowed within 15 miles of the city center. The plane Cessna 150 is one of the smallest and slowest ones in the market and is used primarily to train new pilots by Aero Clubs in the United States. We assumed that the security surveillance did not identify the plane in the first place. At a later stage, they could have warned repeatedly not to proceed forward. But the plane did not pay heed and proceeded. According to reports, they had only a one-minute distance to enter the White House premises, and if the plane had been an enemy what would have been the aftermath, people queried. However, it could be the US security's concern for democracy and respect for human life not to attack on mere suspicion. They saved two lives of US pilots. What a contrast to the action of the London police who killed an innocent electrician instantaneously in a subway and blamed the situation for it. Americans could be commended for the way they handled the suspects. However, if the plane happened to be on a suicide mission, what could have been the price of democracy and respect for life, the loss of perhaps hundreds and thousands of people is a million dollar question. Next: Political influence on religion |
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