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Feds consider missile threat to commercial jets
From Beth Lewandowski
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The federal government is developing strategies to prevent missile strikes against commercial airliners in the United States, the Office of Homeland Security said Wednesday. Homeland Security spokesman Brian Rohrkasse said the plans being developed could include varying takeoff schedules, enlisting the help of local law enforcement and neighborhood watches to be extra vigilant to potential terrorist activity, and outfitting aircraft with expensive anti-missile technologies. "This is a multilayered strategy," Rohrkasse said Wednesday. A preliminary report developed by an interagency task force was sent last week to the National Security Council for further review. Government officials say the task force, which includes representatives from the Transportation Security Administration, Department of Defense, FBI, State Department and Homeland Security, first met in late December to review possible government action. The Office of Homeland Security was prompted to coordinate the task force after a November incident in which two missiles were fired at an Israeli commercial airliner departing from Kenya. The missiles missed the plane. Israeli officials have said they believe a group with links to al Qaeda was behind the attack. Rohrkasse said U.S. intelligence officials have not received any specific or new threats that terrorists plan to use shoulder-fired missiles to bring down aircraft. However, officials say the proliferation of these weapons over the last two decades makes the airline industry increasingly vulnerable to this particular threat. "They are portable and easy to move around," Rohrkasse said, noting that most of the weapons are still in state control and are older generation. The Transportation Security Administration is conducting vulnerability assessments at the nation's 429 airports to get a better understanding of the threat to aircraft. A spokesman says the TSA is also asking airport federal security directors to meet with local law enforcement officials, airport and community representatives who live under flight paths to educate them about what to be on the lookout for to lessen this terrorist threat. The task force is also evaluating U.S., British and Israeli technologies that would use flares or radar to decoy heat-seeking missiles away from their targets. In addition, the Office of Homeland Security says a program is being developed to train commercial pilots in techniques to use when under missile attack, including how to fly a plane if one engine is damaged by a heat-seeking missile.
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