"US inspects airports abroad for missile threats"

Thursday, August 7, 2003

US inspects airports abroad for missile threats
Agence France-Presse


WASHINGTON, (AFP) - Washington has sent teams of aviation security experts
to cities in Iraq, Europe and Asia to help secure commercial airports from
terrorists using shoulder-fired missiles to down passenger jets, US
officials said Thursday. 

Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesman with the Department of Homeland Security, said
US officials have been sent to help improve security in Basra and Baghdad in
Iraq, as well as in a number of Asian and European airports, which he
declined to specify for security reasons. 

Investigators from the federal Transportation Security Adminstration, are
working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of State
and other US agencies in the effort to help improve on-ground security at
the airports, he said. 

"We are going to countries that want to work with us," Roehrkasse said. 

"They are airports that have US-flagged aircraft flying in and out of them."


Similar efforts to improve airport security from portable missile attacks
are already underway at US airports, Roehrkasse said. 

The move is part of the federal goverment's response to recent intelligence
reports suggesting that a terrorist attack using small heat-seeking missiles
may be imminent. 

Roehrkasse said that while "the US intelligence community does not have any
specific intelligence that al-Qaeda intends to use these weapons for a major
attack against US commercial aviation," officials felt concerned about a
growing possibility of such an attack. 

The best-known portable missiles are the American-made Stinger and the
Russian-made SA-7. 

Aviation officials have said the missiles, which can be bought on the black
market for as little as 5,000 dollars apiece, can reach commercial aircraft
from as far as 30 miles (50 kilometers) from an airport and can reach
altitudes of about 10,000 feet (3000 meters) for older systems and 18,000
feet (5500 meters) feet for newer weapons. 

A US congressional report earlier this year determined that the worldwide
inventory of portable surface-to-air missiles probably exceeds 500,000 and
may be as high as 700,000. 

US lawmaker John Mica, chairman of the House of Representatives' Aviation
Subcommittee, which issued the report, has introduced legislation calling
for outfitting all of the nearly 7,000 US commercial aircraft with
anti-missile technology -- at a cost of as much as two million dollars per
plane. 

Mica advocates retrofitting existing aircraft with decoy flares, infrared
jamming devices, or high-powered lasers -- all of which could deter an
incoming missile. 

A spokesman for the Florida lawmaker said Thursday that while Mica welcomes
US moves to improve security at foreign airports where American aircraft are
likely to land, he is still convinced of the need to equip commercial
airliners with their own defenses. 

"There are too many stinger and shoulder-launched (weapons) for inspectors
to be able to catch all of them," said spokesman Gary Burns.


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