"Aircraft missile threat is growing"

Friday, August 8, 2003

Aircraft missile threat is growing
U.S. teams are checking vulnerability of world airports
By Philip Shenon 
The New York (NY) Times

 
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has dispatched teams of aviation safety
investigators to Iraq and to major capital cities in Europe and Asia to
determine if their commercial airports can be defended against terrorists
who might try to shoot down passenger planes using shoulder-fired missiles,
senior administration officials say.

The inspections at airports in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Basra - as
well as Athens, Istanbul, Manila and several other foreign capitals where
American air carriers have regularly scheduled flights - are part of the
administration's response to recent intelligence reports suggesting that a
terrorist attack using small, heat-seeking missiles may be imminent,
probably overseas.

While the overseas inspections began several weeks ago, administration
officials said they had not discussed them publicly until now out of concern
that the information might prompt terrorists to attack before security was
tightened at some of the inspected airports.

The concern in Iraq is centered on anti-American forces loyal to the former
government of Saddam Hussein, while the concern elsewhere in the world
involves Al Qaeda, which has been blamed for an attempted shooting down of
an Israeli passenger jet last November.

Terrorists fired two Russian-built shoulder-fired missiles at the plane as
it took off from the airport in Mombasa, Kenya, barely missing the jet.

In what administration officials described as additional proof that they are
taking the intelligence reports seriously, the Department of Homeland
Security has decided to open a special office to deal with the missile
threat and, in an unpublicized request to Congress last month, sought $2
million for the new office's initial budget.

The department has also notified eight government contractors in recent
weeks that they are finalists for a potentially huge federal contract to
develop prototypes for an electronic anti-missile system that could be
installed in thousands of passenger jets, similar to systems that are
already installed in American military planes, including Air Force One.

Intelligence agencies say that the Qaeda network has dozens of the small
missiles, many of them Stingers made in the United States, left over from
the American-led effort to help Muslim guerrillas oust the Soviet Union from
Afghanistan in the 1980's.

Hundreds of other shoulder-fired missiles - including Stingers and Russian
SA-7s, which are designed for portability and can weigh as little as 30
pounds, or 13 kilograms apiece - are believed to be in the hands of other
terrorist organizations and rebel groups around the world.

Arms dealers say the weapons can be bought easily on the black market for as
little as a few thousand dollars each.

Administration officials say the missile threat appears to be especially
grave in Iraq, which will soon reopen its airports to regular passenger
flights by European and other foreign airlines.

In a pair of incidents this summer, shoulder-fired missiles were fired at
American military cargo planes. In both cases, the missiles missed, in part
because of anti-missile mechanisms built into the planes.

The attacks were blamed on anti-American rebels in Iraq who took the
missiles from Iraq military stockpiles left over after the ouster of Saddam.

The Pentagon has acknowledged the serious threat to its fleet in Iraq and
has recently offered rewards to Iraqis who turn in shoulder-fired missiles.

"Throughout the global war on terrorism, the manned portable missile threat
is perhaps the greatest threat that we face anywhere in the world," General
John Handy, commander of the U.S. Transportation Command, said in a recent
meeting with reporters.

He said the missile threat in Iraq "is somewhere between high and moderate,
depending upon what part of the country you are in."

Homeland Security officials said that the initial inspections occurred this
spring and summer at a dozen overseas airports that were considered
prominent terrorist targets and that were located in foreign countries eager
to cooperate with the United States on airport security issues.

The officials said the inspections had been completed at Athens, Istanbul
and Manila and were nearing completion at Baghdad and Basra.

They said they would not identify the other inspected airports until after
the security reviews were completed. While the Greek government has often
had a testy relationship with the United States, it has been eager to show
that Athens, the location of next year's summer Olympic Games, is safe from
terrorism.

The inspections are expected to result in a host of security changes at some
of the airports, including tightened police patrols along flight paths that
are used for planes on takeoff and landing, as well as the installation of
electronic surveillance equipment.

While administration officials stressed that the United States was not
offering to assist foreign governments in paying for new security, the
administration was offering its continuing air-safety expertise to the
airports.


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