DHS Wants To Know Who's Flying Into US On Small Planes

Booming sales of business jets have been attributed in part to business executives trying to bypass the inconvenience of traveling through commercial airports. But the growing number of business jets outside North America looks like a security threat to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who fears terrorists could exploit general aviation to bring in a dirty bomb or biological weapons.

Chertoff told USA Today on Monday DHS will undertake a sweeping review of airport security screening over the next 30 to 45 days, to try to ease passenger hassles, but also to focus more on the threat of attacks by private jets from overseas.

Chertoff says he wants the Transportation Security Administration to "...take a look at the whole system of screening at the airport. We're going to see if we can maybe make a couple of significant changes to remove some of the burden."

As for small jets arriving from elsewhere, Homeland Security will issue requirements for crews and passengers of private jets to provide their names, birthdates and other information an hour before takeoff, so they can be checked against terrorist watch lists. Screening of aircraft and passengers by US Customs agents before they depart for the US could be next.

Chertoff told USA Today he grew more concerned about the issue last year when a senior executive of a private-jet company told him, "I don't know who the heck gets on my planes, and it worries me."

DHS issued its proposal for tightening requirements in September, calling for operators of private aircraft entering or exiting the US to submit via the Internet detailed information, such as passenger manifests, at least one hour prior to crossing the US border.

The general aviation community quickly criticized that plan. In December, the Experimental Aircraft Association -- in another sign of solidarity among GA "letter groups" -- noted such a requirement for bizjet operators could prove to be "unworkable" -- as most foreign GA landing facilities lack the necessary Internet, cellular, or international phone line capabilities.

In a similar vein, homeland security consultant Randall Larsen says Chertoff's plan would be ineffective against terrorists headed to the US from remote locations in Africa or Latin America. "Bono and Bill Gates would be prevented from smuggling a nuke into the US, but a terrorist with a nuke in a Gulfstream who takes off from a remote airfield in Africa or Latin America ... would have no problem getting it to DC," Larsen charged. "Let's just hope the terrorists fly out of (London's) Heathrow."

Chertoff countered Larsen's assertion by noting if you try entering US airspace without clearance, "you will not make it into the US without being greeted by a couple of F-16s."

So far, Chertoff has resisted calls for airline-like screening of passengers and small aircraft on domestic flights.

FMI: www.dhs.gov, www.tsa.gov