Who Has ADIZ Shoot-Down Authority? | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-06.23.25

Airborne-NextGen-06.24.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.25.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-06.26.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.27.25

Thu, Sep 01, 2005

Who Has ADIZ Shoot-Down Authority?

Not HSD

Who decides whether an aircraft violating the ADIZ over Washington, DC, should be shot out of the sky?

Not the Department of Homeland Security. Instead, the authority will rest solely with the Pentagon and, ultimately, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The question came up after the May 11th incursion by a Cessna 150 to within about three miles of the White House. The incident forced the evacuation of the White House, Supreme Court and Capitol.

As ANN reported a week ago, Customs and the Coast Guard, both factions of the Department of Homeland Security, had bickered about who had the authority to order a lethal intercept. In the end, it appears, neither agency will have that choice.

"I can tell you in principle that both Cabinet officials believe that when it comes to a decision to shoot down an aircraft, only one person should have that authority to avoid an unintended conflict of judgment," Assistant Defense Secretary Paul McHale told the Washington Post. "And that person should be the secretary of defense, accountable to the president. "It's a basic military principle to achieve unity of command... particularly in a life-and-death situation."

Still, neither Rumsfeld nor DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff have signed off on a formal agreement stating that the Pentagon has sole authority in decisions whether to shoot down ADIZ encroachers. McHale said that agreement was expected to be signed shortly.

DHS is still responsible for ordering a response to ADIZ incursions, according to Chertoff's chief military advisor, Rear Admiral Timothy Sullivan. But under the coming agreement, only NORAD could actually order pilots to open fire.

FMI: www.dhs.gov

Advertisement

More News

NTSB Final Report: Rutan Long-EZ

He Attempted To Restart The Engine Three Times. On The Third Restart Attempt, He Noticed That Flames Were Coming Out From The Right Wing Near The Fuel Cap Analysis: The pilot repor>[...]

ANN FAQ: Turn On Post Notifications

Make Sure You NEVER Miss A New Story From Aero-News Network Do you ever feel like you never see posts from a certain person or page on Facebook or Instagram? Here’s how you c>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: ICAS Perspectives - Advice for New Air Show Performers

From 2009 (YouTube Edition): Leading Air Show Performers Give Their Best Advice for Newcomers On December 6th through December 9th, the Paris Las Vegas Hotel hosted over 1,500 air >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (06.28.25)

Aero Linx: NASA ASRS ASRS captures confidential reports, analyzes the resulting aviation safety data, and disseminates vital information to the aviation community. The ASRS is an i>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (06.28.25)

“For our inaugural Pylon Racing Seminar in Roswell, we were thrilled to certify 60 pilots across our six closed-course pylon race classes. Not only did this year’s PRS >[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC