American Inspection Teams Check Threats At Foreign Airports

Aviation safety teams are hard at work in cities all over the world, after they were dispatched this week by the Bush administration. The White House is concerned that al Qaeda terrorists or their sympathizers might try to launch shoulder-fired missiles at commercial aircraft. The result could be disaster.

Can It Be Done?

Can airports from Manila to Istanbul defend incoming and outgoing aircraft against a shoulder-fired missile attack? The question was brought home in spades earlier this year when an Israeli jetliner departing Kenya was the target of two Soviet-era SAMs fired by terrorists at the departure end of the runway. Both missiles missed their target. Now, the Bush administration has very quietly set up an office within the Department of Homeland Security to deal with the missile threat. HSD has -- also, very quietly -- asked for $2 million to fund the operation.

Shhhhhh.

The inspections began overseas several weeks ago. But the White House, worried that leaked word of the effort would spark terrorists to strike sooner rather than later, kept the whole thing hush-hush until security was tightened at airports where US carriers frequently do business. Airports under scrutiny include those in Baghdad (below) and Basra, Iraq; Manila; Istanbul; and Athens.

But the inspections are just the first step in the administration's efforts to protect aircraft from portable SAM missiles, whether they're of American or Soviet design. So, during the past week, the government has notified eight contractors that they're finalists in the process of selecting a missile-defense system for non-military aircraft.

Although the work is being done very quietly, there is a sense of urgency. Intelligence agencies say the al Qaeda has dozens of small missiles, many of them Stingers left over from the American effort to help Afghan rebels in their fight against Soviet occupation in the 1980s. What the terror network doesn't have, arms dealers say can be found easily enough on the black market for as little as just a few thousand dollars each.

Gauging The Threat

"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 US Transportation Command, told reporters recently. He said the missile threat in Iraq "is somewhere between high and moderate, depending upon what part of the country you are in." Just this past summer, there were two incidents where suspected Iraqi militants fired SAM missiles at American military aircraft. In both cases they missed, partly because of the anti-air missile defenses on board the aircraft.

The American inspections of foreign airport security will continue, according to Homeland Security.  But locations where teams are looking into the issue won't be announced until the inspections are finished -- or nearly so.

ANN Correspondent Dave Bender contributed to this article.

FMI: www.hsd.gov