Fighters Scrambled Just In Case

It was a blip on radar, but these days, Washington figures you just can't be too careful. The White House was evacuated and even Wall Street held its breath for a time until the airspace over Washington was finally sorted out.

"We've got our eyes on a particular corridor over the capital 24/7 and if the slightest infringement of that air space can't be identified then we're inclined to evacuate principals in the White House,'' said Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

"It's an inconvenience but unfortunately in the post-9/11 world we've got to deal with it.''

It happened about 9:20am (EST) when the blip suddenly showed up on radar, apparently inside the Washington ADIZ. In a sign of just how nervous the nation still is in the wake of the terror attacks on New York and Washington, Secret Service agents immediately evacuated the White House, even though the president and First Lady were in London at the time. Vice President Dick Cheney was whisked away in a motorcade to an undisclosed location.

Secret Service agents armed with shotguns shooed away a group of visiting school children along with senior administration staffers.

Two F-16s were scrambled from Andrews AFB in nearby Maryland to check out the blip. There was nothing to it.

"The fighters determined that there was no threat but continued to patrol the area,'' said NORAD spokeswoman Maj. Eric Butterbaugh (USAF).

"There was never a plane. It was a blip on one radar,'' said FAA spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler.

The Secret Service ended the evacuation after "the airspace violation was determined to be a radar anomaly.''

Still, Wall Street slid for a time during the incident, keeping one eye on a pair of terror blasts that killed 27 people in Turkey earlier in the day.

Back at the White House, a spokesman said after the all-clear was sounded, "The mood is fine."

FMI: www.dhs.gov