...Than Hijackers

Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard, told a radio audience earlier this week that he fears missiles more than hijackers, as potential threats to commercial aviation. "We live in a world where these things are threats we didn't dream of a few years ago, but we have also got to get on with our lives and not become neurotic about it," he said.

He said he thinks that a defensive system similar to that on Air Force One and some Israeli airliners might provide some protection, against at lest some types of missile attacks. Some onboard decoy generators, for instance, "...have the effect of sending the missile off-course so it doesn't hit you."

The PM noted that all these systems are expensive, and that each is effective against only a particular spectrum of threats.

Andrew Tongue, Australia's answer to the TSA's James Loy, said, "The... question is, does al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiah, their associates, have the intent to get these weapons?" He implied that they do, alluding to last year's unsuccessful missile attack in Kenya: "In the most recent recorded example of somebody trying to use these weapons... they failed because they didn't use the weapon properly, which is an indicator that training may not be as up-to-date as some are predicting," Mr. Tongue said.

In only peripherally-related news,

The Australian reports that, "A former Qantas baggage handler named by the CIA as an al-Qa'ida member has been linked to an alleged Spanish leader of the terrorist network," but later added that terrorist activity seems pretty sleepy in Australia: "Only one person, Perth man Jack Roche, has been charged with any links to terrorism since the September 11 attacks."

FMI: www.qantas.com