Posted on 02/07/2004 9:32:52 AM PST by knighthawk
A communication breakdown led French officials to allow a plane to take off for America even though U.S. authorities had asked that it be held during a high-threat terror alert.
The incident, disclosed by Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson in an interview with Associated Press, has helped bring about changes in the way U.S. officials talk to foreign governments during terror threats.
In December, the National Targeting Centre in Virginia had worked for 90 minutes to verify the backgrounds of everyone aboard the jet but still had questions about two or three passengers when it learned the plane had departed.
U.S. officials worked feverishly to complete their checks, aware of the possibility that a plane carrying hundreds of people could be streaking toward the United States with terrorists aboard.
Long before the jet approached U.S. air space it was determined none of the passengers posed a security risk. But the time it took to clear them was "gut-wrenching," Hutchinson said in the recent interview.
Officials would not name the airline involved nor provide other details.
It was a dramatic example of the communication problems that have occurred when the U.S. government responds to terrorist threats. Some foreign officials have complained that U.S. officials overreact to intelligence, needlessly worrying people and disrupting flights.
A senior French official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that while the French have had a good working relationship with the FBI and CIA, the Homeland Security Department is far less experienced and sometimes appears overly cautious.
The official said the agency's reflex is to "open the umbrella" at the hint of rain.
U.S. officials cannot block other countries from allowing planes to take off. But they can forward information about potential threats or concerns about passengers and ask foreign governments to cancel flights or hold the planes while American authorities make further checks.
Yes, I don't understand the 'Gut Wrenching' because there was nothing a fighter escort and diversion to a remote military field wouldn't handle.
So9
I wonder how cautious they would be if 9-11 had happened on their soil instead of ours?
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