Bad Radar Prompts White House Evacuation
WASHINGTON (AP) - At least part of the White House was evacuated Thursday after a false radar reading mistakenly indicated that a plane flew within five miles of restricted airspace around the complex, officials said.
"It's a false radar target," said William Shumann, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman. "When the NORAD fighters got to the location of the alleged violation, they found nothing."
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, is the command center for the defense of U.S. and Canadian airspace.
Shumann said flocks of birds or atmospheric disturbances can cause false radar returns. "It's one of those electronic gremlins that pops up, but there was no aircraft there."
Secret Service spokeswoman Jean Mitchell said there was no official evacuation. But White House staff members did leave the West Wing for a time Thursday morning.
An aide to President Bush said that staffers were told to go to a nearby street but were allowed to go back to their desks a short time later.
The president was traveling in Britain at the time. Many of his top aides also were on the trip and not in the building.
"The threat level was never raised," Mitchell said.
On Nov. 10, Air Force fighter jets scrambled to intercept a private plane that flew too close to the White House. The plane was later determined not to be a threat.
The president was away then, also, on a trip to Arkansas and South Carolina.