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Direct-to-target: DHS wants to vet small aircraft before they enter U.S. airspace.(SECURITY BEAT: HOMELAND DEFENSE BRIEFS)(Department of Homeland Security)
- Article from:
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National Defense
- Article date:
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June 1, 2008
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2008 National Defense Industrial Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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* About 400 general aviation flights--ranging in size from small Cessnas to 747s--enter U.S. airspace each day. Despite long-time fears that these non-commercial flights may come beating a weapon of mass destruction, the federal government still knows little about who and what are onboard the aircraft prior to landing, said Domestic Nuclear Detection Office director Vayl Oxford.
"One of the threat scenarios we worry a lot about is what we call the direct-to-target threat," he said at the Gov Sec conference in Washington, D.C.
In such a plot, a terrorist piloting a private aircraft would not bother to land or clear customs after entering U.S. ...