« S&T cooperation with the Islamic world | Main | Misuse of information »
May 14, 2005
The system didn't work
I take back what I said earlier about how the system worked last Weds (see Thursday posting "The power of information: the security issue"). The system didn't work on a number of levels. The most disconcerting is that the protocols for possible shooting down a civilian aircraft do not include notifying the Commander-in-Chief.
From today's Washington Post ('Protocols' Left Bush Out of the Loop):
That is the message put out by the White House the past two days. "The protocols that we put in place after September 11 were being followed," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday. "They did not require presidential authority for this situation."
. . .
The protocols, which detail how to handle possible terrorist situations, such as when to shoot down an incoming plane, are secret. But this much is clear: The president does not necessarily have to be notified and does not have to give the green light to take out a plane.
So who really is in charge?
Yes, we know that it was a small, light aircraft that might not have been much of threat in the end. But everyone took it seriously enough to order people to go running out of the White House and Capitol. What if it had been a fast moving 747? Or even a larger private plane?
The system didn't work; it got lucky.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at May 14, 2005 10:33 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.athenaalliance.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/126