President George W. Bush has authorized two mid-level Air Force generals to order commercial airliners that threaten American cities shot down without checking first with him, a senior military officer said Wednesday.
The senior officer, General Ralph E. Eberhart of the Air Force, the head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said in an interview that such life-or-death decisions would be made by the generals only as a last resort when an attack was seconds away and there was not enough time for consultations with Eberhart, a four-star officer, or the president.
Vice President Dick Cheney revealed this month that in the hours after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Bush had ordered the downing of any passenger jets that imperiled Washington. But days after the Sept. 11 hijackings, Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs of Staff approved new rules of engagement that reflected the heightened concern over terrorist strikes and how to address them as swiftly as possible.
Before the attacks there were no formal rules on how the military should deal with an airliner hijacked over the US, flown by what in essence are suicide bombers.
"If there's time, we'd go all the way to the president," said Eberhart, who also leads the US Space Command. "Otherwise, the standing orders have been pushed down to the regional level."
Major General Larry K. Arnold, a two-star officer at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, would have that authority for the continental US. Lieutenant General Norton A. Schwartz, a three-star officer at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, would have authority for Alaska. Hawaii, which is not a part of Norad, is covered by the US Pacific Command, headed by Admiral Dennis Blair.
Citing security concerns, Eberhart declined to sketch a course of events that would result in the decision to down a civilian airliner being made by someone other than the president.
The change in the rules of engagement regarding shooting down civilian aircraft is part of the rethinking of Norad, which has always been oriented toward external threats.
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