Changed Rules of Engagement

[Ivo Skoric]

On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked 4 US passenger planes and 
flew them into the buildings (or - the last one - into the ground). 
There were many questions why those planes were not simply shot down 
by fighter pilots before causing more civillian casualties by hitting 
their targets. The reason was, military had us believe, that there 
were no rules and procedures in place for such an action. In the last 
two years Air Force went a long way building those rules and 
procedures. They are training 3-4 times a week how best to shoot down 
a defenseless commercial airliner full of passengers. F-15s and F-16s 
are actually even used in the real life situations "to check out 
aircraft that have strayed off course, have inadvertently turned off 
their transponders or have an unruly passenger aboard." - according 
to the following article in today's New York Times.

Ok, this makes Al Qaeda's job even easier. They don't need to pay for 
the expensive pilot training courses any more, since future 
terrorists cannot be expected to fly their hostage planes to the 
targets, because of the ‘trigger non-hesitant' fighter pilots behind 
their backs. The new rules of engagement need just a couple of unruly 
boors on board of the passenger plane to convince the fighter pilots 
to shoot the commercial liner down. Mission accomplished. Another 100-
300 Americans dead. And, again, all done at the cost of the US 
taxpayer, who paid for the missile used, for the plane that fired it, 
for the gas that the plane used, for the pilot that flew it, and for 
the countless hours of his training.

I wonder who is really suicidal in this never-ending war.

Ivo

Pilots Practice How to Down Hijacked Jets
By ERIC SCHMITT

Published: October 3, 2003

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 — The United States military practices how to 
shoot down hijacked commercial airliners as often as three to four 
times a week, honing its defenses against terrorist attacks on 
American cities, a senior general said on Thursday.

In some of the drills, which began after the attacks of Sept. 11 
revealed shortcomings in the military's readiness to react, the North 
American Aerospace Defense Command has rented commercial jets, loaded 
them with military volunteers and carried out mock hijackings up to 
the point where airborne Air Force fighter pilots would fire air-to-
air missiles.
	
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"We exercise this several times a week whether it's an airplane 
shooting down an airplane or air defenses in the national capital 
area," said the officer, Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart of the Air Force, who 
heads Norad, referring to surface-to-air missile batteries stationed 
around the Washington area.

The frequency of the military exercises, which include testing local 
air defense ground crews and simulating a nationwide series of 
terrorist attacks, reflects the concerns of senior military and 
civilian authorities that hijacked jetliners could still pose a 
threat on the scale of the Sept. 11, 2001, strikes.

In an interview with defense reporters on Thursday and in a separate 
conversation at the Pentagon later, General Eberhart said the 
rehearsals did not reflect any new specific threats. Rather, he said, 
the no-notice drills are a grim reminder that the country remains 
engaged in a global campaign against terror.

"After Sept. 11, it became obvious that this was a new world, even 
uglier than we imagined," said General Eberhart, who is also head of 
the United States Northern Command, which oversees the military's 
contribution to domestic counterterrorism efforts.

Two years ago, Vice President Dick Cheney revealed that in the hours 
after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, 
President Bush had ordered the downing of any more passenger jets 
that imperiled Washington. Military jets scrambled to intercept a 
fourth plane, but it crashed in Pennsylvania before they took any 
action.

Several days after the attacks, Mr. Bush, Defense Secretary Donald H. 
Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs of Staff approved new rules of 
engagement that reflected the heightened concern over how to confront 
such attacks more swiftly.

Before Sept. 11, the Pentagon had no formal rules on how the military 
should deal with airliners taken over by suicidal hijackers bent on 
using them as weapons.

Now, General Eberhart said, military pilots and air defense crews are 
routinely quizzed about the rules of engagement involving a hijacked 
airliner, about which officials are authorized to order the downing 
of such an aircraft and about how to verify such life-and-death 
orders.

General Eberhart said these strict rules were in place so that 
"somebody can't just get up on the radio channel and say, `Hey, I'm 
the president of the United States, shoot that down.' "

Air Force pilots who fly missions that could be ordered to down a 
hijacked jet are specially certified and trained, and they undergo 
psychological evaluations to ensure they are not "trigger hesitant" 
at the moment of decision.

"We have long discussions with people to see if they're mentally 
prepared to do this, pilots and operators on the ground for air 
defense systems," General Eberhart said. "We certainly don't take 
this lightly."

He added that pilots are taught that shooting down a hijacked 
airliner would only be ordered as "a last resort," and that crews are 
told, "If we don't do this, innocent people on the ground are going 
to die, too."

The process that could some day lead to such a downing begins in a 
sophisticated situation room at Norad headquarters in Colorado 
Springs. On giant screens in the top-secret room, military officials 
track the flights of thousands of aircraft flying over the country. A 
major change after the Sept. 11 attacks was to tie the military into 
the Federal Aviation Administration's flight-tracking database.

General Eberhart declined on Thursday to describe the procedures the 
military uses to intercept a plane, determine whether it has been 
hijacked and decide whether to shoot it down, saying that would only 
give valuable information to adversaries.

Ultimately, the decision to shoot down an airliner would rest with 
the president, but Mr. Bush has in the past authorized two midlevel 
Air Force generals to order the downing in the event that he, Mr. 
Rumsfeld or General Eberhart were out of contact, and an attack was 
imminent.

In most cases, the military plans the practice downings. In June 
2002, Norad rented a Delta 757 airliner and its crew, loaded it with 
military volunteer passengers and staged a mock hijacking over the 
northwestern United States, into Canada and Alaska. Fighters tracked 
the plane.

But there are also real-life situations that hone the training. Norad 
has scrambled or diverted fighter jets already airborne more than 
1,500 times since Sept. 11 to check out aircraft that have strayed 
off course, have inadvertently turned off their transponders or have 
an unruly passenger aboard.

Dozens of Air Force F-15 and F-16 jets conduct irregular combat 
patrols over major American cities and at the first sign of trouble 
can be directed to a position within minutes, officials said.

In those instances, General Eberhart said, "I can guarantee that 
fighter pilot, they're thinking about it, and going through all the 
rules of engagement."

He added that unlike the case of pilots' flying over hostile 
territory, "when you know that what you're about to shoot down has a 
lot of innocent people on board, and maybe one, two, three or a 
handful of terrorists, that's a much different thing."