-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Nice one. Just the right balance of paranoia and complete unfeasibility to make it believable to the very end. David On Tuesday 01 Apr 2003 1:58 am, Alexandre wrote: > TSA wants to sterilize large land areas around airports > ======================================================= > Washington, April 1st, 2003 > > > The Transportation Safety Administration released today a comment that > would indicate it will start issuing new regulations that would exclude > anyone from accessing any land areas surrounding airports within a > radius of three to five miles. > > "We are very concerned by the threat of shoulder-launched missiles which > can be used to shoot down an aircraft" said TSA Administrator James Loy. > > "They are very easy to use and very easy to hide," he added. > > "The perimeter of security at airports has to be expanded to a much > wider circle," said Joe Knoller to CBS a few months ago. > > "What we are looking at, is extending the current security perimeter > around airports - which is currently enclosing runways and taxiways only > - by 3 to 5 miles in order to fully protect airplanes during the landing > and initial climb phases". > > Two missiles were fired from the ground at an Israeli jet that took off > from Mombasa, Kenya, last November. > > Created in late 2001, two months after 19 terrorists boarded four planes > destined for tragedy, TSA has improved airport security from curb to > cockpit. Although there are gaps in any system, travelers are infinitely > safer today than they were when TSA was created. > > If the TSA plans go ahead, thousands of building and facilities > surrounding airports will have to move further away. A substantial > number of households will also have to relocate. "Safety is an absolute > necessity for the United States of America, nothing can deter the > American public to request the safety that it deserves". > > One solution is ordering airlines to install missile warning and > countermeasure systems on commercial jets, an official said. "That would > not provide a 100% security barrier though" said Loy. > > Mandating no-man zones around airports would give a better shield. > > Airfields that are located in close proximity to urban centers may have > to be closed down. Major airports affected would include La Guardia at > New York City, Logan at Boston, Reagan at Washington, and San Diego, > California. Meigs airport in downtown Chicago was bulldozed preventively > on March 31st. > > "What we envision is large areas of deserted empty spaces around > airports; that will be much easier to monitor and patrol". To save on > surveillance costs, a noted alternative would be to land-mines these new > artificial deserts. > > "This is Step Number 1 in our Vision. You can expect to hear more about > this process in the coming weeks," concluded Loy. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE+iguYKsvwCXwmAPgRArGyAJ9E5/UmFt9JQXtUMI27c3vDNOX6dwCfYvLy 7U7C0Z8qjG6oTHw94pEEX/o= =zBwm -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----