New Terror Plot to Fly Cargo Planes into U.S. Targets
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: There is, however, a new alert from the Homeland Security Department that terrorists may be plotting to fly cargo planes into U.S. targets. Our Kathleen Koch is live in Washington. She joins us now with the details on this -- so, Kathleen, it is a new alert, but certainly not a new issue to talk about here.</s>KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Of course, not, Thomas, because this is a threat that many people have been concerned about since 9/11. Obviously, a cargo plane can do just as much damage to a building as the aircraft that hit the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. But this is the first direct warning from the Department of Homeland Security and this advisory warns that al Qaeda might consider using cargo planes as a weapon. Separately, a senior U.S. official told CNN Friday that there has, indeed, been chatter suggesting that an al Qaeda terrorist might try to fly cargo planes from outside the United States into facilities here, such as nuclear power plants, for example. Officials, though, did caution that the information came from a single source and is uncorroborated. But the advisory was issued out of what they call "an abundance of caution." On October 1st, three air cargo industry groups did recommend that the Transportation Security Administration upgrade its air cargo security measures that call for better perimeter security at their facilities, random screening for anyone with access to cargo ramps, securing unattended aircraft and better controlling access to cargo that is sitting on the ramp. And none of that has been done as of yet, though the TSA is still in the process of formulating a plan for cargo aircraft. If you'll recall, it was back in September when a young New York man mailed himself in a wooden create to his parents' home in Texas and that incident raised a lot of red flags about what terrorists might attempt, as well, entering a cargo plane, coming out of the box or crate during a flight and then potentially taking control of that aircraft. A general GAO report earlier this year found that security was lacking at cargo air facilities. It complained of inadequate background checks for employees hdlg cargo and the risk that cargo could be tampered with before being loaded onto planes. And, of course, some cargo pilots also are asking for permission to carry guns to protect themselves, as some airline pilots now do -- back to you.</s>ROBERTS: Kathleen, I was going to ask, they don't currently fall under the, I guess, the TSA policy with what we do know for commercial airliners, for these cargo plane pilots to potentially carry guns?</s>KOCH: They do not, and, you know, there have been other incidents. Another one I wanted to mention was back in 2002. There was a woman in North Dakota, at the Fargo Airport, who scaled the fence near a UPS facility, tried to enter a plan there. They were able to stop her. But, again, increasing numbers of incidents like this pointing up the vulnerabilities because the security just simply is not there or is not the same when it comes to these cargo aircraft as the security is for the passenger aircraft -- Tom.</s>ROBERTS: And, so, Kathleen, do we have any time line, though, for the TSA to properly come out and come back with everybody with some more guidelines, some more safety, you know, some more stricter safety precautions?</s>KOCH: At this point, no deadlines, no. But obviously the circular that went out from the Department of Homeland Security is putting the cargo carriers on alert. So one can certainly hope that they will be much more careful in watching for threats like this in the coming days and weeks.</s>ROBERTS: Well, it certainly is mind boggling, too, when you talk about the guy that shipped himself to his parents' house, if you think about that, as well. Kathleen Koch live for us this morning in Washington. Kathleen, thank you.</s>KOCH: You bet.