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Fighting terror notebook
Compiled from Times wires Panel okays test of guns in cockpitsWASHINGTON -- Heeding arguments from pilots that they should be the "last line of defense" against airplane hijackings, the House on Wednesday moved toward approving a test program to allow them to carry guns in the cockpit. Although a number of aviation security measures have been enacted since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration had decided against letting pilots arm themselves. But pilot unions responded with intense lobbying on Capitol Hill, and on Wednesday the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's aviation subcommittee approved a measure to create a two-year trial program in which up to 2 percent of airline pilots -- an estimated 1,400 -- would be trained and deputized as "federal flight deck officers" with authority to carry guns in the cockpit. Flight attendants would receive self-defense training under the bill. The panel's approval makes it likely that the measure will pass the full House. But it faces an uncertain fate in the Senate. FBI will be on guard for July Fourth festivitiesWASHINGTON -- The FBI is putting together a major national operation to monitor and protect July Fourth parades and festivities because of concern that terrorists might attack, officials told the Associated Press on Wednesday. The FBI is not reacting to any specific threat or intelligence, the officials said. But the interrogation of detainees at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has revealed a general interest in the day as a possible target, one of the officials said, commenting on condition of anonymity. The agency is requiring its 56 field offices to create plans for monitoring events in their regions. The monitoring will probably include several forms of electronic surveillance as well as a heavy presence of field agents. In addition, the FBI put out a routine law enforcement bulletin asking police to be on heightened alert even though there is no specific intelligence suggesting an attack. Also ...HOMELAND SECURITY PANEL: The House on Wednesday established a bipartisan nine-member committee of senior lawmakers to oversee President Bush's bill to create a Homeland Security Department. The panel is led by Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas. The other Republican members are: Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas; J.C. Watts of Oklahoma; Deborah Pryce of Ohio; and Rob Portman of Ohio. The Democrats are: Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi of California; Martin Frost of Texas; Robert Menendez of New Jersey; and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut. HUMAN ERROR CITED IN CRASH: Human error likely caused the January crash of a refueling plane over Pakistan that killed seven Marines, according to a military report released Wednesday. Investigators found the KC-130 flight crew likely became disoriented while approaching an airfield at night in southwestern Pakistan, where their plane slammed into a mountainside. ACCESS TO SUSPECTS LIMITED: Saudi Arabia will not allow outside investigators to question al-Qaida suspects who tried to shoot down a U.S. military plane, a Saudi official said Wednesday, a day after the kingdom announced its first such arrests since Sept. 11. Instead, foreign security officials will be briefed on the results of the Saudi investigation into the suspects, including 11 Saudis, an Iraqi and a Sudanese citizen. RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS GET SCRUTINY: Under pressure to move against terrorism, Pakistan announced new measures Wednesday to strengthen control of the country's 8,000 Islamic religious schools. The schools, known as madrassas, would be shut down and fined if they fail to register with a government oversight board. Many of Pakistan's madrassas are considered key training grounds of Islamic militancy, and some -- particularly those in Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions -- produced Muslim scholars who later became central figures in the Taliban movement in neighboring Afghanistan.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
