Florida National Guard troops who patrolled airports after the 2001 terrorist attacks may return to the terminals soon.
Guard officials are drafting plans to dispatch "at least a couple of hundred" troops to airports across the state, spokesman Lt. Col. Ron Tittle said Thursday. Officials said there was no specific threat to Florida and it was unclear when, or whether, the troops would be ordered to the airports.
Tittle said the planning was prompted by communications this week from U.S. Northern Command in Colorado, which is responsible for the military's homeland defense operations.
"Basically we've developed plans and we've told our people to be ready to go into the airports," Tittle said. But he said "there is no actionable intelligence" to indicate they are needed now. Representatives of Tampa International Airport and St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport said they had some discussions about bringing National Guard troops back to the airports but nothing was imminent.
"At this time we don't have a date, but there is discussion, and if they are deployed to the airport it will strictly be to augment our resources," said TIA spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, thousands of armed military troops were put on patrol at the nation's airports. They left in May 2002 as increased security details from the newly formed Transportation Security Administration took over.
It wasn't known whether other states are planning to activate Guard troops for airport details. A Pentagon spokesman said he was unfamiliar with the plan.
Times staff writer Curtis Krueger contributed to this report.
