A Really Capitol Idea?
The feds are allowing private planes back at Washington's Reagan National Airport. Not everyone's exactly thrilled
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is less than five miles from the White House and the Capitol, so pols and lobbyists love it. But the Secret Service has been trying to get the facility shuttered for years. Joe Petro, a retired agent who protected Ronald Reagan, says agents recommended closing the airport after the 1983 embassy bombing in Lebanon. "We came to the conclusion," he said, "that was the only way to . . . protect downtown Washington."
But National lives on, thanks to the support of all those congressmen and K Street types who rely on its close-in convenience. Not even 9/11 could change that. National was closed to commercial aviation following the attacks, but it reopened just a few weeks later. General aviation planes--privately owned aircraft and corporate jets--remain largely shut out of National, but that's about to change. Last week, the Transportation Security Administration finalized security procedures that will allow the smaller planes back into National as soon as October. The rules have sparked a brisk debate between general aviation supporters, who think the rules are draconian, and critics who think it's ludicrous to allow more planes into an area that has experienced several recent aviation scares. The dispute highlights several broader concerns about the safety and security of general aviation in a post-9/11 world.
Violated. The smaller planes have been kept out of National partly as a result of pressure from the Secret Service, which also pushed successfully for creation of a general aviation no-fly zone that extends 15 miles around the Washington Monument. The Federal Aviation Administration reports that planes have violated the restricted airspace above and around Washington 2,200 times since 9/11. When a confused pilot in a Cessna strayed deep into the forbidden airspace in May, security officials scrambled two F-16s and evacuated thousands from the Capitol.
For some, it seems a strange time to be loosening restrictions. "You're just begging for more incidents," says Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton of Minnesota, who closed his Capitol Hill office because of worries about terrorism last fall. But general aviation has well-connected advocates. Jim Coyne, president of the National Air Transportation Association, a group representing charter carriers, says he has personally met with 150 members of the House and Senate to discuss the situation at National. In December 2003, as part of a broader bill, Congress called for a plan to reopen the airport to private planes.
The plan that emerged last week will restrict National's general aviation traffic to 336 flights a week, compared with roughly 660 flights a week before 9/11. Planes headed for National must first touch down at one of 12 "gateway" airports nationwide, where TSA officials will scrutinize all the aircraft's cargo and carry-on baggage, as well as the passengers themselves. Each plane will carry an armed law enforcement official trained by the TSA. "It's like putting three deadbolt locks" on the private planes, says Randall Larsen, director of the Institute for Homeland Security.
But some hope that's just the beginning. West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the top Democrat on the Senate aviation subcommittee, says the 200,000 general aviation aircraft nationwide "have virtually no protocol for security." Larsen says some of these planes--like the Gulfstream 5--can "carry far more [powerful] explosives than Timothy McVeigh used" in the Oklahoma City bombing. Such planes can fly into the United States directly from international airports. "If I were a terrorist and wanted to bring a nuclear weapon into this country," says Larsen, "I'd throw it in the back of a Gulfstream 5 and fly to the U.S. from the Middle East or Africa."
Industry officials say they've increased voluntary surveillance of private planes since 9/11, creating an 800 number for pilots to report suspicious events. And TSA Acting Deputy Administrator Tom Blank says the Department of Homeland Security "does not currently believe that GA airports, facilities, and aircraft pose a significant, immediate threat." But a February report issued jointly by the FBI and the DHS said intelligence indicated terrorists were considering using the "largely unregulated" general aviation planes in the United States for attacks. In Washington, that's an increasingly sobering thought.
This story appears in the August 1, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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