Firing at errant planes suggested

WASHINGTON – The Homeland Security Department is considering whether it should seek authority for its pilots to shoot down errant planes around the nation’s capital, according to an internal agency memo obtained by the Associated Press.

Putting the Coast Guard on air patrol duty in the Washington, D.C., area could raise questions about whether Homeland Security or the Pentagon would give an order to use lethal force in an emergency.

Hundreds of general aviation aircraft mistakenly enter the restricted zone each year and are steered away by Customs and Border Protection helicopters scrambled to intercept them. But Customs helicopters do not have authority to fire warning or disabling shots while some Coast Guard aircraft already do.

Both agencies are arms of the Homeland Security Department.

It was not immediately clear whether such a change would have to be approved by Congress or if it could be taken care of as an internal Homeland Security matter.

Homeland Security officials are expected to discuss the proposal in coming days.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the idea except to say the Defense Department “welcomes any ideas or concepts that they would share with us to further the goal of making the homeland safe.”

Some other officials questioned the safety of expanding shootdown authority, saying a clear chain of command to give such an order would need to be established between Homeland Security and the Pentagon.

“If the law enforcement and military decision making is not synchronized, then you run the risk of creating a conflicting use-of-force environment in the skies over the National Capital Region,” said George Foresman, Virginia’s director of homeland security.