NORAD to patrol skies over NYC during convention,
anticipates attack on U.S. before election.




Air Force General Ralph "Ed" Eberhart, commander of North
Americ an Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) says that
he expects a large-scale attack on the U.S. before the
November 2nd presidential election.

On Wednesday (August 25), just days before thousands of
people are due to converge on New York city for the
Republican National convention, the NORAD commander called
for an increase in air patrols over the city.

Eberhart hopes the stepped up patrols and other visible
signs of enhanced security will serve to deter anyone
seeking to disrupt the convention.

According to Eberhart, New York has heeded the lessons
of September 11th. The aerial attacks on the twin towers
of the World Trade Center highlighted communications
breakdowns between law enforcement, federal agencies and
the military. The attacks also compelled U.S. officials to
clarify the hierarchy of approval authority if it became
necessary to shoot down a commercial aircraft to avoid a
similar situation to September 11th.

While it remains to be seen whether an attack will take
place during the convention, Eberhart is certain that the
U.S. will be attacked in the coming months.

"There is no doubt in my mind that terrorist
organizations, most notably, al Qaeda would like to strike
a blow before the election and they are looking for any and
all opportunities to do that ," Eberhart said. NORAD, a
joint U.S.-Canada force monitors the skies and space above
North America for possible threats.

Speaking to reporters NORAD's headquarters in Colorado
Springs, CO, Eberhard said Americans should resist a "false
sense of security."
"They are just waiting for us to let our guard down,"
Eberhart said.

Within the United States, Eberhart said militants had
shown interest in attacking highly symbolic targets, oil
refineries, nuclear plants, or anything that would make a
"big splash." Available intelligence did not, he said,
indicate a change in these goals.

He said intelligence revealed that extremist groups
remained focused on high-profile targets like New York or
Washington.

Eberhart said he personally believed sharply improved
security in the United States since September 11 made the
threat of an attack abroad more likely.

A report released by the 9/11 Commission this summer
criticized NORAD for failing to anticipate the 2001 attack
and for having poor communications with the FAA (Federal
Aviation Administration). A timeline released by the
commission highlighted failures to share information
between major agencies and military leaders.

According to Eberhart, dramatic improvements have been
made to establish better communications between NORAD and
the FAA including the addition of an FAA liaison at NORAD's
primary alert centre at Cheyenne Mountain. Intelligence
experts at the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center (CMOC)
are now able to monitor FAA radar and communications
between pilots and air traffic controllers.

Located within Cheyenne Mountain, the CMOC is
considered one of the most secure operations centres in the
world. The facility's main entrance is located nearly
one-third of a mile inside the mountain and is fortified by
several sets of 25-ton blast doors. Nearly three
feet-deep, the one-of-a-kind doors also act as fire doors
for the facility's fifteen buildings. The fifteen
buildings are an engineering marvel --freestanding with no
contact with the mountain's rock walls, the structures are
fortified to withstand everything from an earthquake to an
avalanche. The entire complex is mounted on more than
one-thousand gigantic steel springs which allow for as much
as twelve inches of movement in any direction.

The September 11 attacks also prompted the
establishment of a unit devoted exclusively to the task of
analysing intelligence reports from internal sources and
agencies. Located at NORAD's headquarters, the CFIC
(Combined Intelligence Fusion Center) has been a key part
of NORAD's expanded mission. Since the attacks, the joint
U.S.-Canada operation has had to change its focus to
include domestic threats as well as incoming foreign
threats.

The U.S. military has also put procedures in place to
shoot down commercial aircraft if needed to avoid the kind
of tragedy of September 11. Eberhart said that NORAD has
also improved its response time to possible threats and
has made regular patrols over major cities standard
procedure. NORAD had scrambled fighter jets some 1,600 times since
September 11 to check on anomalies in the air -- such as
threatening passengers or inadvertent messages from pilots
signalling a hijacking -- and none had turned out to be a
serious threat requiring a shootdown order.

"I would much rather be wrong and we have been wrong
some 1,600 times in launching fighters to go look at
suspected air anomalies out there. We've been wrong 1,600
times. But I would rather be wrong 1,600 times that way
than be wrong once in the other direction," Eberhart said.

Another change since the attacks has been the formation
of the the U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) also headed by
Eberhart. NORTHCOM is the military body responsible for
defending the continental U.S.'s land, sea and air.