|
||||||||
  |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Barbara Starr: Military joins sniper probe
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has signed an order that allows Army airborne surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to be used in the hunt for the Washington-area sniper, who has killed nine people and wounded two over the past two weeks. The aircraft to be used are the RC-7 and the U-21 -- small fixed-wing planes packed with advanced technology, including sensors. They are all-weather planes that have the capability of operating round the clock. The decision to involve the military raises some legal issues. CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr discussed the matter with CNN Anchor Leon Harris on Wednesday. STARR: Late yesterday [Tuesday], in fact, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed a deployment order for the Army to lend some of its very high-tech surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to this effort to hunt down the sniper. But it's a quite interesting development, because, of course, the law prevents the military from becoming involved in domestic law enforcement. So, there will be an FBI agent on board these aircraft. All the military will do is operate them, gather their surveillance and reconnaissance data. It will be up to that FBI agent on board to determine whether there is a likely target to pursue, and, of course, it will still remain up to law enforcement to chase down and pursue any suspects. HARRIS: How about the tap dancing that's gone on about this posse comitatus law? How do they find out exactly what is allowable and what is not? STARR: Under the posse comitatus law, which dates back originally to 1878, no military involvement [is allowed] in law enforcement. And that means they can't pursue, they can't target, they have no powers of arrest. But in recent years, what has come to happen is the military can provide assistance, and of course, the best example is the drug enforcement issue, drug interdiction. Military aircraft, military assets are often regularly used to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance and look for suspected drug flights into the United States, especially across the southern border. They gather the data, but it is law enforcement -- the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration -- those are the agencies which actually conduct the law enforcement activities. Now, the Pentagon really didn't want a lot of information out about the specific kind of technology they are offering to the FBI that will start being used, but they knew they had to talk about some of it because of this law. They certainly didn't want the prospect of people thinking that the military was operating secretly over the skies of Washington. And these aircraft, of course, are going to have to be coordinated with the FAA in the very crowded airspace that surrounds the nation's capital. We have two major airports here in this area, a lot of private pilots. And these aircraft certainly would have been noticed by the air traffic in this area, and their use now will be coordinated through the FAA, so they fit into the traffic pattern in this area. So, the Pentagon knew they couldn't really keep it a complete secret. They knew they had to acknowledge this development that these aircraft are going to be flying in the skies. But their preference is still not to hand the very specific information out in public. They'd like to keep as much of it as close-held as possible. HARRIS: Yes, that's understandable. But at the same time, Barbara, I have to wonder if there would be the kind of protests that the Pentagon is trying to head off here. Because you would think that the public is actually quite used to the idea of military craft being in the skies over this country since September 11. We all know that there have been patrols in the air. STARR: Well, that is true. But, of course, this is an extraordinary -- I mean, 9/11 was an extraordinary situation ... and this is as well. People I have spoken to, nobody can really quite remember a case of criminal activity like this, where the military has been called in to assist. So, it was a little bit unusual, but it was definitely at the request of the police jurisdictions here in the metropolitan area and the FBI. What they're hoping is the technology that the military has on board these aircraft is something that's very advanced, is something that law enforcement doesn't have in its own kit bag, and the military can provide a capability. And what it really involves is a very, very fast response. If there is another attack, the military will be there to have a very deep look at what's going on.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
