T
Tyler_Smedley
Guest
White House, Capitol Briefly Evacuated
WASHINGTON — The nation’s capital was given the green light Wednesday afternoon about one hour after a small airplane violated restricted airspace over the city, forcing the rapid evacuation of the White House, the U.S. Capitol Building (search) and the Supreme Court around noontime.
Two F-16 military jets scrambled over to Washington from Andrews Air Force Base just outside the city in Maryland. The jet pilots met the plane, which came within four miles of the U.S. Capitol and three miles of the White House, and escorted it out of the Air Defense Identification Zone to Frederick, Md., about 50 minutes northwest of the city. The jets then returned to the air base.
The Pentagon was not evacuated and the mood there was described as “business as usual.” However, North American Aerospace Air Defense (search), which operates in part out of the Pentagon, coordinated with air and Homeland Security officials.
Police in Washington shouted at lawmakers, staff members, media and tourists to run from the buildings. About 20 minutes later, the evacuations were cancelled.
The pilot, who was said to have entered the restricted space then exited and re-entered before being warned out of the area with four flares, was ordered to touch down in Frederick.
The plane, a small two-seat, high-wing Cessna 150 (search), was apparently flying from Smoketown, Pa., near Lancaster, according to Homeland Security (search) officials. The pilot is in custody and federal and Maryland state law enforcement officials were considering charges against him.
President Bush was not at the White House at the time of the evacuation. He was taking part in a bike ride at Patuxent Wildlife Refuge outside the city. The president headed back to the White House after his motorcade was cleared for return.
First lady Laura Bush and visiting guest Nancy Reagan, the former first lady, were at the White House and taken to a secure location there.
Also at the White House, press were informed about the evacuation after a Secret Service agent stuck his head into the briefing room and screamed, “Get out! Evacuate!” A reporter than passed on the message.
An alert that was supposed to go out over the public announcement system did not happen, according to FOX News White House reporters. However, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said that an alarm was sounded.
Many reporters who started to run out of the briefing room were told by Secret Service uniformed officers to get back into the building and get downstairs. Moments later they started shouting again, “Get out of here! Out! Off the grounds!”
Not everyone found out about the evacuation, though, and not everyone got out of the White House, according to FOX News’ reporters. Many press members were left in the basement and in other areas of the White House.
McClellan said even if the situation appeared confused, Secret Service evacuated the building as soon as the threat level went to orange from yellow at 12:01 p.m. EDT when the plane was 10 miles from the White House. At 12:03 p.m., the alert level went to red, at which time the plane was about three miles from the White House. The alert level went back down to yellow at 12:11 p.m. when the plane was flying away from the city with a jet escort. The Secret Service alert system uses the same color codes as the one used by the Department of Homeland Security, but the system predates the one created by DHS, McClellan said.
“Security precaution protocols were followed in this instance,” McClellan said. “We are grateful for the job the Secret Service does” as well as the other security officials who helped move people to more secure locations, he said.
Asked whether the evacuation demonstrated to terrorists how vulnerable Washington, D.C., still is to attack, McClellan said: “We have to remember that we are a nation at war and there are still people who seek to do harm to the United States and who seek to carry out attacks against the United States.”
At the Capitol, Majority Leader Bill Frist and Minority Leader Harry Reid both went to the floor of the Senate to praise the performance of U.S. Capitol Police, who also yelled at people: “Run, this is not a drill.”
full story here:
foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156217,00.html
WASHINGTON — The nation’s capital was given the green light Wednesday afternoon about one hour after a small airplane violated restricted airspace over the city, forcing the rapid evacuation of the White House, the U.S. Capitol Building (search) and the Supreme Court around noontime.
Two F-16 military jets scrambled over to Washington from Andrews Air Force Base just outside the city in Maryland. The jet pilots met the plane, which came within four miles of the U.S. Capitol and three miles of the White House, and escorted it out of the Air Defense Identification Zone to Frederick, Md., about 50 minutes northwest of the city. The jets then returned to the air base.
The Pentagon was not evacuated and the mood there was described as “business as usual.” However, North American Aerospace Air Defense (search), which operates in part out of the Pentagon, coordinated with air and Homeland Security officials.
Police in Washington shouted at lawmakers, staff members, media and tourists to run from the buildings. About 20 minutes later, the evacuations were cancelled.
The pilot, who was said to have entered the restricted space then exited and re-entered before being warned out of the area with four flares, was ordered to touch down in Frederick.
The plane, a small two-seat, high-wing Cessna 150 (search), was apparently flying from Smoketown, Pa., near Lancaster, according to Homeland Security (search) officials. The pilot is in custody and federal and Maryland state law enforcement officials were considering charges against him.
President Bush was not at the White House at the time of the evacuation. He was taking part in a bike ride at Patuxent Wildlife Refuge outside the city. The president headed back to the White House after his motorcade was cleared for return.
First lady Laura Bush and visiting guest Nancy Reagan, the former first lady, were at the White House and taken to a secure location there.
Also at the White House, press were informed about the evacuation after a Secret Service agent stuck his head into the briefing room and screamed, “Get out! Evacuate!” A reporter than passed on the message.
An alert that was supposed to go out over the public announcement system did not happen, according to FOX News White House reporters. However, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said that an alarm was sounded.
Many reporters who started to run out of the briefing room were told by Secret Service uniformed officers to get back into the building and get downstairs. Moments later they started shouting again, “Get out of here! Out! Off the grounds!”
Not everyone found out about the evacuation, though, and not everyone got out of the White House, according to FOX News’ reporters. Many press members were left in the basement and in other areas of the White House.
McClellan said even if the situation appeared confused, Secret Service evacuated the building as soon as the threat level went to orange from yellow at 12:01 p.m. EDT when the plane was 10 miles from the White House. At 12:03 p.m., the alert level went to red, at which time the plane was about three miles from the White House. The alert level went back down to yellow at 12:11 p.m. when the plane was flying away from the city with a jet escort. The Secret Service alert system uses the same color codes as the one used by the Department of Homeland Security, but the system predates the one created by DHS, McClellan said.
“Security precaution protocols were followed in this instance,” McClellan said. “We are grateful for the job the Secret Service does” as well as the other security officials who helped move people to more secure locations, he said.
Asked whether the evacuation demonstrated to terrorists how vulnerable Washington, D.C., still is to attack, McClellan said: “We have to remember that we are a nation at war and there are still people who seek to do harm to the United States and who seek to carry out attacks against the United States.”
At the Capitol, Majority Leader Bill Frist and Minority Leader Harry Reid both went to the floor of the Senate to praise the performance of U.S. Capitol Police, who also yelled at people: “Run, this is not a drill.”
full story here:
foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156217,00.html
prehaps they just turned the engines off?
shame on him if that was the case).
