Military had been cleared to down Cessna

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gave military officials the authority to shoot down, if necessary, a small plane that wandered into restricted airspace over the nation’s capital May 11, according to two senior federal officials.

For 11 intense minutes, customs aircraft and military jets tried to intercept the Cessna 150 and determine if the pilots were lost or were targeting Washington. Officials never deemed the aircraft hostile, but officials grew more concerned as it flew within three miles of the executive mansion.

The plane, one of the senior officials said, came within “15 to 20 seconds” of being downed before its pilots finally heeded repeated orders to turn away from the city.

The new details, corroborated Tuesday by a senior federal law enforcement official briefed on events, came as military and homeland security officials review the effectiveness of an air defense system established for the Washington area after the 2001 terrorist attacks. As authorities piece together lessons of the scare – described by some officials as the closest the government has come to downing a civilian plane over Washington since Sept. 11, 2001 – they are confronting sensitive issues involving split-second decisions, communications and the federal chain of command.

Based on a Homeland Security Department chronology, it is unclear if jet fighters would have been in position to take action against the Cessna before it reached the White House or Capitol. The Cessna penetrated a 16-mile-radius no-fly zone at 11:50 a.m.; F-16 fighters were scrambled from nearby Andrews Air Force Base two minutes later. The White House and Capitol were evacuated just after noon as the plane continued to approach. The fighters were able to fire warning flares at the Cessna at 12:04 p.m. and it was diverted.

Pentagon and Homeland Security officials have said the air defense system worked effectively during the crisis. But in a statement released Friday, the pilots said they had trouble communicating on the radio frequency that a customs helicopter crew signaled for them to use.