Air Force Pursuing Secret Program to Protect Airliners

Air Force Pursuing Secret Program to Protect Airliners
(San Francisco Chronicle <http://www.sfgate.com> )

"In a move seen as a stinging rebuke of the Department of Homeland Security, the Air Force has begun a secret program to protect U.S. airliners from terrorist missile attacks," reports the San Francisco Chronicle. "Defense Department officials and lawmakers concerned with the issue say the Air Force decided to start its program now because Homeland Security's highly publicized program to analyze and develop countermeasures to missile attacks was too slow and too narrow in scope.... The Air Force program," scheduled to begin later this year, "will allow commercial airliner and airliner engine manufacturers to modify their designs to successfully withstand missile warhead detonations."

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