US Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld gave military officials the authority to shoot down, if necessary, a small plane that wandered into restricted airspace over Washington, DC on May 11, two top officials have said.
For 11 intense minutes, customs aircraft and military fighter jets tried to intercept the Cessna 150 and determine whether the pilots were confused and lost or were targeting Washington.
The plane, one of the federal officials told a US daily, 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, also corroborated on Tuesday by a senior federal law enforcement official briefed on events, came as US military and homeland security officials review the effectiveness of an air defence system established for the Washington area after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The report carried by The Washington Post appeared to contradict earlier statements by American officials, who had said that Rumsfeld had been informed of the intrusion but had not ordered the plane to be shot down.
Against a light aircraft moving at a relatively slow 100 mph, with two evidently confused pilots, authorities were able to order the evacuation of the White House and Capitol complex only two to three minutes before the plane would have reached either. Outside analysts said it remains unknown what might happen against a larger, faster aircraft intending to evade defenders.
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