Posted on 12/19/2002 5:53:08 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough
Armed undercover police are to be used on UK passenger flights, Transport Secretary Alastair Darling has announced.
The news came the day after a senior Whitehall source said there was a "high probability" that international terrorists would sooner or later launch an attack on the UK. Mr Darling said the introduction of air marshalls followed a government decision earlier this year to reinforce in-flight security as part of the continuing review of aviation security following the 11 September attacks.
He stressed that although the threat to UK aviation remained "a real one", the new measure - following the example of Israel and Australia - had not been developed "in response to any new or specific intelligence".
A warning of a continuing threat from al-Qaeda - possibly targeting planes - was issued at a briefing for reporters on Wednesday.
Locked flight-decks
In a statement, Mr Darling said: "That threat remains a real one, but this new capability has not been developed and is not being announced now in response to any new or specific intelligence.
"This further security measure joins others the Government has taken to increase security both on the ground at airports and in flight since the attacks in the USA."
Mr Darling said the government was "moving faster than the international community at large" to ensure UK aircraft were fitted with reinforced flight deck doors.
"Last month we acted to ensure that flight deck doors on foreign aircraft are kept locked, as they have been on UK aircraft since very soon after the US attacks.
"We have also placed strict limits on those able to be on the flight deck of UK aircraft."
Mr Darling's officials refused to say whether the government would insist airlines accept the air marshals or whether all flights would be covered. "We are not discussing the criteria at all," one told Reuters.
'Serious threat'
Officials believe the most likely form of an international terrorism attack is against the transport system such as planes or some form of unsophisticated chemical warfare, or using high-explosives in a conventional bomb.
Prime Minister Tony Blair also said on Wednesday that the threat posed by al-Qaeda terror group was "real and serious".
A government source confirmed that "small numbers" of al-Qaeda terrorists were operating in the UK.
An attack was "not inevitable" but such groups were extremely determined.
The government source said their understanding of the nature and character of al-Qaeda had improved.
Long haul
The source said: "Al-Qaeda itself may in the next few years transform itself into something else, but the ideas behind it won't go away.
"My prediction is that we are in for a long haul.
"We cannot be optimistic that the short-term war on terror is going to remove them in the next couple of years.
"The sensible precaution for the nation is a sustained campaign to improve our national resilience."
Since 11 September, the government has stepped up searches on staff, passengers and their hand and hold baggage, vehicles, cargo and catering, with a particular emphasis on flights going to key destinations such as the USA.
The range of articles not allowed aboard aircraft has been added to and more funding has been channelled into airport policing.
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