Three Department of Homeland Security agencies are collaborating on a proposal to have small aircraft entering the United States land at so-called “gateway airports” so they can be inspected before traveling to large cities.
The concern is that terrorists could use general aviation to import radiological and nuclear weapons and materials. The nightmare scenario is that a rogue pilot flies close to a city and detonates a nuclear bomb.
The Domestic Nuclear Detections Office is working with Customs and Border Protection and Transportation Security Administration on a concept that would require general aviation aircraft flying from overseas to stop at international gateway airports, where they will be scanned for radiological and nuclear material before flying into U.S. airspace.
“In order to minimize flight deviations for international general aviation traffic from Canada and Mexico, our [DNDO] proposed concept would pair the international gateway airports with a complementary network of domestic gateway airports,” said Charles Galloway, acting director of DNDO, at a House Homeland Security transportation security and infrastructure protection subcommittee hearing. The domestic gateways would be located at airports within the United States near the northern and southern borders, but located away from densely populated urban areas. Many of these airports already have CBP inspectors on hand.
There are more than 19,000 total landing facilities designated for small aircraft in the United States and about 400 international inbound general aviation flights a day. A Government Accountability Office report on general aviation security said that “ the small size, lack of fuel capacity, and minimal destructive power of most general aviation aircraft make them unattractive to terrorists and, thereby, reduce the possibility of threats associated with their misuse.”
Galloway said he didn’t agree with that statement. General aviation aircraft may be an attractive alternative to commercial aircraft for terrorists to exploit. “It offers speed, physical control of the weapon and the relative lack of inspection, detection and regulation,” Galloway said.