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American Morning

Homeland Security: NORAD Watches Skies

Aired October 26, 2001 - 09:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Since September 11, U.S. officials knew that they could face decisions that nobody ever wants to face, whether to authorize the military to shoot down a hijacked jet, an act might kill innocent Americans in order to save even more lives on the ground. The order to shoot down such a plane would fall to the NORAD Space Command Center, in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado.

That is where CNN's correspondent Frank Buckley is standing by this morning.

Frank, good morning.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

This potential shoot-down order falls to two NORAD regional commanders overseen by the commander-in-chief here of NORAD, Gen. Eberhart. NORAD has been in place since 1958, protecting the United States from threats from outside of the United States, threats from the skies. The people who work here deep within mountain complex at Cheyenne Mountain say that mission hasn't changed, but they also now face a new threat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY (voice-over): The sophisticated technology and the highly trained military personnel who watch space and the skies are part of a mission that began during the height of the Cold War, when Soviet bombers were believed to be a threat. Then it was inter- continental ballistic missiles.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Detail assessment: This could be a possible ICBM launch from a known large location in North Korea.

BUCKLEY: Say still drill for such threats, this a demonstration. But on September 11, it wasn't a missile or a bomber that violated U.S. airspace -- it was an airliner, from within.

BRIG. GEN. MICHAEL GOULD, CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN OPERATIONS CENTER: I think the entire world was shocked and surprised.

BUCKLEY: Brig. Gen. Michael Gould is the commander of the operation center. He says things have changed here since 9/11.

GOULD: What has changed is the focus of how we look at the air picture. Previously, the attack that we worried about was something coming from outside our borders inward. Since the 11th, we, obviously, have to also monitor traffic from within the United States.

BUCKLEY: Now, in air warning center there is a constant call under way with the FAA and new software that allows trackers to call up information on any of the 5,000 flights aloft over North America on this day.

LT. COL. WILLIAM GLOVER, NORAD AIR WARNING CENTER: What you are seeing is flights that have filed a flight plan with FAA in the interior of the United States. This represents everything that is flying at the current moment.

BUCKLEY: Among the flights, those in blue, combat air patrols permanently stationed over New York and Washington, randomly patrolling other major cities. The men and women here are confident that it is again safe to fly.

GOULD: In fact, my wife and I are taking a trip this weekend for a couple days, have no concerns whatsoever.

BUCKLEY: The work of monitoring North America's skies takes place deep within Colorado's Cheyenne Mountain, a tunnel the only way in.

(on camera): A third of a mile into the building is a set of blast doors designed to withstand the pressure waves from a nuclear detonation, each one of them 3 feet thick and made of all steel construction. Hydraulics open and close the door within 30 to 45 seconds. All of it here is designed to protect the complex of 15 buildings inside, that make up the Cheyenne Mountain Operation Center.

(voice-over): It was to provide for the needs of 800 essential personnel in the event of nuclear war, with internal water reservoirs, cots and food stored in closets, a store, a mess hall, a chapel, and a gym -- all part of a city inside a mountain that would have survived nuclear attack. Instead it survived the Cold War, lived to see a threat they say they could have never foreseen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NORAD also now is augmented in its responsibilities with additional ground radar located throughout the United States and early-warning AWACS planes coming from NATO -- Paula.

ZAHN: Frank Buckley, fascinating to see what goes on inside there. Thanks so much for that report.

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