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American Morning

Homeland Security: Fighter Jets Patrolling Skies Over Several Big Cities

Aired November 26, 2001 - 08:53   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.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: The Cuban Missile Crisis is the last time that they flew protective air cover over the continental United States, but they're doing again. Ever since September 11th, fighter jets patrolling the skies over several of the big cities, including New York and Washington D.C. They're part of something called "Operation Noble Eagle," the first combat air patrol of its kind since the Cuban Missile Crisis some four decades ago.

Colonel Mike Cosby is a commander with the 177th fighter wing of New Jersey's Air National Guard, and he joins us from Egg Harbor Township in Central New Jersey, on patrol.

Colonel, nice to have you with us. Welcome.

COL. MIKE COSBY, AIR NATIONAL GUARD: Good morning, jack.

CAFFERTY: What can you tell us about the missions you're flying?

COSBY: Well, as you know, the North American Aerospace Defense Command on the 11th of September very quickly changed their mission from looking outside the continental United States to looking inside, based upon the attacks on Washington D.C. and New York.

So currently NORAD has many fighter aircraft, airborne observing aircraft and refueling tankers all over the continental United States working 24 hours a day, seven days a week defending our country.

CAFFERTY: Is the option to fire on a civilian jetliner still a part of the mission package?

COSBY: Well, unfortunately, it is, but you must realize that NORAD and the president of the United States, through the entire chain of command, will take extraordinary efforts to ensure that that will never happens, but in the absolute ultimate results that we would have to do that, then that lies with the president and two generals in the United States.

ZAHN: Without betraying any company secrets, what are roughly the kinds of conditions that would have to exist to at least bring this possibility into the list of options?

COSBY: Well, unfortunately, I think we've seen that four times already. The conditions that existed for the World Trade Center, for the Pentagon and, of course, the unfortunate flight in the Pennsylvania countryside.

ZAHN: You're standing in front of those F-16s that are on the flight line behind you. Tell me a little bit about the capability of this aircraft. This is a fairly hot machine, isn't it?

COSBY: Well, it is a pretty sexy fighter. It's one of several that NORAD is using to defend the continental United States. This aircraft is manufactured by Lockheed-Martin Corporation. It's a general purpose aircraft, which means does both air-to-air and air-to- ground. Since the 11th of September, our mission changed very quickly from general purpose to quickly aerospace defense of the continental United States.

ZAHN: Are these things in the air 24/7, colonel?

COSBY: Somewhere in United States, there is Air Force airplanes, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve airplanes defending our skies 24 hours a day, seven days a week since the 11th of September.

ZAHN: When your airborne, give me a sense of the priorities of the kinds of potential targets that you're protecting against?

COSBY: Well, of course when we are airborne, that makes us immediately available to support the Federal Aviation Administration and NORAD, to react very quickly to any airborne type of attack, similar to the ones we saw on 11th of September, but it could be basically any type of aircraft that is threatening people or property of the United States.

ZAHN: Were you a full-time member of the Air National Guard prior to September 11th, or was this part of call-up that happened after the terrorist attacks?

COSBY: As the wing commander, I'm a full-time member here. About 30 percent of our folks are full-time, and about 70 percent are what we call traditional Guardsmen or -women. However, since the September of 11th, our role is almost reversed. About 65 percent of our folks are now here full time, and the remainder is still traditional. And so those folks that have been called up have left their civilian jobs. They were policemen, firemen, schoolteachers, things like that, and they've come out here to defend our country.

ZAHN: How many times have you had to scramble the fighters since September 11th?

COSBY: We've flown -- since September 11th, we've flown over 2,500 hours. Normally, an Air National Guard like ours will fly about 4,000 hours a year. So in the last 68 or 69 days, we've almost flown half of our yearly flying allocation.

CAFFERTY: Wow. Incredible. Colonel, nice to have you with us. I appreciate. Thank you.

COSBY: Thank you very much. Nice talking to you.

CAFFERTY: Colonel Mike Cosby, the wing commander of the 177th fighter wing of the Air National Guard joining us from New Jersey.

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