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CNN Live Today

Interview With Michael Miller

Aired December 02, 2002 - 09:07   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.


BILL HEMMER: Quickly let's turn our attention to Kenya. The attacks of last week certainly heightened concerns that shoulder-fired missiles might be used against more airliners around the world, possibly here in the U.S. Many have talked about that for the past year. Two missiles barely missed an Israeli charter jet last week as it was taking off, headed for Tel Aviv out of Mombasa, Kenya.
What could the airlines do to protect planes from such attacks? Let's talk about it with aviation expert Michael Miller, live in Orlando, Florida. Sir, good morning to you, good to have you with us.

MICHAEL MILLER, AVIATION EXPERT: Hi, Bill, how are you?

HEMMING: I'm doing fine, thank you very much, coming off the holiday here. How big of a concern, how big of a scare should this be right now?

MILLER: Well, first of all, it's a very real concern overseas since the proliferation of shoulder-launched missiles is very extensive overseas, including a lot of U.S. technology that we have given to various countries over the years and they have found their way to the hands of many people, including terrorists.

Michael, let me put up -- Richard Shelby, a senator, over the weekend was talking. I put up a quote here that he used over the weekend relative to this story. He says, "Let's be honest about it, there are thousands of these surface-to-air missiles around the world. The Stinger missile," made by the U.S. in fact, "is the top of the line, but there are a lot of others that are out there. You can buy them and you can transport them. A lot of them are not as accurate as others, but sooner or later, that's going to be one of the methods for the terrorists to hit."

Concerns in any way the way he's speaking, or is that just the reality the way he states it?

MILLER: Well, the way he's speaking first of all shows the very real threat that exists around the world to commercial airliners. In fact, more than 30 aircraft of private and commercial use, both airliners and private aircraft, have been shot down by surface-to-air missile, Pan Am Lockerbie is the most famous. And the USS Vincenne shot down an Iranian airliner from a surface-to-air missile.

So it's a real threat, but I have to say that I think it's pretty irresponsible for people at the -- for senators within the Senate Intelligence Committee to speak out in this way to basically incite fear in the general public saying, "There's a threat. We need to act immediately." But they don't really show what the threat is. And I think...

HEMMING: But Michael, that's kind of been the theme for the past 15 months running, don't you think?

MILLER: It is. I mean, Jack Cafferty mentioned it earlier. We're 15 months after September 11th and we still don't have clear aviation security guidelines. We still don't know what the threats are. There are closed door meetings in Washington, but the general public really is kept in the dark about whether shoulder-launched missiles are a threat that we need to take seriously.

HEMMING: OK, Michael, if indeed that's the case, what do you do in the near-term? Is there preventive measures you can take to be preemptive on this front? Do you equip the airlines? Do you train the pilots? What happens?

MILLER: First of all, maybe over the long-term we look at solutions to be put on board an airplane. But the airlines are not the protectors against terror right now.

I think the TSA, the Transportation Security Administration, needs to divulge whether this is a threat or not so we can put it in clear perspective. And at the same time, I think there needs to be more than lip service paid to this issue, the Clinton/Gore administration back in 1997 said this is a threat as well and did nothing about it, really.

We need to address the threat. If there is a threat, we need to make it clear what exactly the problem is. This is not clearly an airline issue, shoulder-launched missiles could affect stadiums, it could effect buses.

HEMMER: Certainly the airlines they're at the forefront when comes to this argument. The biggest fear of all is to have a terrorist stand at the end of a runway somewhere in America and ready to take a potshot.

MILLER: Right, as long as these missiles can be shot from ten miles away from any airport, it's kind of like saying let's protect every major city throughout the U.S. To start there when the threat is today, according to U.S. intelligence officials, we can't start with protect every U.S. city from everybody and everyone.

I think there needs to first identify the threat, clarify threat and make sure all parties, including the airlines, are involved in addressing it.

HEMMER: Let's talk about Kenya specifially. I don't know if you can address this or not. Are El Al pilots, are they trained with evasive messures and in turn are U.S. pilots ever given the same training?

MILLER: First of all, El Al pilots are trained in a number of evasive measures. Their aircraft are also equipped, supposedly, they've divulged this publically, with extra security measures and countermeasures.

The aircraft that actually was shot at was a former equivalent of Air Force One for the prime minister of Israel. So it's likely that that aircraft, that specific aircraft, did have some special equipment on board. But you're talking about a country that has 30 or 40 commercial airliners versus the U.S. with 8 or 9,000.

HEMMER: And one airport.

MILLER: One main airport. Exactly.

HEMMER: Thank you, Michael. Michael Miller, again live in Orlando, an aviation expert talking about this topic. Appreciate you coming.

MILLER: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 2, 2002 - 09:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER: Quickly let's turn our attention to Kenya. The attacks of last week certainly heightened concerns that shoulder-fired missiles might be used against more airliners around the world, possibly here in the U.S. Many have talked about that for the past year. Two missiles barely missed an Israeli charter jet last week as it was taking off, headed for Tel Aviv out of Mombasa, Kenya.
What could the airlines do to protect planes from such attacks? Let's talk about it with aviation expert Michael Miller, live in Orlando, Florida. Sir, good morning to you, good to have you with us.

MICHAEL MILLER, AVIATION EXPERT: Hi, Bill, how are you?

HEMMING: I'm doing fine, thank you very much, coming off the holiday here. How big of a concern, how big of a scare should this be right now?

MILLER: Well, first of all, it's a very real concern overseas since the proliferation of shoulder-launched missiles is very extensive overseas, including a lot of U.S. technology that we have given to various countries over the years and they have found their way to the hands of many people, including terrorists.

Michael, let me put up -- Richard Shelby, a senator, over the weekend was talking. I put up a quote here that he used over the weekend relative to this story. He says, "Let's be honest about it, there are thousands of these surface-to-air missiles around the world. The Stinger missile," made by the U.S. in fact, "is the top of the line, but there are a lot of others that are out there. You can buy them and you can transport them. A lot of them are not as accurate as others, but sooner or later, that's going to be one of the methods for the terrorists to hit."

Concerns in any way the way he's speaking, or is that just the reality the way he states it?

MILLER: Well, the way he's speaking first of all shows the very real threat that exists around the world to commercial airliners. In fact, more than 30 aircraft of private and commercial use, both airliners and private aircraft, have been shot down by surface-to-air missile, Pan Am Lockerbie is the most famous. And the USS Vincenne shot down an Iranian airliner from a surface-to-air missile.

So it's a real threat, but I have to say that I think it's pretty irresponsible for people at the -- for senators within the Senate Intelligence Committee to speak out in this way to basically incite fear in the general public saying, "There's a threat. We need to act immediately." But they don't really show what the threat is. And I think...

HEMMING: But Michael, that's kind of been the theme for the past 15 months running, don't you think?

MILLER: It is. I mean, Jack Cafferty mentioned it earlier. We're 15 months after September 11th and we still don't have clear aviation security guidelines. We still don't know what the threats are. There are closed door meetings in Washington, but the general public really is kept in the dark about whether shoulder-launched missiles are a threat that we need to take seriously.

HEMMING: OK, Michael, if indeed that's the case, what do you do in the near-term? Is there preventive measures you can take to be preemptive on this front? Do you equip the airlines? Do you train the pilots? What happens?

MILLER: First of all, maybe over the long-term we look at solutions to be put on board an airplane. But the airlines are not the protectors against terror right now.

I think the TSA, the Transportation Security Administration, needs to divulge whether this is a threat or not so we can put it in clear perspective. And at the same time, I think there needs to be more than lip service paid to this issue, the Clinton/Gore administration back in 1997 said this is a threat as well and did nothing about it, really.

We need to address the threat. If there is a threat, we need to make it clear what exactly the problem is. This is not clearly an airline issue, shoulder-launched missiles could affect stadiums, it could effect buses.

HEMMER: Certainly the airlines they're at the forefront when comes to this argument. The biggest fear of all is to have a terrorist stand at the end of a runway somewhere in America and ready to take a potshot.

MILLER: Right, as long as these missiles can be shot from ten miles away from any airport, it's kind of like saying let's protect every major city throughout the U.S. To start there when the threat is today, according to U.S. intelligence officials, we can't start with protect every U.S. city from everybody and everyone.

I think there needs to first identify the threat, clarify threat and make sure all parties, including the airlines, are involved in addressing it.

HEMMER: Let's talk about Kenya specifially. I don't know if you can address this or not. Are El Al pilots, are they trained with evasive messures and in turn are U.S. pilots ever given the same training?

MILLER: First of all, El Al pilots are trained in a number of evasive measures. Their aircraft are also equipped, supposedly, they've divulged this publically, with extra security measures and countermeasures.

The aircraft that actually was shot at was a former equivalent of Air Force One for the prime minister of Israel. So it's likely that that aircraft, that specific aircraft, did have some special equipment on board. But you're talking about a country that has 30 or 40 commercial airliners versus the U.S. with 8 or 9,000.

HEMMER: And one airport.

MILLER: One main airport. Exactly.

HEMMER: Thank you, Michael. Michael Miller, again live in Orlando, an aviation expert talking about this topic. Appreciate you coming.

MILLER: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com