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| FBI Renewed Investigations of Crop Dusters After Iraq War Began |
| 2004-04-30 |
| Smaller airports have been under scrutiny by federal officials amid renewed concerns that terrorists may use crop dusters to carry out attacks. The FBI has questioned more than 3,000 pilots and aircraft owners, most of them in the past year, as agents probe fears that crop-dusting planes could be used to disperse biological or chemical weapons. Local experts and pilots believe the planes are secure. State officials estimate there are about 80 pilots licensed to apply pesticides in Idaho. ... Colleen Hartnett, manager of the Nampa Airport, said she does believe private pilots locally are more security conscious than they once were -- but not because of terrorism. She said theft of planes, parts and fuel is a bigger concern. Security measures in place at the airport include a surveillance camera and locked gates surrounding the airfield. Airport tenants can open the gates using a code. Hartnett said one difference she has noticed since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks is that pilots are more generally wary of people wandering around the planes. .... Most of the FBI’s crop-duster interviews were conducted after the March 2003 start of the war in Iraq, which triggered new concerns about terrorists acquiring and using weapons of mass destruction. The law enforcement official who described the initiative, known as the Agricultural Aviation Threat Project, told The Associated Press it was continuing. .... |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |