Plane escorted by fighter jets today 2022

— -- Fighters Escort Plane to NYC Airport

N E W Y O R K, July 17 — Military jets escorted a jet to LaGuardiaInternational Airport after a passenger became alarmed by a groupof people passing notes, officials said.

About 15 minutes before American Trans Air Flight 204 was due toarrive from Chicago on Tuesday, a passenger told a flight attendantthat seven others were engaged in "suspicious activity," passingnotes and changing seats, Port Authority spokesman Alan Hicks said.

The seven passengers, who are from India, were released earlytoday, Port Authority officials said. They belonged to anIndian performance group and may have been rehearsing or discussinga performance when they attracted suspicion, their New York host,Chiru Vijanam, told WNBC-TV.

The flight attendant notified the pilot, who alerted federalaviation authorities. Two F-16 fighter jets escorted the plane — aBoeing 757 with 98 passengers plus a crew — to the ground, saidMaj. Barry Venable, a spokesman for the North American AerospaceDefense Command.

The plane landed five minutes late, and no one was hurt.

Since Sept. 11, NORAD has scrambled fighters or diverted themfrom other missions more than 400 times to assist civilian aviationauthorities, Venable said.

— The Associated Press

Spanish Arrests Spur California Security

S A C R A M E N T O, Calif., July 16 — Police doubled patrols near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge after three suspected al-Qaeda terrorists were arrested in Spain with videos of the bridge and other landmarks.

The videos had images of the World Trade Center from "different angles from different distances," as well as images of the Golden Gate Bridge, Disneyland and Universal studios in California, Spanish investigators said Tuesday.

California Highway Patrol officers fanned out to talk to local police and beefed up security soon after the arrests became public, said George Vinson, the security adviser for Gov. Gray Davis.

"We're just taking it very significantly because of where it comes from," Vinson said.

Vinson said the Anaheim and Los Angeles police departments, and security personnel for Disneyland and Universal Studios were notified of the videos.

However, Disneyland and the Anaheim Police Department denied being alerted by state authorities and reported they were taking no unusual security measures.

"I can confidently say that nothing out of the ordinary is taking place," said an Anaheim police spokesman, Sgt. Rick Martinez. "However, nothing is ordinary since Sept. 11."

New York's Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Sears tower in Chicago were also included in the videos.

Investigators have previously found similar video tapes, maps and pictures though not of California sites, Vinson said.

"We've been through this drill a number of times," Vinson said. "Just possessing that stuff isn't against the law, and without something further from interviews or whatever, it's difficult to tell if they were planning an attack."

The three men arrested Tuesday in Spain are Syrian and two had Spanish nationality.

One suspect, Ghasoub Al-Abrash Ghalyoun, was arrested in April but released.

Spanish officials said the suspension pillar of the Golden Gate Bridge "is given substantial attention" in the tapes. Other videos were extremely violent and showed Islamic fighters training in camps and during combat scenes in Chechnya, the Spanish Interior Ministry said in a statement.

— The Associated Press

Bush Releases Homeland Security Strategy

W A S H I N G T O N, July 16 — President Bush submitted to Congress today the nation's first comprehensive strategy for confronting terrorism within U.S. borders, calling the protectionof America "our most urgent national priority."

"This comprehensive plan lays out clear lines of authority andclear responsibilities — responsibilities for federal employees andfor governors and mayors and community and business leaders and theAmerican citizens," Bush said, flanked in the Rose Garden bylawmakers on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.Members of Congress are debating this week the president's plan fora new Department of Homeland Security.

"With a better picture of those responsibilities, all of us candirect money and manpower to meet them," Bush said.

The 90-page White House document, released in softcover bookformat, envisions changes in state and federal laws, includingincreasing the military's ability to operate within the UnitedStates, and it outlines dozens of long-range initiatives to improvehomeland security.

Key to the president's overall strategy is creation of a newCabinet-level department to implement the plan.

"The current structure of our government is a patchwork — toput it best — of overlapping responsibilities, and it really doeshinder our ability to protect the homeland," the president said.

For example, the strategy suggests that states adopt similarminimum standards for getting a driver's license to guard againstease of access by terrorists and that states make terrorisminsurance more readily available to businesses and property owners.

On the federal level, it says extradition agreements with othernations should be expanded, that the federal government should getgreater authority to call out the National Guard and that thepresident should have greater power to transfer money appropriatedby Congress to deal with terrorist threats inside U.S. borders.

Also today, the White House dispatched a cadre of Cabinetsecretaries to lobby Congress as the House select committee washearing from Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson,Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Transportation Secretary NormanMineta and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

The panel will assemble legislation to create the new HomelandSecurity agency out of recommendations made by other Housecommittees, many of which conflict with Bush's own proposals. Theadministration is urging lawmakers to stick with Bush's blueprint.

"This is a national strategy, not a federal strategy," Bushwrote in a letter to the nation accompanying the release of hisstrategy, which he described as the product of eight months ofconsultation with thousands of people, including politicians, civilservants, and victims and their families.

Tom Ridge, Bush's homeland security chief, today called theWhite House strategy document "a roadmap designed to takeadvantage of the universe of assets we have in this country, inorder to protect ourselves and our country."

The strategy, the first of its kind in U.S. history, says itsgoals are to prevent terrorism, reduce vulnerability to attacks andminimize damage from any that do occur. It leaves little doubt thatgroups such as al Qaeda are all but certain to strike again.

"Our society presents an almost infinite array of potentialtargets that can be attacked through a variety of methods," asummary of the strategy says. "We must be prepared to adapt as ourenemies in the war on terrorism alter their means of attack."

In addition to the new Cabinet-level agency, the strategyrecommends several key initiatives, such as securing internationalshipping containers, augmenting vaccine stockpiles, enhancing theFBI's analytical capabilities, improving cooperation amongdifferent levels of federal, state and local governments andupgrading computer security.

— The Associated Press

New Calif. Law Upholds Right to Display Flag

L O S A N G E L E S, July 16 — Californians who live in condominiums canfeel free to fly American flags under a new law that was promptedby scattered reports of homeowner associations asking residents totake down flags or remove flagpoles.

"That's the last thing that should happen in America after theevents of Sept. 11," Gov. Gray Davis said Monday at a bill-signingceremony held at a condo complex where about two dozen flags wereon display.

Between 6 million and 9 million Californians live in areas withsome kind of community association regulations, said Guy Puccio, alobbyist for the Executive Council of Homeowners, which has 1,450California homeowner associations as members.

The bill prevents bans on flag display in a resident's"exclusive use" area such as a window or balcony. Puccio saidpermission would be required to put up a flagpole or otherpatriotic display in a "common area" for all residents.

— The Associated Press