Officials discuss shooting down hijacked commercial jets

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon's top officials sought to reassure travelers Thursday about the military's procedures for deciding whether to shoot at a hijacked commercial jet.

Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said of military fighter pilots, "Don't get the impression that anyone who's flying around out there has a loose trigger finger."

Shelton spoke at a Pentagon news conference with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld said that for security reasons he could not reveal details of the procedures that have been established since the deadly hijackings on Sept. 11. In cases in which time allowed, the president would be consulted before military action was taken, he said.

If time was too short, the final decision on firing at a civilian airliner could be made by a general responsible for U.S. air defense. Rumsfeld and others stressed this would be rare, a last resort.

"Very, very senior people are able to address a matter in real time and ask the right questions and make the right judgments," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference. He said he has been consulted a number of times since Sept. 11 about "concerns, questions about what various aircraft might be doing in various locations of the world."

Vice President Dick Cheney said earlier this month that President Bush had decided, following the hijackings Sept. 11, that airliners which clearly imperiled civilian populations should be shot down.