Evacuation of the White House???

[W1N]

Security alert prompts evacuation of U.S. Capitol and White House. Details soon. There are fighter jets flying over the the Capitol Hill. Why???

[W1N]

Security alert prompts evacuation of U.S. Capitol and White House. Details soon. There are fighter jets flying over the the Capitol Hill. Why???

[W1N]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by W1N:
Security alert prompts evacuation of U.S. Capitol and White House. Details soon. There are fighter jets flying over the the Capitol Hill. Why??? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

White House, Capitol evacuated
From staff and wire reports
WASHINGTON — The White House and the Capitol Building were evacuated about noon Thursday after a small plane entered restricted airspace, but the evacuation was lifted about 20 minutes later.

A senior law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the alarm was caused by an aircraft incursion over the protected airspace over Washington but there was no indication a terrorist attack was under way.

MSNBC and CNN also reported that military jets had been scrambled over the skies of Washington. Two F-16 jets had been spotted in the restricted airspace over the White House and the Capitol, CNN reported. The network also reported that the FAA was tracking an unidentified aircraft that flew over the restricted airspace.

Sarah Little, an aide to Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. said the order to evacuate came over the special pager devices issued to every congressional office.

"They said to head South because there is an imminent aircraft threat," Little said.

Reporters in the White House were told to move to a more secure location.

A guard in the West Wing of the White House shouted at reporters, "Go down into the basement."

"Leave, run," security officers shouted to staff and reporters at the Capitol.

"This is not a drill," guards shouted as they moved people away from the building.

President Bush was not at the White House at the time.

Shortly after noon, officers rushed through the Supreme Court building and told staff to get into the basement. At the Treasury Department, people were moved across the street.

[PARAGON]

Some idiot flying a plane flew into restricted air space. It's all called off now.

[h2co-pilot]

I bet you it was Maz, he popped his plug and hopped on to the Blingiest aircraft he could find and headed to DC.

[PARAGON]

Might be terrorist testing our response and response time.

I am not sure about accuracy here, but it's "being reported" that it was a flight instructor and his student on their way to an air show.

They did not respond to attempted radio contacts and 2 F-16s fired 4 warning shots at them. Yes fired 4 warning shots.

[PARAGON]

President Bush's security detail challenged by four scares in two weeks

By Deb Riechmann
ASSOCIATED PRESS
3:20 p.m. May 11, 2005

WASHINGTON – Security scares have jarred President Bush's Secret Service detail four times in the past two weeks, including one scare it didn't know about until it was all over.

On Wednesday, the West Wing of the White House was evacuated after a two-seat plane wandered into restricted air space over the compound. The White House raised its threat level to red – the highest – for eight minutes.

The president, who was on a bike ride, was not inside at the time. Vice President Dick Cheney, first lady Laura Bush and former first lady Nancy Reagan, overnighting at the White House for a special event, were moved to secure locations.

The day before, foreign security officials said they found a grenade about 100 feet from where Bush was speaking in Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgia. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Wednesday that the Secret Service had no reason to move Bush because security officials in the ex-Soviet republic didn't tell them about it until after Air Force One had left the nation.

Georgia's National Security Council chief Gela Bezhuashvili said Wednesday that he suspected the grenade, which he described as inactive, was planted to undermine the upbeat event. He denied reports the grenade was thrown – contradicting a statement from Secret Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry, who said it hit somebody in the crowd and dropped to the ground.

Georgian security officials said the grenade was inactive. McClellan wouldn't confirm that.

"I don't know that that's been determined from our standpoint," McClellan said, adding that FBI and Secret Service investigations were under way.

On April 27, Bush was rushed to an underground White House bunker and Cheney was whisked outside the compound when a "radar anomaly" – perhaps a flock of birds or pocket of rain – was mistaken for a plane flying in restricted airspace, officials said. The late-morning scare was determined within minutes to be a false alarm.

Later that day, security officials sent a robotic device to investigate what turned out to be a harmless bag left along Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.