Fed: Armed sky marshals start duty today on domestic flights

AAP General News (Australia)
12-31-2001
Fed: Armed sky marshals start duty today on domestic flights

By Elizabeth Gosch, Liza Kappelle and Linda McSweeny

CANBERRA, Dec 31 AAP - Armed sky marshals began undercover operations on domestic flights
today as the government said more than 100 should be in place by the end of next year
to prevent terrorist attacks.

Justice Minister Chris Ellison said 22 Air Security Officers (ASOs) began undercover
operations on random domestic flights across the country today.

The sky marshals will carry guns and will travel incognito, in pairs.

Senator Ellison said the weapons could be used on aircraft but the ASOs would fire
them only as a last resort.

"The ammunition and velocity of the weapon concerned is similar to that used overseas
and is not one which would penetrate the fuselage of an aircraft," Senator Ellison told
journalists in Perth.

"But (the ASOs) will be armed sufficiently to take care of any terrorist threat on
an Australian aircraft."

Asked if the 22 recently graduated sky marshals would shoot to kill if passengers'
lives were at risk, Senator Ellison said the ASOs could use their weapons if necessary.

"They are permitted to use appropriate and reasonable force in the circumstances.

"And of course they could face extreme circumstances, and necessary action would no
doubt be required."

While he was unable to confirm whether ASOs would masquerade as holidaymakers, Senator
Ellison said the 22 men and women would be travelling incognito.

Measures had been put into place to prevent the ASOs being identified, he said.

"This will offer assurance to the travelling public of Australia that there will be,
on board domestic flights in Australia, measures to deal with any threats of the sort
that we have seen overseas," Senator Ellison said.

The government expected 111 ASOs to be operating by the end of 2002.

Speaking on other Australian measures against terrorism, Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer said on ABC radio today that the search for Osama bin Laden would continue until
the terrorist leader was found.

Mr Downer said bin Laden was now a refugee who would find it difficult to operate his
terrorist network while fleeing coalition forces.

"The hunt goes on to try to find him. And we'll certainly find him in the end, however
long that takes," Mr Downer said.

"But of course for as long as he is a refugee in this sense, fleeing from the allied
forces, it's very difficult for him to operate the al-Qaeda network."

Bin Laden is believed to be on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border.

However, it was unlikely Australia would provide much more foreign aid to Afghanistan.

Australia had spent $23 million on foreign aid to Afghanistan in recent months and
would find it difficult to spend much more, Mr Downer said.

"We've already made a substantial increase," he said.

There was no point boosting spending without first working out precisely what it would
be spent on, he said.

"But certainly, within the context of our present national budget, it would be hard
to spend a great deal more than that," Mr Downer said.

AAP eg/kmh/cjh/de

KEYWORD: TERROR MARSHALS NIGHTLEAD

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