Aviation Week & Space Technology Reports: Security Breach Forces Tighter Space Shuttle Protection

Business Wire, July 10, 2001

Business Editors/Aviation Writers

Kennedy Space Center, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 10, 2001

Security forces are sharply increasing the surveillance and overall level of anti-terrorist protection around the space shuttle launch pads this week ahead of the scheduled July 12 launch of the orbiter Atlantis, according to an exclusive Aviation Week & Space Technology report carried on its website AviationNow.com.

The moves are a direct result of a NASA/USAF/contractor review conducted in the wake of a major Kennedy Space Center security breach July 5 by an undetected smuggler and 15 Chinese illegal aliens. Officials said NASA budget cuts have thwarted the installation of greater security measures at the shuttle launch site.

The increased concern is coupled with a worldwide U. S. alert because of threat from suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden.

A Jamaican, working under the cover of darkness, managed to land a sizable boat carrying 15 Chinese on the Atlantic shore near the launch pads. The concern is that the boat operations and aliens in the brush went undetected for hours in what is supposed to be a highly secure area.

Had the landing been carried out as successfully by terrorists, they could have attacked and severely damaged unmanned launchers or the shuttle Discovery on Pad 39A or Atlantis on Pad 39B.

"You can bet we have increased our coverage in the area where these people came in," Burch said. "Yes we are vulnerable." Calvin Burch who heads Kennedy Security told Aviation Week & Space Technology.

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