WASHINGTON (AP) -- Private planes that fly into the restricted airspace of the nation's capital will be more likely to be met by limousine drivers than by F-16s in three months, if all goes as planned.
That's because the government, for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001, will allow corporate jets, charter flights and private aircraft to take off and land at Reagan Washington National Airport.
The decision, expected to be announced Wednesday, may come as a surprise, considering that on May 11 a small plane that flew into restricted airspace just three miles from the White House came close to being shot down.
But as memories of the terrorist attacks fade, the desire for convenience starts to outweigh security concerns, said Brian Jenkins, a counterterrorism expert at the RAND Corp.
''We already have slid into a dangerous complacency,'' Jenkins said. ''The operative presumption must be that there are still people determined to carry attacks against us.''
Security has always had to be balanced with the need to keep commerce flowing. In a democracy, competing agendas have to be accommodated.
The result: inconsistent security practices. Aviation is no exception.
On passenger airliners, people are checked for explosives, but the cargo in the hold isn't.
Airspace was restricted over New York City and Washington at the start of the Iraq war - then lifted from New York, but not Washington.
Airline passengers have to remain seated within 30 minutes of takeoff or landing from Reagan National - but passengers on planes in the same airspace have to obey no such rule if they're flying into or out of a different airport.
Jenkins said opening Reagan National to private planes has more to do with the agenda of wealthy people than it does with keeping the economy moving.
''We're not talking about efficiency, we're not talking about ports, borders,'' he said. ''We're talking about creating a filter through which only the most privileged will be able to pass. Not because there's some vital service that's being done to the nation that obliges us to accept these risks, but because some plutocrat finds it impossible to drive in from Dulles.''
Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., and chairman of the House Transportation Committee's aviation subcommittee, said the ''politicians and highfalutin' people'' already get waivers to fly into Reagan National.
''It's overdue,'' said Mica. ''It can be done safely, I've been convinced all along.''
Congress has been pressuring the Transportation Security Administration to reopen Reagan National to general aviation for years. It is far more convenient to downtown Washington than the other two airports in the region, Dulles International Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
But the TSA has been reluctant to reopen Reagan National Airport to private aircraft because it's so close to the Capitol, the Pentagon, the White House and other potential terrorist targets. The airport is within the capital city's restricted zone, about a 16-mile radius around the Washington Monument.
It took weeks after the terror attacks for security officials to reopen the airport to commercial airlines.
The requirements to fly into the airport will be strict, said people familiar with the plan who spoke on condition of anonymity because the TSA had not yet made an announcement.
In 90 days, the plan would allow 48 flights into the airport a day. Their crews will have to have their backgrounds checked and an armed law enforcement officer will have to be on board, the people said.
Planes will have to stop first at one of 12 so-called gateway airports so passengers and flight crew can undergo security screening, according to the plan.
Since February 2003, private planes have not been allowed to fly in the Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ - an area of about 2,000 square miles radiating from the three airports around Washington - unless they have a special transponder code and maintain radio contact with the Federal Aviation Administration.
A small single-engine plane that flew within three miles of the White House on May 11 caused the evacuation of thousands of people and the scrambling of two F-16s, a Black Hawk helicopter and a Citation jet.
Mica said the incident had nothing to do with opening the airport to general aviation. He applauded Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff for allowing the plan to go forward.
''We've gotten up to this point several times, and the bureaucrats all ran like scalded dogs,'' Mica said.
