EU: European countries will come round to the idea of using armed marshals on board transatlantic aircraft, a senior member of the Bush administration predicted yesterday after meeting civil aviation officials from the European Union countries, writes Tim King in Brussels
Mr Asa Hutchinson said that while he knew of "a handful" of EU countries that were currently contemplating developing an air marshal programme, he expected that to double to "two handfuls".
"In response to recent threats, they are moving in that direction," said Mr Hutchinson, who has responsibility for aviation security in the US Department of Homeland Security.
Mr Hutchinson was speaking in Brussels after presenting to European officials the thinking behind the US announcement of December 29th that international air carriers could now be required to place armed, trained, government law-enforcement officers on designated flights to, from or over the US.
The announcement provoked disquiet in some European countries, with pilots and passenger groups criticising the idea.
Mr Hutchinson faced a number of criticisms at yesterday's meeting, according to a European Commission official who was present, particularly over the impression given that America had acted "unilaterally", without consulting its European partners, and that air marshals were being imposed on European airlines.
Mr Hutchinson said: "I think it's a mistaken impression that we are trying to work unilaterally. We have always worked on aviation issues in international arenas. We did have to act on an emergency basis."
Sources at yesterday's meeting said no European country had come out in wholehearted support of the US plan for air marshals. France and Britain seemed most ready to cooperate with US requests, while Finland, Sweden, Denmark were most strongly opposed.
The position of other countries, including Ireland, lay somewhere in between. An Irish Government spokeswoman said that the national civil aviation security committee would meet shortly to discuss the matter.
Its chairman, Mr John Lumsden, director general for civil aviation in the Department of Transport, represented Ireland at yesterday's meeting.
In the period between Christmas and New Year, both Air France and British Airways were forced to cancel or delay some transatlantic flights.
Mr Hutchinson dismissed cancelling flights as a long-term option for dealing with threats.
"If you have a threat that may be ongoing for two months, for example, but it is a very specific flight number, well, under those circumstances you would not want to cancel all the flights for two months," he told said.
Mr Hutchinson said he understood that some EU countries would develop an air marshal programme that would have the capacity to place armed officers on "flights of concern".
Mr Hutchinson left open the possibility that airlines from countries which refused to put air marshals on their flights might still be allowed to operate.
"One of the measures that we could request would be air marshals. We will also look at other measures to see whether they are sufficient," he said, adding that the US administration believed that air marshals "give a higher level of security".
The former Congressman was at pains to stress that each request for armed air marshals would be made on a case-by-case basis and that it would be accompanied by the intelligence which supported it. "We will work with the host country," he said.
The US administration was not seeking armed air marshals on every flight, he added. "It is the exception right now," he said, "Time will tell whether that changes. It will probably increase in its frequency."
The European Commission was careful to point out yesterday that it is not for the EU to decide on air marshals, which are a policing matter, over which national governments retain individual control.
In its capacity as president of the EU's council of ministers, the Government, which played a part in organising yesterday's meeting, will now reflect on whether to promote the issue for discussion at an EU council meeting, whether by transport or justice ministers.