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OLYMPIA — Gov. Gary Locke said Thursday that he will call up state National Guard units to help protect Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Guardsmen may be asked to help protect some other state airfields as well, but none in Snohomish County has been earmarked for protection.
President Bush suggested the move to the nation’s governors as a stopgap while the federal government puts together a long-term plan to safeguard airports against terrorism.
"My first priority is the safety of the traveling public," Locke said in a statement. "I want people to feel comfortable and confident when going through our airports and flying on our planes."
Locke agreed to the plan after receiving assurances that the federal government would pay to deploy guardsmen for the next four to six months, said Dana Middleton, Locke’s spokeswoman.
The total number to be called up hasn’t been decided, because state officials aren’t sure how many airports they will be protecting. Besides Sea-Tac, several other cities in Washington have commercial airports including Spokane, Yakima, Wenatchee, Bellingham and the Tri-Cities.
"The National Guardsmen would augment the security the airports already have in place," Middleton said. "The guardsmen would be trained by the FAA in everything from baggage screening to how to handle hazardous materials."
As part of tighter Sea-Tac security, airport officials on Thursday closed off 2,600 spaces in the main parking garage.
The parking spaces are on all eight floors of the structure, and are those within 300 feet of the side of the parking lot that is nearest to the main terminal. Those spaces will be off-limits until further notice, airport spokesmen said.
Locke cautioned that the state isn’t reacting to a specific threat.
"It is additional assurance to the American public that airport security is stringent and that we are taking all prudent steps to ensure that it continues to be so," Locke said.
Lt. Col. Rick Patterson, a spokesman for the Washington National Guard, said no orders were immediately issued.
"We’re prepared and we’re ready, but we haven’t received the mission yet," Patterson said.
The state National Guard includes about 2,300 airmen and 5,500 soldiers, Patterson said. All but a few are part-time volunteers who train one weekend a month, with a few weeks of active duty a year.
Across the nation on Thursday, governors pledged to mobilize National Guard troops against terrorism at airports, where jobs are drying up because of travel jitters. The Pentagon said it has authority to attack hijacked airliners as a last resort.
Talking about military pilots’ new rules of engagement in the war against terrorism, outgoing Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Henry Shelton said, "The last thing in the world that one of them wants to do is engage a commercial aircraft.
"Don’t get the impression that anyone who’s flying around out there has a loose trigger finger," he said.
Sixteen days after attacks that killed thousands, the Bush administration moved on several fronts to calm a still-fearful nation, bolster the U.S. economy, identify the killers and forge a wartime coalition of disparate nations.
Bush’s new anti-terrorism chief, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, has carved out a commanding role in the administration. Officials said he would oversee as many as 100 employees, all but 10 or so borrowed from agencies outside the White House, and would have significant input on budgets for the 40-plus agencies involved in counterterrorism.
"Others will tire and weary; I understand that. But not our nation," Bush told hundreds of flag-waving airline workers in Chicago, their industry and jobs in danger because of the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Get on the airlines," Bush implored. "We will not surrender our freedom to travel."
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