Civil Air Patrol adds surveillance to duties

(EXCERPT) By Ryan Slattery, Globe Correspondent, 8/30/2003

LAS VEGAS -- For six decades the Civil Air Patrol, the volunteer
auxiliary arm of the US Air Force, has been flying search and rescue
missions, hunting for lost hikers and downed aircraft. But since the
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the patrol has been flying security
missions, and is using cutting-edge technology to improve its
surveillance abilities with an aviation standby -- single engine
Cessnas.

The US Department of Defense used Civil Air Patrol services to provide
aerial security surveillance over venues at the 2002 Winter Olympics
in Salt Lake City, and the patrol has also been routinely used to fly
surveillance and security missions over the nation's harbors,
reservoirs, nuclear power plants, military bases, gas pipelines, and
other sensitive sites.

"We've been doing this type of reconnaissance, helping augment the
active military for 60 years," said Colonel Richard Greenhut,
Northeast region commander, who is responsible for New England
airspace. "Now we are just doing a lot more flights."

About 900 members of the 64,000-member organization met here for their
annual conference that ended Wednesday, and national security was
at...

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