Direct-to-target: DHS wants to vet small aircraft before they enter U.S. airspace.

• Position: SECURITY BEAT: HOMELAND DEFENSE BRIEFS - Department of Homeland Security

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* About 400 general aviation flights--ranging in size from small Cessnas to 747s--enter U.S. airspace each day. Despite long-time fears that these non-commercial flights may come beating a weapon of mass destruction, the federal government still knows little about who and what are onboard the aircraft prior to landing, said Domestic Nuclear Detection Office director Vayl Oxford.

"One of the threat scenarios we worry a lot about is what we call the direct-to-target threat," he said at the Gov Sec conference in Washington, D.C.

In such a plot, a terrorist piloting a private aircraft would not bother to land or clear customs after entering U.S. airspace. Instead, he would fly straight to an area and detonate the bomb above the target. Air bursts cause more damage than nukes detonated on the ground, he noted.

The scenario is particularly frightening when one considers how close some general aviation airports are to major cities. Teterboro Airport in New Jersey is less than one minute's flight to downtown Manhattan, Oxford said.

In December, Customs and Border Protection began scanning all general aviation aircraft arriving from...