By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - After a sobering, closed-door hearing about the risk of terrorists shooting down a passenger plane with shoulder-fired missiles, the chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee made a sobering public statement Thursday:

"The threat is real."

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., said he wants legislation passed as soon as possible to help airlines cope with the threat. And as a national security issue, he said the government, not the industry, should pay the bill.

The missile threat is so sensitive that the committee hearing was closed to the press and public. Some testimony was released, but none from CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency experts who testified.

James Loy, head of the Transportation Security Administration, told the committee that the administration was taking "an aggressive approach" to the problem - though most of those efforts, at least in his public testimony, consisted of reports, task forces, studies, and guidelines.

He stressed he had no specific, credible evidence of any such attack being planned against commercial planes in the United States.

"It's a legitimate concern of the members of Congress, and it's something that we've been working internally as well," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Thursday.

Shoulder-fired missiles number at least 500,000 around the world, and at least 27 terrorist or guerilla groups possess them, according to Jane's Intelligence Report.

The missiles can be set up and fired in a few minutes. They have a range of several miles, and they work by seeking out the heat of jet engines.

The issue is so sensitive that officials at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport declined to discuss it, referring questions back to the TSA. Delta Air Lines, which operates its second largest hub at Cincinnati, also referred questions to the TSA.

"The government says don't talk about security, and we're not," airport spokesman Ted Bushelman said. "We will do whatever it takes to make this one of the safest airports in the country."

Boone County sheriff's office personnel also refused to discuss what their department might be doing to secure the roads around the airport in Hebron.

Military aircraft have various ways of defending themselves against missiles, including decoy flares, jamming devices, even lasers.

It could cost $1 million to $2 million per plane to add defense systems to commercial planes, but the cost is well worth it, Mica said.

Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., have introduced a bill that would require anti-missile technology on all commercial jets by the end of this year, with taxpayers picking up the estimated $10 billion bill.

"It's expensive, but I believe it is a justified expense," Israel said.

E-mail cweiser@gns.gannett.com