Jets scrambled in White House terror alert

US Air Force fighter jets were scrambled today to intercept a privately owned plane that flew too close to the White House.

President George Bush was away at the time, on a trip to Arkansas and South Carolina.

Vice President Dick Cheney and White House chief of staff Andrew Card were moved temporarily to a secure location as a precautionary measure, said presidential spokesman Scott McClellan.

The privately owned plane was detected flying in a south-west direction when it entered restricted airspace around Washington, said Secret Service spokeswoman Jean Mitchell.

The fighters were scrambled from nearby Andrews Air Force in Maryland and they intercepted the plane, escorting it out of the area, she said.

“Anytime we have an airspace violation, we take it very seriously,” Mitchell said. “At this point we don't know if it was a mistake.”

Maj. Douglas Martin, spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defence Command, or Norad, said it was determined that the plane did not represent a threat.

“From the Norad perspective, he’s not a threat, and that’s the main thing for us,” Martin said.

The plane apparently strayed within the Air Defence Identification Zone, a 30 mile radius around Washington, according to Les Dorr, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.