Afghan detainee says he is U.S. citizen

WASHINGTON

Pentagon and Justice Department officials are discussing what to do with a prisoner captured in Afghanistan who they believe was born in America and is a U.S. citizen.

The man, Yasser Esam Hamdi apparently was born in Louisiana, where his Saudi parents were then working, and then returned with them to Saudi Arabia when he was a toddler, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said yesterday at a Pentagon briefing.

"We think he will have American citizenship," Clarke said. "It does just point to how unconventional this war is. ... We are looking at each of these detentions very, very carefully and very methodically."

If Hamdi should prove to be the second U.S. citizen captured during the Afghanistan campaign, he could be moved from the detention center at a U.S. Navy base in Cuba where suspected Taliban and al-Qaida fighters are held.

That also would prevent his trial by special military tribunal, set up under an executive order by President Bush to try terrorism suspects who are not U.S. citizens.

The Justice Department found the birth certificate that appears to back up the man's claim to have been born in Baton Rouge, La., Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Wednesday.

White House airspace violated many times

WASHINGTON

Pilots have flown through the prohibited airspace protecting the White House at least 94 times over the past decade, illustrating the challenges of thwarting a terrorist airstrike on the nation's capital.

Even with military jets patrolling the skies, four commercial airliners and a medical helicopter have crossed into Washington's no-fly zone since the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings, Federal Aviation Administration officials say. The latest was on Monday.

In most cases, pilots who violated the airspace protecting the White House, vice presidential mansion and Capitol have gotten penalties less severe than a parking ticket, an Associated Press review of FAA enforcement records found.

Just a month before the September hijackings, a Mesa Airlines flight strayed into prohibited airspace. By November, the matter was closed with a warning letter to the pilot - common for most cases.

Security experts say violations of the Washington airspace highlight a key reality in the fight against terrorism - planes that veer into the zone can crash into government installations within seconds.

Airport security rm replaced at terminals

WASHINGTON

Argenbright Security Inc., once the nation's leading airport security contractor, will be pushed out of virtually all U.S. airports by April 22, transportation officials said yesterday.

Globe Aviation Services will replace Argenbright at all three Washington-area airports, and various other companies will split up Argenbright's contracts across the country. Yesterday at Washington Dulles International Airport, scores of Argenbright baggage screeners swarmed a conference room to apply for jobs with Chicago-based Globe.

Argenbright came to symbolize the national problem of low-paid, undertrained security screeners after a series of high-profile blunders after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The company's screeners let a man carry a bag full of knives and a stun gun through security at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport late last year.

Andersen dismantled after Enron scandal

CHICAGO

Accounting firm Andersen moved closer yesterday into transforming itself into a leaner, audit-oriented outfit by agreeing to sell much of its U.S. tax practice to Deloitte & Touche and preparing for the layoff of as many as 7,000 workers next week.

But the firm also is perilously close to splintering in the United States as partners in almost every domestic office participate in talks to spin out into their own firms or to bolt in groups to both larger and smaller rivals.

The talks range from individual partners looking to take their book of clients to a new firm, to industry and specialty groups within offices looking to make a move en masse, to groups of Andersen offices looking to band together to form new regional firms.

Studies investigate police racial profiling

NEWARK, N.J.

In New Jersey, researchers used radar guns and cameras to examine whether blacks speed more than whites. In North Carolina, they got into moving vehicles and looked out the windows at speeders.