Plane Panic: Overreaction or Under-Prepared?

Despite some concerns that a small plane got too close to the White House (search) and the Capitol (search), key lawmakers and the Bush administration said the emergency response went according to plan.

"One of the things we learned was that the evacuation procedures worked swimmingly ... It was all very calm and orderly," Rep. Christopher Cox, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told FOX News on Thursday.

Some watching the event unfold on television Wednesday may not have used those words to describe the sight of thousands of people being evacuated from the federal government's most important buildings.

Plane panic: Overreaction or under-prepared? Click here to vote!

A sample of your responses:

Yes, the Capitol overreacted and wasted millions of tax dollars. It would be less danger keeping those workers feeding at the public trough then to have them running around the streets.
Chas C.
Methuen, MA

Seeing what happened Wednesday concerning the airplane headed towards the White House, I don't feel like it was an overreaction. What would have happened if it truly had been a terrorist? Just let people sit in the locations and let another 9-11 happen? And apparently the military was not under prepared. They did what they felt was necessary.
Barbara
Van Buren, AR

I must say that I was a little bit shocked when I heard about yesterday's Cessna scare. However, I was even more shocked to hear about our passive response to the plane's entrance into illegal airspace. In the post-9/11 world in which live we cannot afford to take chances. We must repond to any possible threat with due dilligence and pursue the most aggressive stance that we can.
Jay M.
Ada, OH

Underprepared! One of the senators complained that they'd never once held a drill. Well, why not? And why hasn't he screamed about this every day since 9/11?
Diane R.
Sacramento, CA

Neil Cavuto was spot on about the whining prima donnas. The authorities acted very properly. Small plane? Yes, but what if it had carried a home-made dirty bomb? By the way, those pilots should be fined or punished in some way. Many speeders are probably "All-American" guys, too, but they still have to pay their tickets.
Michael B.
Jacksonville, FL

I personally think the incident was well overreacted. Think about it, a plane that small could have maneuvered almost anywhere very quickly! In turn with the response time if the fighter jets being slow it could have plowed into hundreds of fleeing people in the road!
Sgt Swanson
USMC, Iraq

Did you guys overreact? Of course you did. Most of you are scared of your own shadow! It's always a great source of entertainment here in Australia how the majority of you carry on with relation to security issues ... Michael Moore was right!
David K.
Australia

I am proud of the Air Force and the police in how quickly they reacted to the potential threat! I am dissapointed the pilot of the small plane is not being charged — since he violated no fly zone and cost us a lot of time and money — what happened did he pay someone off?
Sharon S.
Watertown, NY

Any plane that goes on a bee-line to the White House should be considered a danger. Even a small plane can carry a bag of any kind of poison to be thrown out into the streets. What is the matter with those complainers? Homeland Security is damned if they do and damned if they don't. If you don't understand the word "run", then you are the one with a problem. You don't need to know why. Just do it.
Chris M.
Dublin, GA

How about just right?
Chip W.
Washington, D.C.

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