A security alert led officials to briefly evacuate the White House and the U.S. Capitol building in Washington Wednesday.
The alarm was sounded after a small Cessna aircraft entered the no-fly zone around the nation's capital. A White House spokesman Scott McClellan says that at its closest point, the plane was about five kilometers away from the White House.
He says the plane turned west after being confronted by fighter jets and a Black Hawk helicopter. The aircraft was escorted to a landing strip north of Washington in the town of Frederick, Maryland.
Authorities will be interviewing the pilot. The spokesman says President Bush was away from the White House at the time of the evacuation.
He says Vice President Dick Cheney was evacuated but has since returned. U.S. officials have been extra vigilant about possible attacks by planes since the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks.