It's had to imagine a situation where this spiral would be safer than flying the plane all the way down.
I don't dig the "stop teh terrorists!!!" idea either, that's just a badge that's pasted on every project to get funding these days.
"We need to upgrade our police cars to have CD players. The higher level of awareness this will create for late shift officers will help them fight terrorism better."
"If the animal pound doesn't get an additional 5% in funding, the increased number of stray dogs may distract first responders from _stopping teh terrorists!_"
"If we don't confiscate these nail cutters, _TEH TERRORIRSSTSSST WILL WINNNN!_!"