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PoliticsOL.com Editorial - Week of September 23, 2001
Oxymoron: Airline Security
Recommended Steps to Immediately Make Airlines Secure from Terrorist Threats
In a July 29, 2001 editorial, PoliticsOL.com warned that the terrorist threat to our nation's transportation assets was considerable and that the United States needed to take firm, unyielding action against terrorist groups and the nations that harbor and support them.
Now, as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the U.S. airline industry is crippled and the entire economy is reeling. People are not only just afraid to fly, many are simply not flying at all. Airline stock prices have plummeted and Congress has had to reluctantly pass a multi-billion dollar airline industry rescue plan.
The most effective way to reassure the public that airline travel is safe from terrorist attacks is to actually make it safe from terrorist attacks, which is certainly not the case today.
We recommend the following steps be taken immediately and be completed by the end of the year:
Install bullet-proof, secure cockpit doors on all commercial airliners and require that design changes be made in future models. One solution might be to create a double-door system, which many banks currently use, to allow flight attendants access to the cockpit and allow a pilot to leave the cockpit while still protecting his or her co-pilot.
Use of sky marshals on all commercial aircraft. Security concerns must be such that a sky marshal not fall victim to a hijacker, who may threaten to kill a passenger or flight attendant in order to potentially force a sky marshal to surrender his or her weapon. There are a few thousand retired sky marshals who may be interested in returning to their former jobs. Many of these should be used in immediately training a new generation of sky marshals.
Scanning of all luggage that will be placed on board an airliner. Such is not the case today. Mere random checks or lowering a metal detector's sensitivity to speed up passenger check-ins is simply not acceptable from a security standpoint.
Prohibition on mail and parcels being shipped on commercial aircraft with passengers. This should be a no-brainer to security planning.
Have all airport and airline employees pass through security checkpoints. This should eliminate the threat of hijackers posing as pilots or flight attendants. The same should also apply to baggage handlers (who might also be required to leave through a secure checkpoint, as well; this might solve the problem of pilfered luggage).
The federal government should take over security at all commercial airports. The airlines and local municipalities are simply not up to the job. Just last weekend, the Los Angeles Times reported that one X-ray machine attendant was found to be studying a math book while supposedly monitoring the screens of scanned luggage -- this, incredibly, a few days after the recent terrorists attacks.
Airliners must be equipped with a transponder that cannot be turned off from the cockpit, but only from outside the airplane. This should prevent hijackers from easily turning off the signal which sends crucial information -- such as altitude, airspeed, heading, etc. -- to air traffic controllers.
All commercial airliners should be equipped with secure, alternative communication capabilities. Had flight attendants and passengers on United Airlines Flight 175 been made aware of what had happened to American Airlines Flight 11 (which slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center), they might have been able to take action to overpower the hijackers before their plane slammed into the south tower. Knowledge of what was happening elsewhere almost certainly led to passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 to fight with their hijackers, leading to the crash of the plane in southwest Pennsylvania instead of into its intended target, likely in the D.C. area.
All passengers, flight crews and aircraft arriving from a foreign destination should undergo the same extensive security precautions mentioned above. Airports in foreign nations that cannot meet these standards should not be allowed to have flights depart from them to the United States.
More efficient and faster communications must be coordinated between air traffic controllers and the military. There is simply no excuse for the crucial 18 minute delay in Boston air traffic controllers notifying North American Aerospace Defense Command that AA 11's transponder signal was lost. NORAD wasted another 6 minutes before notifying Otis Air Force Base; two F-15 fighter jets took off some 6 minutes after that. Therefore, Air Force fighter jets might have taken off 20 minutes earlier than they did; the F-15's would almost certainly have intercepted UAL 175 before it slammed into the south tower of the World Trade Center and, possibly, even AA 11. Given the snail-like response time of the FAA, NORAD and the military to react to the events as they unfolded on the morning of September 11th, rogue states certainly need not undertake ballistic missile develope to launch nuclear strikes on the U.S. They'd merely have to send in nukes on commercial jet liners.
FAA controllers should immediately warn all commercial aircraft of any aircraft thought to be hijacked. All controllers should be alerted to any hijackings as well. Not enough information about the events of September 11th were relayed fast enough to allow officials and subordinates to see the wide-ranging scope of the terrorist attacks.
There is simply no excuse for not having jet fighters at the ready at Andrews Air Force Base, just outside of our nation's Capitol. Three F-16s from Langley Air Force Base (near Norfolk, Virginia) arrived too late to intercept American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon. This would not have been the case had fighter aircraft took off from Andrews. (Furthermore, fighters should have been dispatched above Washington, D.C. immediately after the World Trade Center was hit. Someone certainly deserves to be court-martialed.)
Reagan National Airport should not be reopened until the above precautions are implemented. Even then, air traffic in and out of the airport should be drastically reduced, with flight paths only allowed to the southwest and southeast. Private planes and cargo aircraft should not be allowed into this airport.
The White House, U.S. Capitol and Pentagon should be equipped with surface-to-air missiles. A few years back, a private plane crashed into the wall of the White House. Fortunately, the pilot did not have the plane packed with explosive material, or he might have leveled the building. That plane should not have been allowed into D.C. airspace and should have been shot down... period.
News reports have indicated that there are only about 60 -- yes, six-zero -- jet fighter crews available on stand-by to defend the continental United States. If true, this is woefully inadequate. Pearl Harbor had more aircraft to defend itself in 1941. Had even a few jet fighters been based almost anywhere in Long Island or New Jersey, they certainly could have been over Manhatten before the hijacked airliners arrived. Instead, F-15's were sent from Otis AFB -- near Cape Code, Massachusetts!
Military commanders must be given the ability to act when appropriate. Vice President Dick Cheney said last week that there was no point in sending up jet fighters until the President authorized the pilots to shoot down the commercial airliners. WRONG! The military must be allowed to give the President options. Air base commanders should immediately send fighters aloft to tail wayward commercial jetliners, especially when their transponders are not working and whose pilots are not in communication with ground controllers. At the very least such fighters would be able to quickly ascertain an airliner's altitude and heading and be in position should the President need to make a decision to shoot them down.
We can go on and on. The main point, however, is that many of the recommendations above, as well as other security measures, have been made before by various Members of Congress, a former FAA Inspector General and security experts nationwide.
Now is the time to implement them.
PoliticsOL.com reserves the right to shorten or to edit letters for clarity. Only signed letters will be considered for publication. (i.e., include name, city & state of residence)
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