9/11 Commission Report Chpt. 3.3

The next chapter details the structure of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA is charged by congress to simultaneously promote the civil aviation industry and regulate the security and safety of the industry. One of the main points the commission reiterates several times throughout the chapter, was that suicide hijackings were never considered as a threat to civil aviation. Vice President Al Gore headed a Presidential Commission on aviation safety and security in 1996, which did raise the possibility of a threat from surface-to-air-missiles, but primarily found explosives and sabotage the primary threat.

The FAA apparently had their own intelligence unit that was supposed to receive relevant information from the CIA and FBI. However, it appears that very little information sharing actually occurred, as evidenced by the FAA’s no-fly list containing 12 names as of 9/11 while the government watch list had thousands of terrorists and suspected terrorists listed. Another example was the failure of the FBI to pass along information about radicals attending flight schools.

The most interesting part of this chapter was the awareness the FAA had towards the threat of hijacking through the use of knives. Knives with blades under 4” were still legal in carry-on luggage before 9/11. Although, the Commission reports that there was a proposal to ban all knives and cutting implements in 1993, the proposal was rejected by the FAA because the “number of innocent “alarms” would have increased significantly, exacerbating congestion problems at checkpoints.” (p.84) Perhaps more interesting than the revelation of a proposal that was rejected, was in the footnotes - the FAA’s own report on “The Threat to US Civil Aviation in the United States,” issued in September 1994.

System vulnerabilities also exist with respect to hijacking…aircraft can be hijacked with either fake weapons or hoax explosive devices. Cabin Crew or passengers can also be threatened with objects such as short blade knives, which are allowable on board aircraft. (9/11 Commission Report p. 476)

In short, it seems that we knew the threat existed, but never thought it could happen to us. There was even a call in early 2001 to reinforce all cockpit doors, but it would have done little to prevent 9/11 because the tactics used were still beyond our imagination. Illustrated by the comments of the Air Line Pilots Association’s Security Committee Chairman, “Even if you make a vault out of the door, if they have a noose around my flight attendants neck, I’m going to open the door.” (p. 85) And most people in his position would have done the same thing. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.

posted by Sarai @ 3:26 PM