Verified Document

Attack Of 911 Has Posed A Serious Term Paper

¶ … attack of 911 has posed a serious threat to the aviation industry. For the first the world could realize that airplanes are not only the mode of transportation but can also be utilized as potential bombs. Many passengers are apprehensive of air travel. This led Governments, Policy Makers, aviation industries and regulatory authorities to think a while about aviation security. The aviation security is being revolutionized since then to adopt newer technology for the purpose of ensuring the need of complete baggage screening, explosive detection, biometry identification, risk analyses, deployment of adequate skilled personnel, strengthening of cockpit doors etc. An analysis of the effects of September 11th and Terrorism on Aviation in the United States and Around the World

The terrorist attack in the morning of September 11, 2001 converted the United States became a nation transformed. An airliner flying at the speed of hundreds of miles per hour with about 10000 gallons of jet fuel plunged into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre in Lower Manhattan at 8:46 AM. Seventeen minutes later, another airliner dashed into the South Tower. The Twin Towers collapsed within 90 minutes with fire, smoke puffing upward and steel, glass, ash and bodies falling below. A third airliner at 9:37 AM rushed into the western face of the Pentagon. A fourth airliner crashed into the field in Southern Pennsylvania at 10:03 AM that was targeting the Capitol of U.S. Or White House but forced down by the passengers. The death toll rose to more than 2600 in World Trade Center, 125 at Pentagon and 256 on four planes that outnumbered that of the incident at Pearl Harbor in December 1941. (The 9/11 Commission Report-Final Report of the National commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States)

This attack was perpetrated by 19 young Arabs, in group of four to five taking with them only small knives, box cutters and cans of Mace or pepper spray could able to hijack four plane and able to convert them into deadly guided missiles. On the very day the 19 hijackers could able to get through a security checkpoint system and their success in penetrating the system was cent percent. The defense of U.S. air space at the moment was relying upon the two federal agencies, the Federal Aviation Administration -- FAA and North American Aerospace Defense Command -- NORAD. The prevailing protocols on September 11 were quite unfavorable that resulted in an attack with utilization of hijacked planes as weapons. Immediate attempt was to bring refinements to the system for developing defense mechanism by civilians who never handled a hijacked aircraft that attempted to disappear and by military not ready enough to deal with a situation of transformation of commercial aircraft into weapons of mass destruction.

The probe into the incident brought out several points of vulnerability at the spot and operational failures of the opportunities those were not exploited by the organizations and systems at the moment. The vulnerabilities and loopholes included, not watch listing the future hijackers Hazmi and Mihdhar, not following them after their travel to Bangkok, not publicizing the information linking individuals in the Cole attack to Mihdhar, not taking sufficient timely measures to find out Mihdhar or Hazmi in the U.S., not according due emphasis to the nab of Zacarias Moussaoui, narrated as interested in flight training with a view to utilizing an airplane in a terrorist act, not recognizing passports fraudulently manipulated, not ientifying airline passengers by the computer-based screening system, not strengthening aircraft cockpit doors or taking other measures to prepare for the possibility of suicide hijackings. (The 9/11 Commission Report-Final Report of the National commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States)

The missed opportunities to prevent the 9/11 incident were also regarded as signs of a general inefficacy to adapt the mode government handles problems to the new challenges of the twenty-first century. The permeable aviation security system was exploited up to the maximum possible extent by the hijackers to their advantage after studying the publicly available materials on the aviation security system and applied arms that contains less metallic material and were mostly permissible. Irrespective of the fact that two of the hijackers were on the U.S. TIP OFF terrorist watch list, the FAA failed to utilize the TIP OFF data. The hijackers succeeded after beating only one layer of security -- the security checkpoint process. Although, several hijackers were chosen for extra screening by the CAPPS system, this was applied to greater scrutiny of their checked baggage. Once on board the hijackers could easily captivate the aircraft personnel those were trained to be non-confrontational in the event of a hijacking.

Taking...

The recommendations, among others, were to deal with the problems of screening people with biometric identifiers along the agencies and governments incorporating out border and transportation systems by chalking out a complete screening system that deal with common problems and sets common standards; rapidly finalize a biometry entry exit screening system, that also speeds qualified travelers; devise strategies for ignored parts of the transportation security system; to avoid arguments about a new computerized profiling system from delaying introduction of crucial improvements in the 'no-fly' and 'automatic selectee' lists. (The 9/11 Commission Report-Final Report of the National commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States)
The attacks of September 11, 2001 led to accord renewed urgency to the security of the aviation system of United States and the efforts to strengthen the aviation security have received a great deal of congressional attention. The Congress passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act on November 19, 2001, that established the Transportation Security Administration under the Department of Transportation. The TSA was assigned with the primary responsibility of ascertain security in aviation along with that in other modes of transportation. The Congress enacted Homeland Security Act on November 25, 2002 that placed the TSA under the newly created Department of Homeland Security that was assigned with the overall responsibility for aviation security. The Act of Aviation and Transport Security shifted the security-screening responsibilities from the airlines to TSA and laid down a set of requirements to enhance the aviation security. (Aviation Security Progress since September 11, 2001, and the Challenges Ahead)

The Act required, among others the deployment of federal screeners in all the 429 commercial airports in the nation within one year and also to adopt the application of Explosive Detection Technology at such airports to ensure screening of every place of checked baggage for explosives. Some of the Aviation Security liabilities continued to remain with FAA. To illustrate, FAA is liable for the security of its air traffic control and other computer systems and of its air traffic control systems. The Airport Improvement Program -- AIP trust fund is also to be administered by FAA that is applied in financing the capital improvements to airports, inclusive of some security developments like terminal medications to accommodate Explosive Detection Equipments. Over the years TSA and FAA implemented several measures to bring out considerable improvement in the field of aviation security. The TSA executed the congressional mandates and find out various choices for enhanced adoption of technology and information to regulate access to secure different areas of airports and to enhance passenger screening. (Aviation Security Progress since September 11, 2001, and the Challenges Ahead)

FAA concentrated on its continued efforts on enhancing the security of the air traffic control systems and facilities of the nation. In the initial year of its establishment the TSA attempted to concentrate mainly on adhering to the aviations security deadlines earmarked in ATSA. TSA started with 13 employees but within 1 year the Agency had hired and deployed about 65,000 passenger and baggage screeners, federal air marshals, and others. It could accomplish the target of deploying federal passenger screeners at airports by hiring, training, and deploying over 40,000 individuals to screen passengers at 429 commercial airports by November, 2002. It could be able to hire and deploy more than 20,000 individuals to screen all checked baggage during the period. It could adopt explosive detection systems or explosives trace detection equipment for the purpose of screening about 90% of all checked baggage by December 31, 2002.

It confiscated about 4.8 million prohibited items inclusive of firearms, knives and incendiary or flammable objects from passengers and has entailed considerable progress in expanding the Federal Air Marshal Service. In order to exert its greater regulation over access to secure areas of airports and other transportation facilities, TSA is extending the initiatives that entail greater utilization of technology and information. The Agency is probing into the establishment of a Transportation Workers Identification Card -- TWIC Program that envisages introduction of a uniform, nationwide standard for the secure identification of 12 million workers, those who require unescorted physical or cyber access to secure areas of airports and other transportation systems. TWIC involves an assimilation of the standard background screenings…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Berrick, Cathleen A. Better Planning Needed to Optimize Deployment of Checked Baggage

Screening Systems. Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05896t.pdf Accessed 15 September, 2005

Berrick, Cathleen A. Challenges Exist in Stabilizing and Enhancing Passenger and Baggage

Screening Operations. Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04440t.pdf Accessed 16 September, 2005
Challenges. February, 2004. Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04385.pdf Accessed 16 September, 2005
Dillingham, Gerald L. Aviation Security Progress since September 11, 2001, and the Challenges Ahead. September 9, 2003. Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d031150t.pdf Accessed 15 September, 2005
Retrieved from http://www.faa.gov/newsroom/factsheets/2001/factsheets_0111.htm Accessed 17 September, 2005
Rhodes, Keith A. Aviation Security Challenges in Using Biometric Technologies. Testimony before the Subcommittee on Aviation, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of Representatives. Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04785t.pdf Accessed 16 September, 2005
Sampath, V.R. Aviation Security -- Post 9/11 Strategies. March 12, 2005. Retrieved from http://www.observerindia.com/chapters/discussion/ds050312.htm
upon the United States. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. Retrieved from http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Exec.htm Accessed 15 September, 2005
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

U.S. Foreign Policy After 911
Words: 1891 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

S. Congress - show that as of 7:20 A.M. On November 19, 2006, the dollar cost for Iraq alone stood at $343,505,966,000. That's over $343 billion dollars spent on the war effort since Bush launched the American invasion on March 19 of 2003. The National Priorities Project breaks down the cost of the war per state; for example, the war has cost California $43,514,789,000; it has cost the state of Nebraska

Stand Your Ground Law 'Stand Your Ground'
Words: 1203 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Stand Your Ground Law 'Stand your ground' laws To inform tand your ground' laws are extremely controversial pieces of legislation. Attention-getter: 'A man's home is his castle.' How often have we heard this phrase? This concept is at the foundation of the right to defend yourself by using deadly force against an intruder who invades your home. However, recent laws have expanded the 'castle doctrine' and other, existing self-defense laws. Many of these new

Emergency Management at the Pentagon
Words: 5386 Length: 16 Document Type: Essay

The Federal Emergency Management Agency institutionalized Emergency Management in 1979 (Lindsay, 2012). Since then, various local and state organizations have included emergency management in their practices. It shifted from specialized preparedness to narrowly defined or single categories of hazard to an all-hazard approach including potential threats to property and life through technological and environmental dangers and local and foreign risks. The whole idea of emergency management does not include a

Homeland Security the World Has
Words: 2900 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

On the other hand, the Department in itself was projected to deal with a large number of aspects surrounding homeland security. The arguments supporting the idea were focused on the principle that the citizens must be protected from foreign threats, such as terrorism, and they must be given the help needed to face the treacheries of nature. In aiming to accomplish the latter, the Federal Emergency Management Directorate was established.

Women Representation in Law Enforcement
Words: 5449 Length: 15 Document Type: Thesis

In this regard, Lott points out, "Between 70% and 80% of police departments explicitly use norming of physical standards in their hiring practices. However, most of the departments that use objective standards do not enforce these rules. Women who fail to meet the absolute standards during academy training are unlikely to be failed out of the program" (p. 276). This lack of consistency in how these standards are applied

Syria an Analysis of the
Words: 4874 Length: 15 Document Type: Essay

As this paper has already implied, U.S. policy concerning Syria is only the tip of an iceberg -- as Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has intimated, and as the PNAC papers and President G.W. Bush himself have blatantly revealed. Yet, the Bush Administration continually relied on scare tactics, bogus intelligence, and empty nationalistic slogans to offer to the American public a justification for its opposition to Syria. Conflict Theory is also

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now