There is little doubt that the passengers on September 9, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 became aware that their hijacked airplane was likely to be used as a terrorist’s weapon. The cell phone calls were evidence of the passenger’s knowledge of the hijacker’s intentions and the subsequent attempt to overthrow the hijackers caused the terrorist to crash the plane.
Shortly after 9/11, on December 22, 2001, we had Richard Reid’s attempt to blow up American Airlines Flt 63 with explosive materials embedded in his shoe. Apparently the explosive did not work due to the one day delay of his flight. It has been reported that Reid’s shoes and socks had to be worn for an extra day and his perspiration caused the fuse to be too damp to ignite properly. Again, passengers and crew subdued the terrorist.
One has to wonder if the passengers’ response to the attempted UA Flt 93 hijacking and the attempted bombing of AA Flt 63 may have caused many in the government and the airline industry to think that we have seen the last of terrorist attempts to destroy aircraft in flight with assured passenger intervention.
Yet, we now have Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s attempt with a different explosive device and that was again thwarted by faulty explosives and passenger and crew actions.
The information available on Abdulmutallab, by our Intelligence agencies and the news media, has provided little more than personal background history, his reported relationships with Al Qaeda, and his training and equipping in Yemen.
No one can believe that the U.S. military action in Afghanistan and Pakistan, relative to Al Qaeda, has anywhere near destroyed the terrorism threat to America.
We seem to have little reliable information on Al Qaeda capabilities and intentions that provide insights on their strategies.
Unfortunately, any continuing focus on the commercial airline industry can distort our understanding of terrorist capabilities and intentions and misdirect our focus on improved security measures.
Since 9/11 little has been accomplished externally to kill or capture the Al Qaeda top leadership and internally to improve the failures of imagination by the government and industry to meet the terrorist threat.
