Two views ... the first from the consumer group created by Nader and

directed by a lawyer from Albany who lost a daughter in the Pan Am 103

Lockerbie flight. The second from the trade association of the airlines.

I am pushing our airport to begin coalition building around the basic

points found here and that can certainly be improved upon with more

thought.....langdon

Aviation Consumer Action Project

529 14th Street, NW Suite 1265

Washington, DC 20045

Tel: (202)638-4000

Fax: (202)638-0746

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For Release: September 12, 2001

Contact: Paul Hudson or Kathy Lynch

Phone: 202-638-4000

Fax: 202-638-0746

Director's Message on Aviation Terrorism

Yesterday's firebombing and destruction of the World Trade Center and part

of the Pentagon with the loss of thousands of lives by teams of suicidal

hijackers, commandeering four transcontinental airliners, followed by the

shut down of all U.S. air transportation, has left the world stunned.

The risk of "another Pearl Harbor" is a phrase we have used often in urging

the U.S. Government and the aviation industry to beef up aviation security

over the past 15 years. However, even we and other members on the FAA's

Aviation Security Advisory Committee did not imagine the threat to be at the

level that has occurred. This is worse than anyone's worst nightmare.

After the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, President Roosevelt acted immediately to

mobilize the country for war against a known enemy.

A war against the United States has been declared by at least one known

terrorist group with the capacity for such an attack. There are several

other organizations as well as several nations with the motivation and

capacity to undertake or support yesterday's attack.

After the surprise attack on the buildings that house the U.S. military

headquarters and the heart of the financial industry, the question is what

will President Bush do? Will he give the usual responses of U.S. Presidents

to acts of terrorism: sorrow for the victims, sympathy for the victim

relatives, vows of "we will find them and bring them to justice", followed

by a rapid return to normalcy, complacency and vulnerability? Or will

President Bush's actions reflect the war that the U.S. finds itself in with

terrorists, and act accordingly? There can be no real return to normalcy

until this war is won. And this war cannot be won by rhetoric or the status

quo.

Such a war is winnable, but it requires major policy changes and immediate

action such as:

1) Taking over and raising aviation security to the same security standard

as other U.S. national defense forces.

Now, aviation security is clearly the weakest link in U.S. national security

as well as that of many other nations. Yesterday's attacks prove that jumbo

jets loaded with fuel can be used as weapons against the most important U.S.

buildings killing thousands on the ground as well as hundreds of airline

passengers and crew members. Compared to the threat, current security is a

fraud and cruel joke on the public.

Government control and operation of aviation security is the situation in

many countries and especially Israel which has a threat to its aviation even

greater than the U.S. Airlines have supported this in the past but the U.S.

Government has balked. Present law makes the airlines and airports or their

private low level security contractors responsible for aviation security

with FAA oversight. This private- security-government-oversight aviation

security system has failed and must be junked in favor of the military and a

federal aviation security agency. Aviation security regulation is presently

an office within the FAA, headed by an associate administrator.

Some immediate emergency measures are needed to thwart more suicide

hijacking attacks. The Sky Marshall program has been largely disbanded and

clearly needs to be restored for all long distance flights. New bullet proof

cockpit security doors need to be installed on all US airliners. Until these

measures are in place flight crews should be armed as a temporary measure or

armed police or soldiers placed on flights.

The current selectee program whereby certain passengers are individually

questioned will need to be enhanced with new criteria for passengers who fit

the profile of yesterday's hijackers.

Bomb detector installation which has been held up by lack of funding and red

tape must finally be done. FBI criminal background checks on airport

security personnel and personnel with access to secure areas, that has been

opposed by the aviation industry, must now be done for all such employees.

2) Raising the level of human intelligence by infiltrating all known

terrorist organizations. This has worked before to foil many major terrorist

plots but obviously did not work yesterday.

3) Seeking out and destroying terrorist organizations committing acts of

terrorism against the U.S. using all legal, economic, financial resources

including military expeditions to safe havens if necessary and by applying

the most stringent sanctions against nations giving aid and comfort to

terrorists and their organizations.

Wars are not usually won by one side sitting back and waiting to be

attacked.

The use of rendition, apprehending fugitives in other countries with lax or

no effective law enforcement, while legal under U.S. law was largely

abandoned under the Clinton Administration and rarely use in the Bush I

Administration, because it can violate the sovereignty of other countries.

Economic and aviation sanctions, especially mandatory UN Security Council or

multinational sanctions, have been effective against Libya and Iraq to a

large degree, but have not been used or enforced against other states known

to harbor terrorists. Air, sea and land blockades have not been used except

in wars with other national governments.

Expeditionary forces have not been used by the U.S. in a major way against

terrorists, since the Barbary Wars 200 years ago, when a young weak United

States destroyed the Barbary pirates (in modern day Libya, Tunisia and

Morocco) that preyed on U.S. ships, enslaving or killing American crews and

passengers. Rather than pay ransom or tribute as the European states were

doing (the U.S. did so for a while, but it only encouraged more frequent

attacks), the U.S. at great expense and sacrifice built its first fleet of

naval warships and founded a marine corps.

Special forces have not been used in a major way against terrorism since the

failed helicopter hostage rescue attempt in Iran during the Carter

Administration. The fear of failure of high risk missions has been too great

for subsequent presidents to approve them. Instead anti-terrorism policy and

activity has been largely turned over to the Departments of Justice, State,

Transportation and the Intelligence services, with the President mouthing

increasingly hollow threats and rhetoric that can only be viewed now with

disdain by major international terrorist organizations.

4) Declare known terrorists international outlaws and their assets forfeit,

with very high rewards for information leading to their apprehension or

destruction. This can been done under existing law.

A $4 million reward program was set up after the Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am

103, funded jointly by the airlines, the pilots union and the Government and

is administered by the State Dept. Office of Security. This program is

credited with foiling several plots and leading to the capture of a number

of terrorists, but is not well known and frowned on by some in law

enforcement. In light of the resources of current terrorist organizations,

this program is definitely inadequate and needs a major increase in reward

money, manpower, and advertising, especially in terrorist haven areas.

U.S. Presidents have frozen but have refused to declare forfeit the assets

of terrorist states such as Libya or Iran. Other banking nations such as

Switzerland need to cooperate with the U.S. to locate and confiscate the

assets of terrorist organizations.

A successful war policy against the new form of organizational terrorism

must be built on Security, Intelligence, Destruction and Deterrence.

Unfortunately, unlike terrorist states that cannot hide and whose activities

have been exposed and suppressed in the 1990's, there is presently no

effective policy of deterrence against fanatical organizations. The threat

of criminal justice sanctions rings hollow, with only about 3% of

international terrorists ever apprehended. Even when apprehended some are

set free or given light punishments often by other countries intimidated by

or even sympathetic to the political goals of the terrorists. No Western

nation has applied the death penalty to convicted international terrorists

in recent decades.

We know from the Lockerbie and Oklahoma City terrorist bombings that

probably half million people will be attending funerals in the next few

weeks. The victim's families face a new life of grief, loss and pain. The

next few weeks will also decide whether terrorism is allowed to continue the

destruction of America, its open culture and freedom of air travel, or

whether America wakes up, unites and defeats the terrorist organizations

that have already destroyed its domestic tranquility and are threatening its

national security and economic prosperity. The thousands who lost their

lives to terrorism yesterday and over the past 25 years should not have died

in vain.

ACAP has a toll free number for air disaster victim family members for non

emergency matters. It is 800-588-ACAP. Also see our links page for other

numbers and web sites.

Paul Hudson

Executive Director

Aviation Consumer Action Project

(202) 638-4000

web: www.acap1971.org

e-mail: acap71@erols.com

Statement of the Air Transport Association

Restoring the Confidence of the Nation

The thoughts and prayers of our Air Transport Association (ATA) family

remain with the victims of these acts of terrorism, their families, friends

and communities--and the extraordinary rescue teams who are doing so much in

the search for any survivors and the recovery of those lost. Ensuring the

safety and security of the nation's air transportation system remains a

priority.

"In the interest of identifying those responsible for these attacks and

taking appropriate action, all carriers have been cooperating and supporting

the federal investigation with every available resource," said Carol

Hallett, ATA president and CEO. "Even as we continue the search, rescue and

recovery efforts, we must restore the confidence, customer service and

commerce of the air transport system."

In the fight against terrorism, there are essentially seven effective tools:

diplomacy, economic sanctions, military action, court action, intelligence

gathering, law enforcement and countermeasures. While these are virtually,

by definition, governmental functions and responsibilities, uniquely in the

case of the airline industry the government has long sought to focus most

intensively on only the last line of defense--countermeasures--and to pass

that responsibility to the aviation industry. Recent events demand a change

in this approach.

Consequently, we have proposed the following immediate security measures to

the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for consideration:

Look seriously at nationalizing the air passenger screening process

Deploy high visibility, armed, uniformed presence at airports--law

enforcement and military

Announce deployment of sky marshals and expand the program

In addition, we have worked with the FAA on the development of a new set of

security directives that would, among other things:

Modify various check-in and screening practices

Ban all knives beyond the airport screening point

Require additional random checks

Require Explosive Detection Systems (EDS)/Explosive Trace Detection screen

or search of selected passenger baggage; and

Establish new aircraft search requirements

When we are dealing with terrorism, there are functions and responsibilities

that are beyond our abilities and responsibilities. In these areas we need

the participation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Defense

Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency and National Security

Agency. Former FAA Chief Counsel Clark Onstad said it best: "It is the only

place in America where law enforcement has been delegated to private

companies: the airlines. The airlines are not the 82nd Airborne. They catch

the insane, they catch the sloppy and they catch the ignorant, but they're

not going to catch a sophisticated terrorist."

Finally, airline chief executive officers and security staff have been

having regular conference calls with the FAA, beginning yesterday, lasting

through the night, and throughout today, in order to return the diverted

flights to their destinations and reposition aircraft. As of this

afternoon's conference call, clearance was provided to move those passenger

and cargo flights. Additional conference calls with the FAA will be taking

place in order to determine when, and under what conditions, system startup

will commence.

The Air Transport Association of America, Inc. is the trade association for

leading U.S. airlines. ATA members transport over 95 percent of all the

passenger and cargo traffic in the United States.

Statement by Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta

Department of Transportation: http://www.dot.gov/

Federal Aviation Administration: http://www.faa.gov/

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