Article
Article [pdf]
Letters & CommentsAnthony Fainberg
Anthony Fainberg is a physicist and analyst, specializing in national security affairs. He recently retired from the federal government, following service in several agencies and departments, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Defense Department, as well as in the former congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). He was trained as a particle physicist, earned his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley in 1969, and worked for more than ten years in basic research before switching fields and centering his activities around the interface of science and technology with national security. He was one of the first to study comprehensively the role of technology in counter terrorism, in OTA reports in 1991-2. His other interests include nuclear non-proliferation and countering nuclear terrorism. Dr. Fainberg can be contacted at fainberg666@comcast.net
The Terrorist Threat to Inbound U.S. Passenger Flights: Inadequate Government Response
ABSTRACT:
Commercial civil aviation has been the target of terrorist attacks for decades.
Most attacks have been by means of bombs placed on aircraft.
In recent years, there have been several attempts to bring explosive devices on board by using suicide terrorists as ticketed passengers.
Further, al Qaeda and allied jihadists have tried more than once to destroy, simultaneously, several U.S. aircraft in flight by this method.
Their plans were to attack aircraft flying into the United States from abroad, since they have a more active and functional infrastructure in other countries.
The Transportation Security Administration appears reluctant to focus on security for these inbound flights, in spite of the significant overseas threat.
Countries from which inbound flights depart should be asked to agree to adequate security measures.
These should be set to standards that match those applied to domestic flights.
One important measure that should be applied would be the use of explosive trace detectors to inspect passengers and their carry-on items.
Read full article.
SUGGESTED CITATION:
Fainberg, Anthony. “The Terrorist Threat to Inbound U.S. Passenger Flights: Inadequate Government Response.” Homeland Security Affairs V, no. 1 (January 2009)http://www.hsaj.org/?article=5.1.5