Louisville Courier Journal Editorial:Terror Thwarted.
Terror thwarted
Decent people everywhere received a welcome Christmas gift this year: A terrorist bomber failed to take down a Northwest Airlines flight as it prepared to land Friday in Detroit.
Had the terrorist, a Nigerian who said he was acting on behalf of al-Qaida, succeeded, the consequences would have been horrifying. Nearly 280 innocent passengers and crew members would have lost their lives, and Christmas would have been a day of nightmares revisited. Instead, it was a story of tragedy averted, and of heroism on the part of several passengers and flight attendants.
There does not seem to be an easy answer to how this happened and how it could have been prevented. Some important things went wrong; some important things were done right. There are steps that must be taken to increase air travel security; there are also some measures that should be adopted cautiously, if at all.
One critical failure was that the alleged terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was not on a “no fly” list or list for additional screening, even though his father had told the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that he was alarmed by his son's increasingly militant religious views.
To ignore the father's warning and issue a multiple-entry visa were serious errors. Nor did other evidence of suspicious behavior — Mr. Abdulmutallab bought his ticket with cash and checked no bags — trigger alerts. That will clearly be a focus of federal follow-up inquiries. The review should be rigorous and produce substantial changes.
At the same time, Mr. Abdulmutallab's travels highlight the complexity of international travel. He boarded a Dutch flight in Nigeria and changed planes in Amsterdam, both outside U.S. jurisdiction. Some European airports such as Amsterdam are problematic switching points, with passengers arriving from the Middle East and Africa and transferring to flights to the United States or other parts of Europe. Policing them requires sophisticated and coordinated monitoring. That job obviously needs more attention.
Beyond that, it gets murkier. Placing devices that screen for non-metallic explosive devices at every airport may not be technically or financially feasible. Officials should also be wary of increasing scrutiny of all passengers and luggage in ways that do not increase security or address specific threats but can snarl the civilian air transport system.
Finally, there were successes. Other incoming international flights were warned promptly of possible danger, for example, and law-enforcement agencies were quickly mobilized. The subduing of the Northwest suspect showed that passengers and crew are no longer passive to menace on board.
This near-miss is a reminder that terrorists are creative, nimble and determined. The key to security is to be more creative, more nimble and more determined.
Decent people everywhere received a welcome Christmas gift this year: A terrorist bomber failed to take down a Northwest Airlines flight as it prepared to land Friday in Detroit.
Had the terrorist, a Nigerian who said he was acting on behalf of al-Qaida, succeeded, the consequences would have been horrifying. Nearly 280 innocent passengers and crew members would have lost their lives, and Christmas would have been a day of nightmares revisited. Instead, it was a story of tragedy averted, and of heroism on the part of several passengers and flight attendants.
There does not seem to be an easy answer to how this happened and how it could have been prevented. Some important things went wrong; some important things were done right. There are steps that must be taken to increase air travel security; there are also some measures that should be adopted cautiously, if at all.
One critical failure was that the alleged terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was not on a “no fly” list or list for additional screening, even though his father had told the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that he was alarmed by his son's increasingly militant religious views.
To ignore the father's warning and issue a multiple-entry visa were serious errors. Nor did other evidence of suspicious behavior — Mr. Abdulmutallab bought his ticket with cash and checked no bags — trigger alerts. That will clearly be a focus of federal follow-up inquiries. The review should be rigorous and produce substantial changes.
At the same time, Mr. Abdulmutallab's travels highlight the complexity of international travel. He boarded a Dutch flight in Nigeria and changed planes in Amsterdam, both outside U.S. jurisdiction. Some European airports such as Amsterdam are problematic switching points, with passengers arriving from the Middle East and Africa and transferring to flights to the United States or other parts of Europe. Policing them requires sophisticated and coordinated monitoring. That job obviously needs more attention.
Beyond that, it gets murkier. Placing devices that screen for non-metallic explosive devices at every airport may not be technically or financially feasible. Officials should also be wary of increasing scrutiny of all passengers and luggage in ways that do not increase security or address specific threats but can snarl the civilian air transport system.
Finally, there were successes. Other incoming international flights were warned promptly of possible danger, for example, and law-enforcement agencies were quickly mobilized. The subduing of the Northwest suspect showed that passengers and crew are no longer passive to menace on board.
This near-miss is a reminder that terrorists are creative, nimble and determined. The key to security is to be more creative, more nimble and more determined.
Labels: News reporting
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