01/05: Non-Decisions, Prescience, and the Facts of 9/11
Posted by: athomas
The first weeks of 2014 will see an acceleration of events surrounding the lawsuits involving the 9/11 attacks.
As I have detailed extensively in each of my books on aviation security, the attacks of September 11 were not a “failure of imagination”, as ultimately labeled by the 9/11 Commission.
Indeed, the evidence is overwhelming that the threat to America’s air transport network was well known and quite real years before the attacks.
Dishearteningly, when given multiple chances to do something to reduce the risk of an attack by hijacked airliners operating as delivery systems for weapons of mass destruction, federal authorities chose to do nothing.
In short, 9/11 was ultimately the result of a security system set-up to fail.
One of the most compelling collections of facts surrounds what occurred at Boston’s Logan International Airport in the spring of 2001.
As rumors of terrorist activity at Logan persisted, Steve Elson and Brian Sullivan, both retired FAA special agents, worked closely with reporter Deborah Sherman of FOX 25-TV Boston to demonstrate the security failings at the airport.
A segment aired on May 6, 2011 and revealed how porous the security screening process truly was at Logan.
The next day, Sullivan wrote what would become a prophetic letter to his Senator, the Honorable John Kerry of Massachusetts.
In part, the letter said:
“With the concept of jihad, do you think it would be difficult for a determined terrorist to get on a plane and destroy himself and all other passengers? Think what the result would be of a coordinated attack that took down several domestic flights on the same day. Considering the current threats, it is almost likely.”
Nothing happened…
Stay tuned as more facts come out about the decisions – and non-decisions- that enabled the terrorists to do what they did on 9/11.
As I have detailed extensively in each of my books on aviation security, the attacks of September 11 were not a “failure of imagination”, as ultimately labeled by the 9/11 Commission.
Indeed, the evidence is overwhelming that the threat to America’s air transport network was well known and quite real years before the attacks.
Dishearteningly, when given multiple chances to do something to reduce the risk of an attack by hijacked airliners operating as delivery systems for weapons of mass destruction, federal authorities chose to do nothing.
In short, 9/11 was ultimately the result of a security system set-up to fail.
One of the most compelling collections of facts surrounds what occurred at Boston’s Logan International Airport in the spring of 2001.
As rumors of terrorist activity at Logan persisted, Steve Elson and Brian Sullivan, both retired FAA special agents, worked closely with reporter Deborah Sherman of FOX 25-TV Boston to demonstrate the security failings at the airport.
A segment aired on May 6, 2011 and revealed how porous the security screening process truly was at Logan.
The next day, Sullivan wrote what would become a prophetic letter to his Senator, the Honorable John Kerry of Massachusetts.
In part, the letter said:
“With the concept of jihad, do you think it would be difficult for a determined terrorist to get on a plane and destroy himself and all other passengers? Think what the result would be of a coordinated attack that took down several domestic flights on the same day. Considering the current threats, it is almost likely.”
Nothing happened…
Stay tuned as more facts come out about the decisions – and non-decisions- that enabled the terrorists to do what they did on 9/11.