Al Qaeda's Successful Attack

Everyone keeps saying how lucky we are that the “crotch” bomber on Flight 253 was unable to ignite the explosives hidden in his underwear, but I am sorry to report that the attack was a actually a huge success. The plane was not destroyed and no lives were lost, but the larger, strategic goals of al Qaeda were certainly advanced.

Too many Americans, and many in our Department of Homeland Security, forget that al Qaeda targeted our economic power and symbols on 9/11. The goal, as Osama bin Laden announced, was to force, or cause the US to take actions, that would erode our economic prosperity and weaken us as a nation .

Unfortunately, we have given bin Laden a victory he does not deserve. DHS has, for some time, been unaware that the failure of many of the security measures and procedures that they have championed, has resulted in additional, self inflicted wounds.

Just days ago, while standing in a long line of frustrated travelers at Dulles airport in Virginia, I received a painful reminder. TSA screeners were operating a few of the processing lanes to clear travelers, and I suggested that it looked as if TSA might need to open up more lanes to handle the holiday traffic. “No”, the TSA screener responded, “we have the right number of lanes open, it’s just that there are too many passengers.”

No statement could better indicate how unimaginative our national response has been to terrorism. TSA seems to believe that there are too many travelers, and we would be better served if far fewer people used the airports.

This kind of logic has resulted in huge numbers of foreign travelers and vacationers no longer willing to come to the U.S. Indeed, America’s share of the world market has yet to recover to pre 9/11 levels. Understandably, travelers hate waiting in long lines, increasingly invasive procedures and airport hassles disguised as greater security.

Our leaders say the right things. Senior DHS executives talk knowledgeably about “layered defense” and “risk management”. Yet, when it’s time to implement a rational risk management strategy our government leaders are inept and fall back on the same old, one-size-fits-all approach, adding costly and ill conceived procedures that increase traveler frustration.

Remember the shoe bomber? In December 2001, this guy put explosives in his sneaker and tried to light it on fire in the airplane. He failed, and was wrestled to the ground by alert and courageous passengers. Shortly thereafter, DHS devised a new procedure, requiring everyone to remove their shoes and pass them through the detection system.

The shoe bomber response is a perfect example of DHS’s “risk based approach” in action. Everyone was required to take off their shoes from old ladies to little kids. Everyone was considered an equal risk. As a result, lines grew longer. DHS could focus attention on travelers that represented a real and potential threat, (for example, a Muslim man, travelling without a passport, without luggage, and who had been identified as potential terrorist by family members), but DHS has not done that. DHS views all travelers as an equal risk, which is probably why the TSA representative thinks that things would be better if fewer people decided to fly.

Unintentionally, DHS is creating the next opportunity for a terrorist attack. Screening procedures, document checks, baggage X-rays, shoe inspections, as well as whatever new procedures are dreamed up to check for explosives in underwear, have caused longer delays at airports. These procedures are why we are told to get to the airport early.

By creating these long lines of waiting travelers, DHS has created the next target for an al-Qaeda bomber. The line itself. A suicide bomber could kill more passengers by igniting a bomb in the midst of the long line of travelers as they wait to be screened by TSA. Why bother to try to smuggle explosive on the airplane when it is far easier to blow up people standing in line? Not only is there no security involved, but the number of travelers is far greater.

Watching DHS continually overreact to security challenges and then inadvertently create even bigger potential security problems is painful. As the 9/11 commission correctly noted, our leaders lack sufficient imagination. And so, we are probably doomed to more of the same.

Is there a better way? You bet there is. Here are three things we could do right now:

1. Stop talking about “risk based security” and start implementing it. Our targeting system and screening resources should be focused on those actually representing the biggest potential threats. Too much effort is wasted on little kids, old ladies and people that represent little or no real threat. It’s time to stop all the political correctness and focus attention squarely on those that want to do us harm.
2. Stop talking about layered defense and implement it. Instead of focusing attention on screening passengers at the TSA line, we could push some inspection and resources throughout the airport starting at the entrance. The most effective bomb detection system deployed anywhere in the world is a bomb sniffing dog. Canine units are also unobtrusive and do not hinder travelers as they move along their way, so they could be deployed at airport entrances with great effect without adding delays to the already ponderous process..
3. Do talk about passengers. Oddly, DHS is reluctant to talk about the role of observant passengers in the security process. Perhaps DHS believes that only the government can provide passengers with protection, but both the shoe bomber and the crotch bomber were stopped, not by any government action, process, or inspection system, but by a determined, conscientious, fellow passenger. Such actions should be encouraged, and potential enemies should be made aware that travelling passengers are alert and willing to take necessary action. (A policy that allows the public to drag the next idiot bomber back through a gauntlet of frustrated travelers, eager to kick, beat, poke, and flog the would-be bomber on his way to jail would be even better.)

Above all else, we need to think more creatively and better leverage our national, entrepreneurial genius so that every new DHS policy includes a procedure that would improve security, but would also speed the flow of legitimate trade and travel. This way, every DHS investment would not only make us safer, but would have the added benefit of stimulating economic growth and vitality by moving people and cargo faster.

Let’s hope that over the next few weeks DHS starts trying to defeat al Qaeda by disrupting their strategy, and that the days of self-inflicted economic costs are no longer part of the norm.