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Terror in the Skies: Why 9/11 Could Happen Again

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Does the accumulation of four years without further terrorist attacks make you feel safer when you fly? It shouldn't. The Bureaucratic Bunglers are out in full force and with them in charge you don't have a prayer. Or rather, all you do have is prayer.

According to Annie Jacobsen, we'd better do our homework on this one because there is no one watching out for us. Back in April,Gates of Vienna posted on Ms. Jacobsen's tenacity and her willingness to follow this story wherever it led. That post, "Silence of the Sheep," proved that the author is a sheepdog indeed. Her interviews with other passengers, with government agencies, with the House Judiciary Committee, with airline personnel, and with individual people who bear the day-to-day hazard of working in this field, have made her case. The tale of her experiences is documented well in "Terror in the Skies".

This is a top-down problem. The guys in harm's way - the pilots and flight attendants - know the problems but they have no more power to address them than you do. Less than two percent of pilots are armed. Want to know why? Because in order to actually carry a firearm on board, the firearms training must be done on the pilot's own time and it has to be done in a place far from home, squeezed into his holiday time or vacation.

And flight attendants? Again, they have to arrange self-defense training on their own time, at their own expense and without the cooperation of the airlines themselves. Think of it this way: what if Brink's hired drivers and gave them no training in handling attempted robberies? What if they expected their employees to get training - if any - on their own time and their own dime? How long do you think Brink's would be in business?

That's the situation we have in the friendly skies of America. When you add to that the cruel joke of the Federal Air Marshals, the lackadaisical behavior of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the farce we all know as the Department of Homeland Insecurity, it's enough to make you want to stay home and do your business by long-distance and email.

Let's take just one: FAMS. This is bureaucratese for the Federal Air Marshal program. You know the old joke that goes "you're ugly and your mother dresses you funny"? Well, for this program, the first part may or may not be the case, but for the second premise - being dressed funny - you can count on FAMS. Due to the boneheaded policies of those in charge, Federal Air Marshals are required to wear sport coats and collared shirts. Yes, that's right: they must look like Federal Air Marshals at all times because they are a reflection of FAMS and dressing in a slovenly disguise would somehow bring disgrace to the organization. Comments about being a lovely corpse would be appropriate here.

Then there's what they do after they're up and dressed. Remember, they're carrying guns, right? So obviously they can't go through security. However, there's a second obvious thing they can do - they can fight the current and walk through the exit lanes for deplaning passengers. How's that for subterfuge?

Let's see, what other behaviors might they carry out to make themselves more obvious? Pre-boarding is one trick they have down well. So is always riding in first class.

And there you have the FAMS spotter information: check out the guys in first class in the sports coats who got on the plane before you. But don't worry. Any terrorists on board sussed to their tricks a long time ago. They know exactly who they have to take out first, provided that any "taking out" is even necessary. If you're going to detonate in the restroom, what do you care where the Federal Marshals are? They're coming with you anyway.

Annie Jacobsen makes a good case for the fact that her flight, 327 on Northwest Airlines, was a "probe," a dry run practice. And she backs up her contention with:

* eyewitnesses who were on the plane with her,

*a four hour FBI interrogation in which they admitted her intuition was correct,

* contact from other passengers on other planes who decry the lack of security and the lack of follow-up in their cases, and

* communications from frustrated and fearful pilots, flight attendants, and others in the business who know the skies are anything but safe, that they are being probed all the time, and that it is only a matter of time before planes fall from the sky.
Near the end of the book Ms. Jacobsen recounts a conversation with an air marshal. She asked him to explain what he meant when he said "it was all for show." Here' what he told her:

"You know how youd go to the airport, before 9/11, and an agent there, somebody who worked for the airlines would say to you, 'Did you pack your own bags?' Well, it was all for show. Those agents weren't trained in detecting whether or not someone was lying. The procedure was there to make the flying public feel good. That's what happened with 327. They all came running like in the movies, but it was all for show. Who interviewed the men? FAMS. We're not trained in interviewing terror suspects. We don't know what to look for. And the FBI at the airport? I won't go there. Who really should have been there? ICE. Period. ICE. But they weren't. Why? Because management says probes aren't happening on airplanes. The guys were there to make the passengers feet good, nothing more, nothing less.
Two years ago, I had a probing incident. It may have been one of the first. After it happened, no one knew what to do, there was no protocol. The guys involved in the incident sailed off into the crowd. What was I going to do? Run up, tap the guy on the shoulder and say, 'I almost shot you, now I'd like to interview you?'
Instead, I filed a report about my probing incident. Basically I was told 'it didn't happen.' Well, it did happen. Probes have been happening ever since. I doubt anybody ever even remotely considered you'd attract the kind of press you did. But you did. That's a good thing."

Now you know. Annie Jacobsen's intuitions about Flight 327 were correct. But you know even more: the official response to 9/11 is all for show - boondoggle and brouhaha and folderol and CYA.

Perhaps we should fly the friendly skies of El Al. They know security; they take it in with their mothers' milk.

__________________
DISCLOSURE: Spence Publishing sent me this book for review purposes. This post, which I will also place in Amazon, serves as my part of the original agreement made with them that were I sent a copy, I would review Ms. Jacobsen's book. I recommend it highly. There is an excellent bibliography, a glossary of federal acronyms, and extensive notes and back-up for her assertions. The only flaw is the lack of an index. This can be annoying if you're looking for specifics -- e.g., her description of El Al's rigorous security for all its flights.

By the way Kevin Jacobsen, her husband, was initially so put off by the behavior of the fifteen Arab "musicians" on board the flight that he seriously contemplated faking a heart attack in order to get out of the plane before takeoff. Lacking the audacity to carry that out (a courage he no doubt has acquired by now)Mr. Jacobsen sat frozen through the flight, pen in hand, ready to fend off the terrorists. It may seem a futile gesture here on the ground, but it is speaks to the level of his fear for himself and his family.

Me, I'm going to do that old Red Foxx imitation. You know, the one where he clutches his chest and looks heavenward and says piteously "I'm comin' Lisabeth, I'm comin'..." Even now I am practicing the necessary histrionics in case I'm ever stupid enough to get on a plane other than El Al.

I was informed of this book by a recent article in the Washington Times. Fascinating read! I remember the bizarre story of Northwest flight 327 and the 14 Syrian suspects and I was surprised to learn that for nearly two years now (from the Washington Times) the Department of Homeland Security has been "secretly" working on a report on the controversial flight. I do remember something way back when from the government to the affect of "nothing happened" on the flight. Something about the Syrians being part of a band. Well, well, surprise surprise. Now the DHS report has come out and it's been classified. Fortunately, Ms. Jacobsen's investigative work has not been classified. In this book, she shows us what Homeland Security doesn't want us to know: that 14 Syrian men can fly around the country on expired visas, terrorizing passengers and conducting test runs for hijacking and no one says boo. Buy a ticket to United 93, read this book and say a prayer. When you're done praying, get real and call your Congressman. If not, the news of your death will not be an exaggeration.

Everyone who flies often, or has loved ones who fly often, should read this book. It's one way to become a better informed consumer of airline travel. You'll learn that the government, which is supposed to protect you, is much more interested in covering up their mistakes, pointing fingers, using diversionary tactics and expending effort in obfuscating the truth.

While, this book reads like a fiction political thriller, it's real life. It was too much to hope for that the government would be proactive in protecting us from terrorists who would turn our airliners into weapons against us. Instead they wait until something happens - Richard Reid tries to blow up a plane with a bomb in his shoe, and now 86-year old grandmothers have to take off their shoes. One hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing: The CIA knew the 9/11 bombers were in the country, but didn't bother to tell the FBI. Once the FBI knew, they couldn't find them - even though some of them were actually listed in the phone book.

It's hard to read this book and keep on flying on commercial aircraft. But if anything, I have a whole lot more respect for the airline crews. I would say I have less confidence in our government, but I'm not sure confidence can be measured in the negative.

Layers upon layers of half truths and misleading information have always been apart of the information highway. After 9/11 i figured we would get to the bottom of some of the major issues facing National Security and airline safety, at the very least. To discover that even today, after all that has occurred we, as a nation of people, are still held under the thumb of misinformation when it comes to the airline industry and safety issues is absolutely unacceptable.
Annie's book expands very well on the layers of bureaucracy, lies and cover-ups that occur even today within the many institutions set up to protect our lives in the air as well as on the ground.
Dave Adams should be fired and the TSA should almost start from scratch and Mr. Mineta needs to be replaced immediately.
The airline industry should somehow be held accountable for the lack of information they allow their employees to share and how this inability to tell the crucial truths about what happens in the skies of today kills people and will again and again and again.
Ms. Jacobsen had a traumatic experience and didn't bury her head in the sand as so many of us have in the past. To pursue the personal truths that scare us so much is admirable. To pursue the truths that threaten a nation is courageous and patriotic. I commend her for telling a story that needed to be told, in a manner that is enjoyable to read and informative. This book isn't about her or her story.
This book, after reading it, is about me, you and everyone else who "fly the friendly skies."
A good read.
An informative read.
An incredibly discouraging read.

Annie Jacobsen's book is a harrowing, fascinating and informed perspective on two timely topics: terrorism and the administration's inability to face the facts and keep the public out of harm's way. The author recounts in great detail the airline trip she took in June 2004, one where 14 Syrian men -- flying on expired visas (we discover later) acted in a threatening and suspicious manner that led her and others on the flight to believe the 757 might be hijacked. It wasn't hijacked, but anyone who believes nothing happened on flight 327 should read this book before they offer up an opinion.

It's been fourteen months since the flight landed. Department of Homeland Security has been investigating the flight, Congress has been investigating the investigators and Ms. Jacobsen has been investigating what government leaves out. What she's discovered paints an alarming and disturbing portrait: bureacrats behaving like bureaucrats and terrorists behaving like terrorists.

Jacobsen's personal account is riviting and her journalistic talents provide a compelling narrative.

In is no accident that excerpts of "Terror in The Skies, Why 9/11 Could Happen Again" appear in Houghton Mifflin's colege primer, "Many Americas: Reading and Writing Across The Cultural Divide." This is a book that will challenge great minds to think critically. Our future depends on it.

An eye-opener and in view of recent events in the UK, what Annie Jacobsen has to say is fair warning to all air travellers, despite the dismissive accounts of some readers (who, I feel, could well be trying to defend their own lack of common sense).

It may be politically incorrect to stigmatise a cast or creed, but in view of the radical Islamic jehadists stance against the west and what they have already done, it seems only common sense to avoid any flights that might carry such personages.

Personally, I won't take the risk in future and will be eyeing my fellow passengers very carefully. If I suspect anything might be wrong, I'll ask to be put on another flight. Maybe, if others do the same, the Airlines might begin to do something to protect their passengers, such as recommending "some" people fly Arab Airways instead.

Thank you for your courage and writing this book Annie. It's a book that everyone should read.

i'm shocked at how many people have bought into this garbage. it repeatedly comes across as one woman trying to retroactively convince herself that her initial paranoid delusions on flight 327 was the "right" way to think.

her shocking facts and untold truths are nothing more then wind, blown out of other peoples mouths and lavishly scribbled onto a page to make it seem like something it isnt.

doesnt every book making some outrageous claim back up their statement with "eyewitness accounts" or some firsthand experience or some secret information that only the author has discovered? honestly, if people are this gullible what do you think of the dozens and dozens of books written about the supernatural? numberless volumes all filled with "shocking first hand accounts" of the boogeyman or some other equally outrageous idea.

with this book jacobsen has merely capitalized on Americans overly paranoid view of flying, middle easterners, and the combination of the two. there is not one page, not one scrap of evidence in this entire book that i would consider "conclusive". and these "official documents" that are now unclassified say nothing to the flavor of jacobsens words. after extensive background checks and follow ups it was exactly as it seemed, musicians with strange mannerisms on a plane. i dont know where jacobsen gets off, continuing to assert this was indeed some fictional "dry run" for a terrorist attack thats yet to happen?

there is a very clear difference between being mindful of suspicious activity and blatant paranoia. Jacobsen's book clearly advocates one of those and it doesn't take much critical thinking to deduce its certainly not the first option.

i'm shocked and appalled that fellow Americans could read this trash and take away any shred of beneficial information. The disgusting nature of this book is only matched by the ridiculous premise of her most recent. she must hate america, because clearly she thinks we are all idiots.

ps. i'd like to add that this is only reinforced by the more ludicrous "history" she recently came out with about Area 51. she disregards facts and history to create a compelling story, something readers of 'terror in the skies' should be familiar with. the misfacts and blatant disregard to documented history in her area 51 tragedy are too numerous to name. these lies are being peddled as factual accounts, when really they should call a spade a spade. her books are fiction, intended to entertain and nothing more.

Every American should read this book.

Seven years after 9/11 not enough has been done to protect our airlines.

Annie Jacoben's book should be a wake up call. It is quite amazing that anyone would doubt the facts stated in her accounting of flight 327 - which have been corroborated by other passengers and air marshals - especially in light of the fact that 2 airplanes werre capable of bringing down the World Trade Towers.

Why would anyone doubt that terrorists will try it again? It is not a matter of "if" but "when."

Why has the United States been reluctant to implement security equal to that of Israel's? Why isn't the United States government doing enough to protect its citizens?

Reading how lax security actually is at airports is frightening - a disaster waiting to happen AGAIN.

It took strength and courage to write this book. Many thanks to Annie Jecobsen.

after hearing this woman interviewed several times following the publication of her recent book on area 51, i have concluded that she is something of a lunatic. this book on airline security seems absurd to me and a clear reaction to a paranoid moment that she was probably ashamed of. how does somebody with this kind of mind garner so much attention when she writes books that really should be relegated to the pulp fiction aisle. don't get me wrong, i have no problem with pulp fiction. but why try to pass it off as factual? unless, of course, she has some kind of mental thing going on that compels her to do things like this.

I would say rather than spend your money on this book, download the Congressional Report. You get all the same information. I felt like the author spent too much time congratulating herself and patting herself on the back.