Security Experts Knew a Major Attack Was Possible

The challenge is vast. Each day, nearly 2 million passengers depart from 460 airports controlled by the FAA. On average, 35,000 to 40,000 commercial flights take off and land -- and 4,000 to 5,000 are in the air at any one time. Planes must be moved, cleaned, fueled and supplied with food and other provisions. Passengers and luggage must be channeled and screened -- all with the clock ticking toward departure time.

"It's very easy to have someone get on a plane and wreak havoc," said Harvey W. Kushner, a Long Island University professor and terrorism consultant to several federal agencies. "The security at airports is pathetic."

The last hijacking of a plane in the United States occurred in 1991, when a California man, upset that he was forbidden to smoke during a 90-minute flight, tried to commandeer the plane by claiming to possess explosives. Testifying before Congress last year, Gerald L. Dillingham, the GAO's senior air transportation expert, spoke of a later hijacking in the Philippines that seemed to portend trouble. He said it was meant as a dry run for a simultaneous assault on U.S. airliners in Asia.

"The trend in terrorism against U.S. targets is toward large-scale incidents designed for maximum destruction, terror and media impact -- exactly what terrorists intended in a 1995 plot to blow up 12 U.S. airliners in a single day," Dillingham said. "Concerns are growing about the potential for attacks in the United States."

Dillingham criticized the FAA for failing to heed repeated warnings about airport security -- warnings sounded by two presidential commissions and numerous GAO and inspector general reports.

Security at U.S. airports is provided by a variety of agencies and private security concerns. There is no centralized federal command. When it comes to monitoring passengers and their baggage, the airlines themselves are responsible.

"I feel nothing but frustration, because the issue of who should provide airport security has been raised time and time again," said Onstad, the former FAA chief counsel. "It is the only place in America where law enforcement has been delegated to private companies: the airlines."

Onstad spoke of poorly trained and paid screeners who operate airport X-ray machines and metal detectors. It is a tedious job in which equipment designed for earlier challenges -- preventing passengers from carrying metal guns and knives -- is no match for a calculating terrorist.

"The airlines are not the 82nd Airborne," Onstad said. "They catch the insane, they catch the sloppy and they catch the ignorant, but they're not going to catch a sophisticated terrorist."

Even the newer sensing machines in some airports are only as good as their handlers.

"Testing shows that screeners do not detect as much as they should," said John Anderson, a senior GAO official who oversees transportation studies. "Very often, folks that work at the fast-food restaurants at the airports make more money than the screeners."