Combating Air Terrorism

An international security expert focuses on the principal air terrorist acts since the mid-1980s.

The September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon raised numerous questions about American and international aviation security. Former Director of Security of the International Air Transport Association Rodney Wallis suggests that the failure to maximize U.S. domestic air security, which left air travelers vulnerable to attack, lay largely with the carriers themselves. He contends that future policies should parallel the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization. Wallis considers the Aviation and Transportation Security Act adopted by the U.S. Congress in the wake of September 11 and offers a modus operandi to the FAA that would enable them to maximize the benefits this legislation provides to air travelers. This important work reviews past government reactions to the threat posed by air terrorism and questions whether these were effective responses or merely window dressing. It also includes practical advice for air travelers on how to maximize their own security when flying on international routes by monitoring airport and airline security for themselves.

"Published in cooperation with NATO Emerging Security Challenges Division"--T.p.

The terrorist attacks of 9/11 plunged the United States into a determined counteroffensive against Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist network. This report details the initial U.S. military response to those attacks, namely, the destruction of al Qaeda's terrorist infrastructure and the removal of the ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The author emphasizes several distinctive achievements in this war, including the use of precision air-delivered weapons that were effective irrespective of weather, the first combat use of Predator unmanned aerial vehicles armed with Hellfire missiles, and the integrated employment of high-altitude drones and other air- and space-based sensors that gave CENTCOM unprecedented round-the-clock awareness of enemy activity.

This book examines the issues of ensuring anti-terrorist security of an aviation enterprise, provides a history of terrorism in the aviation sector, and analyzes the legal regulations. This book provides mathematical and mathematical-psychological models for reducing the risk of terrorist threats, which makes it possible to objectively increase the safety of air transport facilities, reduce the likelihood of terrorist attacks, save human lives and prevent significant material losses. The solutions of general humanistic problems proposed in the book-preventing accidents and preserving the world-are an original feature of the book, which allows one to treat it with the necessary attention and interest for the reader. The concept of anti-terrorist security of an aviation enterprise presented in this book has been widely tested and introduced into the activities of leading aviation enterprises, including the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), and has been used in the investigation of aviation accidents. This book is written for a wide range of audience associated with ensuring aviation transport security and for the end users of airlines-passengers, in order to expand their knowledge about the reliability of using air transport. .

RAND's research on terrorism formally began in 1972. Two bloody terrorist incidents that year-the Japanese Red Army attack on passengers at the Lod Airport in Israel and the seizure of Israeli athletes by Black September terrorists at the Olympics in Munich-signaled dramatically to the world that a new mode of warfare had begun. Reacting to this new threat, then President Nixon created the Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism, a high level group to coordinate all U.S. counterterrorist efforts. The committee in turn commissioned RAND to examine the phenomenon and how it might affect American security interests. Terrorism was not a new concern for the government, at least in its particular forms-the hijacking of airliners, the kidnapping of diplomats, protest bombings. However, as is so often the case, dramatic events focused interest and mobilized resources. Nor was this entirely new territory for RAND, which previously had studied the use of terrorism in revolutionary and guerrilla warfare, already had identified the new phenomenon of urban guerrilla warfare and its inherent tendency toward the employment of terrorist tactics, and had examined the problem of airline hijackings and assassinations. Having been present at the initiation of RAND's research on terrorism, and now 27 years later being called upon to review this latest RAND volume, Countering the New Terrorism, by Ian Lesser and his colleagues, provides me an opportunity for review and reflection, as well as for pointing out some of the unanticipated consequences of our endeavor.

Counterterrorism is a set of techniques for denying an opponent the use of terrorism-based tactics, just as counter-air is a set of techniques for denying the opponent the use of attack aircraft. Counterterrorism includes both the detection of potential acts and the response to related events. Building a counterterrorism plan involves all segments of a society or many government agencies. In dealing with foreign terrorists, the lead responsibility is usually at the national level. Because propaganda and indoctrination lie at the core of terrorism, understanding their profile and functions increases the ability to counterterrorism more effectively. There are many ways to combat terrorism. First, would be an international team that is always on call to respond to terrorist threats. and retrieve hostages with minimal loss of life. The second is gun control, which would limit the weapons accessed by potential terrorists. The last thing is to recognize terrorist organizations before they have chance to attack.

The response of the U.S. federal government to the events of September 11, 2001 has reflected the challenge of striking a balance between implementing security measures to deter terrorist attacks while at the same time limiting disruption to air commerce. Airport and Aviation Security: U.S. Policy and Strategy in the Age of Global Terrorism is a co