Stopping the kamikaze

CIVIL AVIATION TODAY faces its most cruel moment of truth. When the aircraft - forcefully commandeered in mid-air by a bunch of irrational, blood-thirsty terrorists - crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the vulnerability of man to methodically planned carnage by man lay exposed. As much as the search for the plotters of the sinister killings should continue, these moments of international sorrow cannot be complete without a mournful introspection into what fundamentally went awfully wrong. This exercise is also important if the world is to see less of terror in the years ahead. Cut to the bone, Tuesday's terror over the skies of America, that has so cruelly snatched the lives of thousands of innocents, boils down to a case of hijacking. The unanticipated consequence of that latest act of sky-terrorism was the new nadir that crimes against humanity plunged to. Lax procedures, often based on illusions of imagined invincibility, have served as stepping-stones for many a terrorist act across the world. It is on the colossal human failure to put in place contingency plans that foresee and effectively counter murderous motives and to implement existing security procedures that an important part of the blame is to be laid. The blood of the victims lies equally on those who did not carry out their duty to prevent the knife-wielding terrorists from boarding the aircraft as it is on those who planned and carried out the ghastly slaughter from the skies.

One fact that has been overlooked time and again by authorities fighting terrorism across the world is that outlaws are normally steps ahead of enforcement agencies. Given this basic premise, there should have been no place for complacency in carrying out the prescribed checks at the domestic airport terminals. Clearly, measures to counter hijacking should now enter a new phase, with the blurring of lines between domestic air services and the high- profile international lines as targets for the agents of terror. A point of distress is that one of the two airline operators which were involved in the tragic Tuesday's hijacking was charged by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with alleged failure to apply security measures on six flights last year. Pre- screening of passengers and checking of baggage may appear ubiquitous chores, but as has been proved to the world yet again, individual abdication of responsibility has germinated many a catastrophe. The series of higher security measures announced in the U.S. - including a ban on kerb-side luggage check-in and off- airport passenger check-in, the increased presence of law enforcement officers and restrictions in access beyond the screening area in airports - should mark the start of a thorough overhaul of airport security systems across the world.

In many parts of the world, including India, the recommendations made by aviation security bureaux continue to be ignored, especially in domestic services. Poor motivation levels of ground security personnel, a lackadaisical approach to work and technological shortcomings are some of the factors that require urgent correction. In addition, there is also the need to strengthen the intelligence apparatus - both human and technical - to reach a higher level of preparedness. While there is a strong case for stepping up security measures, there is also the need to integrate these efforts into a system that does not come as a hindrance to the traveller. Clearly, technological advances to effectively counter the ill-effects of human lapses should continue with an increased vigour. The global civil aviation industry, which transports close to 1.5 billion people every year, owes its passengers the commitment of a safe journey. Stopping the kamikaze from boarding an aircraft is a starting point.

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