Date:11/02/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/02/11/stories/2005021103321400.htm

International

9/11 panel blames it on false sense of security

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, FEB. 10. Federal aviation officials are said to have ignored multiple warnings of Al-Qaeda plots though some of them specifically mentioned the ways in which attacks could be carried out, according to a report of the September 11, 2001 Commission which has just come to light.

The officials, the report said, had been "lulled into a false sense of security" and that the intelligence was not acted upon. The report has been published in The New York Times which says the Commission had pointed to the 52 intelligence reports sent to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Bush administration blocked the full classified version of the report for more than five months and former Commission members say this provided a full and critical understanding of the failures of the civil aviation system.

Two weeks ago, the Republican administration is said to have given the National Archives classified and de-classified versions of the report. The report has shown that the FAA, in spring 2001, said "if the intent of the hijacker is not to exchange hostages for prisoners, but to commit suicide in a spectacular explosion, a domestic hijacking would probably be preferable."

Classified briefings

A spokeswoman for the FAA has been quoted in the paper as saying the agency took substantive steps to meet the threats including the use of explosion detection units.

The Commission said aviation officials gave classified briefings to security officials of 19 busiest airports to warn of the threats. Still adequate attention was not directed to the problem.

For instance, the FAA did not see the need for an increase in the ranks of the air marshals because hijacking was still seen as an overseas threat; and at least one aviation official had told the Commission that airlines were revenue oriented and did not wish to give away free seats to marshals.