Michael Chertoff, the assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal division at the Justice Department during the attack of 9/11 stated, “Like many people at the time, I thought it was a pilot error.”
Chertoff was the head of Homeland Security in 2005 to 2009. To his thinking, since the end of the Cold War, three developments have profoundly changed the world and therefore the world of security threats. One was that globalization radically changed the potential impact of a network or even an individual, offering the ability to travel, communicate, and exchange money. Two, the technology revolution has allowed people to cause massive destruction with just the push of a button. The third was the increase of “ungoverned space” where there is no true rule of law, has enabled terrorists to recruit, plan, and train undetected.
During a discussion, Chertoff outlined the shift in the nation’s approach to security, one he argued happened before the attacks of 9/11. The actions of that day only served to highlight “something we hadn’t recognized and which the law had not adequately accounted for,” and underscored the need for a new framework aimed at combatting terrorism.
What are the events that had shaped airport security before the attacks of September 11th 2001? Airline hijackings were very frequent in the mid to late 1960s. They most commonly were committed by individuals seeking transport into Cuba. This caused airlines to apply policies of screening all passengers and bags before they are to board the aircraft. The FAA applied this new policy in an effort to avert the carrying of weapons used to compel hijackings.
During the mid-1970s through the