Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
goal was to have armed sky marshals on board American-based carriers to
prevent armed hijacking. Unfortunately, people have short memories.
After a number of turbulent years, the number of hijackings around the
world was reduced, largely as a result of improved airport security meas-
ures. The government decided that the sky marshal program was an
unnecessary expense. Prior to September 11, the sky marshal program
had been all but eliminated. American-based air carriers were left unpro-
tected, and members of Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda network pounced
on that weakness. Loss of commerce, insurance payouts, and the govern-
ment bailout of the airline industry as well as the total effect on the world
economy have yet to be completely assessed. Recent estimates made by the
city of New York place the economic loss at over $83 billion. By compar-
ison, the several million dollars saved by eliminating the use of armed sky
marshals is an insignificant sum.
Another example of how relatively minor capital expenditures for
security concerns can prevent tragedies from occurring may be seen in the
Oklahoma City bombing. On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a
Ryder truck filled with a bomb made from ammonium nitrate next to the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Virtually every American remembers
the horrific sight of the front of the building after the explosion. One hun-
dred seventy-three Americans lost their lives, including nineteen children.
Until the attack on September 11, the Oklahoma City bombing had been
the worst case of terrorism on U.S. soil. Just how difficult was it for McVeigh
to acquire the means necessary to carry out this savage act? Unfortunately,
the answer is that it was not very hard at all. The explosive he used, a bomb
made from fertilizer, is easy to make; today, the instructions are available
on dozens of Internet websites. Building this type of explosive is a simple
task for the least sophisticated among us. All the necessary bomb compo-
nents are readily available on the retail market. This method is still an easy
way to create an explosive capable of destroying a building and has been
used by Islamic militants before as well as domestic terror groups. All that
McVeigh needed to do was to assemble the components and select a target
that was both suitable for his needs and vulnerable to this type of attack.
The attack on the Alfred P. Murrah building was successful because
McVeigh was able to park his explosive-laden truck in close proximity
to the front of the building. Nothing in the design of the building or the
surrounding area prevented the truck from being placed in a position
where the explosives it carried would be most effective. In addition, statis-
tics clearly show that bombings are the preferred methods of attack by
