Al Qaeda Months Away From Another Attack

CIA Director Leon Panetta believes that Al Qaeda could attack America within the next three to six months.  Very scary prediction. But its reality. America in its vast amount of territory is exposed to the threat of terrorism every day. Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee "the biggest threat is not so much that we face an attack like 9/11. It is that Al Qaeda is adapting its methods in ways that often times make it difficult to detect."

He further elaborated that  the terrorist organization is recruiting in-country recruits or homegrown terrorists to carry out attacks as well.  The Director of the National Intelligence  Dennis Blair has also warned that  the terrorists could launch cyber computer-related attacks on the U.S. which could cripple the economy since technology has become the epicenter of business production. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has requested that funding to combat cyber attacks be decreased.

The major concern is that with the focus on the economy and health care, people are forgetting that terrorism is still a very dominant force in the world and a very real threat. Thankfully, we have not had a successful terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 which is a relief but also a deficit at the same time because when everything is going well people let their guard down. I am afraid that an overwhelming amount of the American people do not fully realize how serious is the threat of terrorism.

Obama and the Democrats  have a propensity to speak in localized instead of widespread regional terms when describing how Al Qaeda is the only organization that attacked the U.S. on 9/11 and therefore is the main entity that poses a threat to U.S. security. (This gives people the incorrect impression that the threat to the U.S. is based in Afghanistan when it extends way beyond a single country)  Yes, Al Qaeda is leading worldwide Jihad attacks. But, Al Qaeda is hardly alone. ( Hamas is now debating whether to attack Israelis and Jews outside of Israel).  In fact, the threat largely emanates from a vast radical Islamic network spread all over the world in many different countries, in the Middle East, in Europe, even in America. This radical network composed of various terrorist organizations fervently  believes that the "Infidel" (anyone who does not believe in their radical ideology which includes Jews, Christians and moderate Muslims)  must be killed. They will fight until the end of days until every last "Infidel" is annihilated.

This demented philosophy largely  means that Western civilization will have to engage in an embattled conflict with radical Islam for many years to come perhaps until the end of time and that's not an exaggeration by any stretch of the imagination.   It also means that people can not expect that the focus on preserving national security will disappear or become less important simply because our political leaders attend to domestic matters. Even though we have a lot of legitimate highly significant needs and concerns that must be attended to, (i.e. the economy, employment, health care) national security must remain our top priority requiring our foremost attention.

If we forget that we are still fighting a war on terror as serious as in the days after 9/11 and instead shift gears to focusing on the economy for example, we will not have to worry about the economy because we the "Infidels" will not be here to have an economy.

Al Qaeda Months Away From Another Attack

Obama Administration Concedes Airline Security Failed

 The Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, has finally admitted to a disturbing reality.  Airline security failed when Mutallab carrying explosives on a watch list(although he was not on " a no fly list" like he should have been) was able to board a U.S. airliner bound for Detroit. Secretary Napolitano, we can not afford to have airline security fail on us? I am glad you admitted to the reality we are experiencing. Namely, that airline security needs to be drastically improved. But, now that you have come to the realization that airline security has failed us, what are you going to do about it so that the NWA incident does not ever happen again? Was not 9/11 a big enough wake up call for airline security to never fail us again? Apparently not.

Obama Administration Concedes Airline Security Failed

Terror returns to the skies on NWA Flight 253

Vice-President Biden stated during the campaign that President Obama would be tested just like President Bush was tested with 9/11. Now, we may have had our first real test of the Obama administration by Al Qaeda with this latest attempt to blow up  NWA Airlines flight 253 on December 25th as it proceeded to make its final approach into Detroit. The NWA flight originated from Nigeria  with a stop over in Amsterdam before departing for Detroit. On board NWA Flight 253 was a Nigerian man by the name of  Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. According to the New York Post and other news sources, Mutallab has ties to Al Qaeda. Apparently, Mutallab stated that he was instructed by Al Qaeda to blow up a U.S. Airliner.

Mutallab could have very easily blew up this aircraft or could have caused serious harm. Luckily, he was not able to detonate the bomb and only caused a small fire on board which was put out by the crew. The other passengers, particularly a Dutch man by the name of Jasper Schuringa, was able to restrain Mutallab until law enforcement authorities arrived.

This incident should serve as another wake up call for the U.S. to get their act together. We have already had the incidents on AirTran and  United Airlines this year. (See my earlier posts on those incidents http://kauffmanscommentary.blogspot.com/search/label/AirTran%20Airways
http://kauffmanscommentary.blogspot.com/search/label/United%20Airlines ). How many wake up calls can you get before its too late? You're lucky if you get one wake up call. We've now had three wake up calls with little or no damage caused. The fourth wake up call will not be so innocuous. Do we have to have another major terrorist attack again on U.S. soil, God forbid, before the U.S. intelligence community and aviation industry learns to connect the dots and provide better security on our flights?  The terrorists are professionally trained. They will take advantage of our inadequate security measures to our detriment.

We learned that the father of Mutallab warned the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that his son could be dangerous.  Unfortunately, Mutallab was not put on any "no fly list." Why not? He should have at least been subjected to stricter security checks at the airport when boarding the flight.  Certainly, the information learned by the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria should have been conveyed to the FAA and the CIA and the FBI. And, if they knew about this information which they may or may not have been aware of until now, they should have immediately flagged Mutallab for greater surveillance.

I am sure in the coming days more information will be revealed about what the U.S. knew about Mutallab and when they knew it similarly to the investigation that occurred after 9/11. But, the aviation industry is missing the boat if security measures as they stand now will continue unchanged.

In the wake of this NWA incident,  the government is requiring that passengers remain in their seats for the last hour of the flight. And, on international flights, passengers are only allowed once carry on bag. There certainly will be longer lines.But, these new restrictions are not sufficient. More needs to be done to protect U.S. Airliners from another terrorist attack.

While I am no security expert and do not purport to be one, the problem  does not seem to be one of keeping passengers in their seats. A terrorist attack could still happen regardless of whether a passenger stays in his seat or not. Rather, the only way to really ensure that the aircraft is safe on the ground and in the air  is to profile passengers before they board the aircraft to determine who appears to be a threat to the flight. This procedure has been done for years in Israel.  Many have argued quite sensibly that this investigative questioning of passengers before they board flights, which is done by Israeli airlines and by the airport authority at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, could not be replicated in a massive capacity in the U.S. However, the time may have come where we do not have a choice but to do what the Israelis have been doing for years.

I would propose the following new security measures:

1) All U.S. Airliners must hire their own trained security to oversee the check-in procedures for all flights whether they are operating within the U.S or are originating from an overseas airport.  It can no longer be sufficient for U.S. Airliners to rely on other airports to solely run the security for their flights.  Nor can U.S. Airliners solely rely on TSA personnel who may not be trained in detecting a bomb or other explosive device.

2) All passengers going on a domestic or international flight must check in their bags at the ticket counter instead of curb side check in.

3) All passengers should expect that they may be subjected to questioning at the ticket counter by trained airport or airline-hired security. (The need for questioning of passengers will be greater on international flights) If there is a serious question as to whether a passenger may be a threat to a particular flight, that passenger will not be allowed to fly on that flight and will have to be rebooked on another flight once he or she is cleared to fly again.

4) All U.S. Airports should have the same security procedures. We are learning now that security procedures depends on which airport you are flying from.  Uniformity is vital to prevent another terrorist attack. Every airport in the U.S. must provide comparable security. (Fort Lauderdale's airport must provide the same security that JFK or LAX provides. Now, its true that Fort Lauderdale does not have the same flight load as LAX or JFK. But, passengers departing from Fort Lauderdale's airport must be subjected to the same security procedures that they would experience at a more busy airport.)

5)  If the FAA, CIA, or FBI learns of information pointing to an individual who may be a risk to a flight, that person should immediately be put on a "no fly list" or should be subjected to more stringent security checks at the airport by either airport or airline security.

I  know that these proposed security measures would probably significantly raise airline prices and cause more hassle at the airports including more wait time.

Ultimately, this may be the price that we have to pay  if we want to fly terror-free.

Terror returns to the skies on NWA Flight 253

United Airlines Flight 227

I wrote yesterday about the disturbing incident on AirTran flight 297 which remains clouded in mystery. Add United Airlines to the mix in an ever growing saga of Middle Eastern looking men causing disturbances on U.S. flights.  Most recently, UAL flight 227 on December 9, 2009 had to return to the gate in order to remove unruly passengers of Middle Eastern descent who were engaging in suspicious conduct. One passenger stated that he had never seen  flight attendants so scared in his life. As previously discussed, these incidents on AirTran and United Airlines should not be viewed in a vacuum.We could be seeing a return of Al Qaeda & Co.  using  U.S. airliners in  order to carry out terrorist attacks on U.S. soil or in other parts of the world if the U.S. government fails to heed the warning signs.

Stay tuned to Kauffmans Commentary for continued updates on this very topic.

United Airlines Flight 227

AirTran Airways Coverup?

Could AirTran Airways be covering up a terrorists dry run on one their recent flights this past November 17th?  Thankfully, we have not had a terrorist attack on American shores since 9/11. President Bush was never given credit by the mainstream media for his efforts in preventing another terrorist attack in America after 9/11. We all thought  that the U.S. would be targeted inside America by Al Qaeda in the months and years after 9/11. Even though we have not been hit since 9/11 which is certainly a huge achievement considering the times we find ourselves in, the fact that we have not been hit since 9/11 may have a detrimental effect if we are going to become complacent and less vigilant. I personally have had conversations with friends who tell me, "we have not had another attack since 9/11, we should be focusing more on the economy instead of national security." This seems like the prevalent attitude in our society today.  While its true that we have been able to avoid another terrorist attack since 9/11, terrorism is alive and well in this country and in the surrounding world. If we become complacent as it seems we have become, the U.S. will be on a collision course for another terrorist attack G-dforbid. (Remember after the 1993 WTC attack, there was a lull of eight years before the terrorists struck us again) What people do not understand is that the war against Radical Islam, which supports and provides aid to the terrorists who struck us on 9/11, is an ongoing battle. If we at any time reach the conclusion that we can cease attending to national security and solely focus our attention on other matters, we are in for a rude awakening. (The terrorists are hoping that we will do just that).

Unfortunately, with the recent news that AirTran Airways may be covering up a terrorists dry run on one of their flights, it is clear that even the airline industry does not fully understand today's reality.   According to AirTran Airways' own account, AirtTran Airways flight # 297 on 11/17/09 which was scheduled to fly from Atlanta to Houston had to return to the gate after a passenger would not stop talking on his cell phone. However, there appears to be more to the story. One of the passengers, who was late and missed boarding this flight, claims being told from other passengers who made the flight that several Arab men were singing loudly in Arabic on the flight prior to leaving the gate. They refused to sit down when asked by flight attendants. Furthermore, these men took out their cell phones to take pictures of other passengers. And, according to this passenger, the men proceeded to pretend to shoot other passengers with their fingers.

Now, in all fairness to AirTran, I was not on board this flight and am only hearing about the incident through news reports. Maybe the incident on AirTran is nothing more than a fluke and nothing to worry about. It should also be pointed out that these men were questioned by police and released. But, something seems very awry when passengers have conflicting accounts of what occurred on the flight.  Someone is telling the truth and someone is clearly covering up what occurred. Unfortunately, AirTran has more to loose by clearly articulating  what occurred, namely that several Arab men were taking pictures of other passengers and pretended to shoot other people. After the six Imams who received a lot of money from US Airways after being kicked off a flight for allegedly engaging in suspicious conduct, the airlines are afraid to accurately assess a situation because they are afraid of insulting Muslims. Because of this fear, it appears that AirTran sugarcoated what occurred and has decided to dispute any other account as being a "conspiracy theory."  AirTran should not flippantly dismiss passenger accounts (AirTran execs were not on the flight, these passengers experienced what occurred)  which is what they did in their press statement. If the airlines are going to be bullied in remaining silent to such an extent that AirTran can not address the missing pieces to this story and can not respond to media requests for an explanation as to the varying accounts, the airline industry will  be adopting a mindset that will result in the American people becoming vulnerable as opposed to being secure.

While, under normal circumstances, it is prudent to avoid offending people, social niceties do not mix well with security especially in this day and age. The simple fact is that the airlines can not be put in a position where they will be precluded from identifying the perpetrators of disturbances on their flights because of a fear of a lawsuit or because of political correctness.   (The airlines should have no qualms about identifying whomever is causing a disturbance on their flight whether they are Muslim or from some other nationality) Otherwise, the terrorists will use our relaxed environment to their diabolical advantage.

AirTran Airways Coverup?