Terrorism and Airport Security Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research Pa

Terrorism and Airport Security The morning of September 11 was like any other. The sun rose from the east, and the day was full of life. People went to work as they were accustomed to, and everybody seemed safe from harms way. In airports across America: planes were taking their passengers to their destinations in record times. People went through airport security as usual, walking through the metal detector and sending their bags through the x-ray machines. Security at the airport was normal. Bags were checked for guns and explosives as they had been doing for many years. This seemingly routine day turned out to be far from normal. A group of people that belonged to Al-Qaeda had different plans for the people of the United States. On September 11th the men of Al Qaeda, a terrorist group that has been the center of attention for some time now, hijacked 4 planes and used them as guided missiles to attack the people and government of America. These attacks were not against military targets or troops, they were aimed at the innocent civilians of everyday life. These cowardly attacks are the reason that the U.S. has devoted more time to national security, specifically airport security (September, 2004). Paul Thompson has compiled a complete timeline of the events that took place, before and after 9/11. Thompson continued, " The scrambling of fighter aircraft at the first sign of trouble is a routine phenomenon. During the year 2000, there where 425 'unknowns' pilots who didn't file or diverted [sic] from flight plans or used the wrong frequency." He went on to say that " such scrambles before 9/11 were about two or three times a week. After 9/11 they went up to three or four times a day" (Thompson, 2002). Paul Bracken,... ...hannel_hsd_story.jsp?id=news/com03244.xml Terrorism. (2004, March 16) Wikipedia. Retrieved March 17, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism Tyson, J. (2004, February 2). How Airport Security Works. How stuff works. Retrieved March 20, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://travel.howstuffworks.com/airport-security1.htm style='font-family:Geneva'>Thompson, P. (2002 October 29). Complete 911 Timeline. Center For Corporative Research. Retrieved March 21, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&timeperiod=0:10am-11:50pm%2011%20Sept%202001 < style='font-family:Geneva'>United States Department of Homeland Security. (2004, March 16) Wikipedia. Retrieved March 17, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Homeland_Securitypan>