9/11 Aviation Factors

Introduction On September 11, 2001 the world understood why the transportation system is considered a critical infrastructure, especially America, because the terrorist attack grounded every commercial and private flight in the country for days. This had never been seen at such a level. As word traveled about the four hijacked aircraft many airlines started rerouting flights for fear of other attempts to harm others and carry out more attacks. Airlines cancelled thousands of flights and it was felt around the world the deeply striking blow of fear created by Al Qaeda the Islamic terrorist group headed by then Osama Bin Laden. According to the National Preparedness Goal “ensuring the security of the homeland requires terrorism prevention

Some commercial airlines had to file for bankruptcy or get government loans to stay in operations, this cause airline prices to drop which many would think is a good thing, but caused layoffs throughout the industry. It took the aviation industry years to recover from the losses! Tourism was drastically reduced; support services fell off such as airport shuttles, maintenance and fuel services. The public did not trust the airlines to keep them safe anymore. The restriction list of items that can be brought on flights increased, pretty much anything with a sharp point or edge was not allowed. The entire transportation sector felt the impact of the attack as well as the economy. Investments in U.S. stock plummeted! The military was put on high alert, many aircraft squadrons and ships were prepared to fight in the homeland if needed. The US Patriot Act was enacted giving law enforcement and other agencies greater capabilities to collect intelligence on suspected terrorists and known

Their main objective and goal is to protect the public and critical infrastructure at the national level and to investigate and respond to any future attacks within the U.S. from foreign or domestic terrorism. The Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2002 “was enacted, in part, to respond to the need for the federal government and owners and operators of the nation’s critical infrastructures to share information on vulnerabilities and threats, and to promote information sharing between the private and public sectors in order to protect critical assets”(Stevens, 2003 3). Prevention, protection, response and recover are the focus not only for terrorist attacks but with natural disasters also. It is safe to say that the DHS has a tough job preventing and responding to any threats that could potentially interrupt critical infrastructure or cause harm to the