Airport Security Research Paper

Airport Security September 11, 2001, was truly a tragic day where four commercial airplanes were hijacked; two which flew directly into each tower of the World Trade Center causing enormous damage and costing a multitude of people their lives. But could the attacks have been prevented? On September 11, a group of terrorist representing Al Qaeda got past the weak and flawed airport security, which led to the hijacking of the commercial airplanes and the death to thousands. Since September 11, the airport security has greatly improved. But many people believe that the increase in airport security has not been decreasing the number of terrorist attacks and it has been a waste of money due to the TSA’s security measures being focused on past attacks.

After September 11, many existing security measures were changed and improved upon. For example, the Transportation Security Administration worked with the Federal Aviation Administration to fortify cockpit doors on all commercial aircrafts in order to protect the cockpit and its pilots from unauthorized entry and dangerous objects or weapons (“Transportation Security Timeline”). This helps avoid potential terrorist attacks because it prevents hijackers from entering the cockpit and taking over the plane. Another improvement made to airport security is the Aviation and Transportation Security Act. The act was made into law requiring all passengers to take part in screenings by federal officials, one hundred percent of checked baggage screenings, and the growth of the Federal Air Marshal Service (“Transportation Security Timeline”). With the increase in passenger screening, baggage screening, and the Air Marshal Service the airport security systems are able to better avoid and prevent future terrorist attacks. Overall, the improvements and changes made to the existing security systems help airport security to prevent future attacks or plans while saving millions of lives in the

For example, the failed shoe bomb attempt in December 2001 caused the requirement where passengers must take off their shoes for screenings (Bajoria). This displays how the new airport security measures are changing primarily because of past events and not changing in order to stop future attacks. Likewise, Bruce Schneier, a security technologist, argues that the increase in airport security is a waste of money. He states, “We pick a defense, and then the terrorists look at our defense and pick an attack designed to get around it. Our security measures only work if we happen to guess the plot correctly. If we get it wrong, we’ve wasted our money” (qtd. In Bajoria). As airport security increases with the new defenses in place to prevent past attacks, terrorists are able to look at failed attacks and plan accordingly in order to get past the new security measures with