Testimony before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Committee on State Government
ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: The Heritage Foundation
31March2011 10:20pmEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: The 9/11 attacks were a wake-up call for policymakers on the threats facing aviation security. In 1988, a bomb that was detonated on Pan Am Flight 103 killed 243 passengers and 16 crew members (commonly referred to as the Lockerbie bombing). The perpetrator of the bombing did not board the plane, but rather planted a bomb in a suitcase which detonated while the plane was in the air. Most other aviation threats before 9/11 were largely motivated by attempts to extort money or some other agenda where those aboard were largely left unharmed and the airplane intact. The 9/11 attacks were different in that they introduced the idea of suicidal hijackings and reinforced the fact that al-Qaeda, which had targeted the U.S. before, was still seeking to inflict catastrophic harm on the United States. (read full report)
