Screening at Aiports After September 11, 2001 Essay

On September 11, 2001, there were a series of four coordinated attacks against the United States by a known terrorist group, Al-Qaeda, in New York City and Washington, D.C. (Associated Press, 2003). These attacks changed the security of aviation throughout the nation. After 9/11, the image of general aviation (GA) was tarnished because the 9/11 hijackers trained in small GA aircraft in the United States (Elias, 2010). Even though the hijackers trained on GA aircraft the area of aviation that experienced the largest overhaul is screening at public airports. Many experts say that since general aviation airports vary intensely in characteristics it would be difficult to implement intense security to all of these airports because they are all†¦show more content†¦Airports that are generally small, for example, Red Stewart Airfield in Waynesville, OH, are not seen as a risk to experts in aviation security. As opposed to GA airports that are larger in size, or in close proximity t o critical assets like the White House (Elias, 2010). Airports that are larger or close to critical assets like the White House are required to conduct background checks for all of their pilots going to and from the airport (Elias, 2010). They do this so that they can keep track of where the pilot is around these high-risk areas. Experts in charge want to make sure they keep a look out for any terrorist activity that could potentially be coming out of a GA airport around high profile targets. It is said that if they imposed security measures such as these at all GA airports it would not be cost effective, and that given the current resources it would not be an effective security measure to implement on such a large scale. The threat to GA operations is not directed at the actual infrastructure of the operations, but more at terrorists exploiting GA assets to attack high profile targets, as stated earlier. Not only is there an issue with critical infrastructure having the potential t o be exploited by terrorists, but since GA airports are so diverse and spread out so widely they have more access to nuclear and chemical power plants. CommercialShow MoreRelatedThe Intelligence Community Essay2227 Words   |  9 Pagesfailures, many of which have made history. One of the most prominent failures in U.S history was the attacks on September 11, 2011. Now most people would start to read this essay and think they know everything about what happened that day because it has been so publicized. However, for me it was different. Yes, I was alive when it happened, but I was too young to understand. The September 11th attacks have been of particular interest to me due to the fact that they happened right in my backyard. One