Aviation Secu rity 195 0 20 00

Threat and Respons e

The threat to civil aviation over the last 25 years has not diminished.

It

remains a

dangerous

world. The

number

o f incidents worldwide of unlawful interference with

civil

aviation, primarily hijacking and sabota ge, have decreas ed over the last 25 years, while the number of

flights,

enplanements and passenger-miles flown by scheduled air carrier s have increased. As graphically demonstrated by the two most recent hijackings, however, this decrease in th e numb er of event s does not minimize the tragedy of these

crimes.

Governments, airlines and airports must

work

together cooperatively

to

achieve

ou r

common

goal:

safe

and secure air tra nsport ation worldwide. When hijacking was an all too frequent occurren ce in the late

1960's

and 1970-71, air carrie rs volunt arily cooper ated with the Federal Government

on

measures

to

counter

th e

threat,

but not

without some conce rn. One histor y describes the sit uation at the

time

as follows: T he airl ines as a gr oup had consistently argued that combating hijacking

an d

airport security were

largely

Federal responsibilities.

They

had therefore fought for Federal operation and

payment

fo r anti-hijacking

programs.

The airlines were especially

unhappy

about the prospect of their emplo yees physically searc hing passengers

or

engaging in an y other acti vitie s norma lly assigne d to law enforcement

officials.

Most were, theref ore, pleased with

the

infusion of Federal agents under the sky marshal program. When it became clear that secu rity sys tems would

have to be

extended

to

virtually

all of

their boarding

areas,

th e airlines began an intensive lobbying campaign

for

a n

expansion

of the existing Federal security force to

handle t he operation.

1

Criminal

acts

against civil aviatio n are not committed exclusively by terrori sts. Most crimes agains t civi l aviation have been committed by mentally deranged persons, or fugitives and would-be refugees who resor ted to hijacking

only

as a means of transportation with no clear intention of harming the aircraft or its

occupants.

Others are

more

deadly. In 1955, a United Airlines aircraft disintegrated in flight 1 1 minutes after takeoff ne ar

Longmont,

Colorado.

A

dynamite bomb detonated in a baggage compartment, killing 39 passengers and five crew. One J. Graham w as arrested, tried, and executed for th e crime,

fo r

which the motive was insur ance

fraud.

2

Anothe r incident of sa botag e over Bolivia, North Carol ina, in ea rly 19 60 killed 34 passengers and crew and was also related to insurance fraud. A ceiling on the

amount

of

airline

trip

insuran ce passengers can pur chase was imposed, and

1

Kent, Richard

J .,

Jr., Safe, Separat ed

an d

Soaring:

A

History

o f

Federal

Civil

Aviation

Policy

1961-1972,

U.S. Department

of

Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration,

1980,

pp. 349-50.

2

President's Commission on

Aviation

Security and Terrorism,

Report

to the President, Washing ton, DC, May