Why is that airport securtiy was beefed up after 9/11 but not before, even with the pre 9/11 attacks?

Question

there were plenty of terrorist attacks (some even deadly) that had occurred before 9/11. how come airports were lax before 9/11 even though there were always terrorists attacks?

also another question.

do you think, that had the airports secured things back then the way we do now, that 9/11 may have possibly been averted?

did the FAA and whatever else think that as long as terrorist attacks remained on the plane, it was okay?

Answer 1

head in the sand syndrome plus it cuts into the profit picture. the government and the airlines.

Answer 2

Cuz it was a false flag operation. They beefed it up after 911 to try to get some credibility and to get U accustomed to the police state being put in place now. The idea was to desensitize us to draconian security measures to the point where we don't notice when they start appearing everywhere. Very clever. It is working only because there are so many sheeple. Check out the NY subway security these days.

Answer 3

I believe when it comes to terror attacks we are reactionary rather than proactive, hence beefed up security after the fact.  I also think that if the terrorist were able to get on the plane it would already have been too late.  

America's problem is we don't know who is in this country visiting legally or not, if the Visa's expire we have no great tracking system to expel the people, and we have so many civil rights that we apply to non-Americans that we act too cautiously when we think someone may be doing something wrong.  So much needs to change in addition to airport security.

Answer 4

1.  There is a tendency to react AFTER an event happens (and this isn't just related to terrorism).

2.  Just beefing up security wasn't enough.  Let me explain.  --Prior to 9-11, the rule was:  someone wanted the aircraft, you gave it to them.  Because they "might" kill one passenger but they were hijacking it to make a statement and get publicity.  The idea (even though it had been done) that someone would use a plane as a bomb was unthinkable prior to 9-11.

--What exactly got through airport security?  Sets of box cutters.  Which even with better security, we'd have let those through.  Or scissors.  Or razor blades with magic glue (which allows you to make an effective knife).  The bombs all the hijackers claimed to have were evidently faked.

3.  Pilots had always been taught that if someone wants to seize the plane, you don't fight them--you cooperate.

4.  Our biggest errors prior to 9-11 were perceptual.  We assumed you needed guns and bombs to seize a plane so that's what we searched for.  We assumed no-one would seize a plane to crash it.  We assumed no-one would try to seize 4 planes at one time.  We saw no reason why a terrorist would want to learn to fly a jet plane--so we didn't put a priority on checking with flight schools (or respond quickly to complaints that came in).  All of these assumptions meant stuff that post 9-11 was so clear, prior to that meant nothing or didn't seem like a serious threat.

Here are some other examples of stuff that AFTER 9-11 had meaning but before, we attached no significance to it.

--The senior leadership of Al Qaeda went quiet days before the attack and it was preceeded by a lot of electronic chatter and messages being exchanged.

--Massoud (the leader of the Northern Front) was assassinated by Al Qaeda weeks before the attack.

--Al Qaeda tried to hit the WTC earlier (bomb in the basement) and their MO (we know now) is to go back and hit a target again if they don't succeed the first time around.

All stuff that should have had our mental radar going overtime but we just didn't perceive.

Answer 5

There was never a terrorist attack on American Soil like 911 thats why it happened here with are planes nothing like that had happened before so of course they beefed it up so nothing like that could ever happen again