FAA flies away

[seemslikeadream]

Monday, February 14, 2005


THE GOVERNMENT'S neglectful attitude toward terrorism was a major theme in the Sept. 11 commission's dissection of what went wrong that day.

The White House ignored security alarm bells for months. The FBI and CIA didn't share crucial intelligence. Other agencies hunkered down in bureaucratic silos, blocking other pieces of the puzzle from coming together.

Now, fresh evidence shows how the nation's air safety agency -- the Federal Aviation Administration -- was told 52 times in the five months before the attacks of possible hijackings and suicide assaults. What did it do?

Basically, nothing. It shuffled off the reports to other agencies, busied itself with modest security chores, and went home at five.

It never felt the strong surge of indicators was a genuine problem in the making. The type of hijacking hinted at in the tips would likely come overseas, nearer to terrorist bases, the thinking went. Also, there were no specific time-and-place warnings to take away the guesswork.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/02/14/EDGT0ARPH71.DTL