TSA Procedures Need to Be Remade From Scratch
Nongovernment research institutions should be selected to modify existing protocol The ceaseless evolution of terrorist tactics and technology poses deadly new threats that demand a fundamental and proactive review of how to secure the airplanes that two million passengers board every day in the United States. Growing passenger loads and added security procedures are already […]
Aviation Security: After Four Decades, It’s Time for a Fundamental Review
Aviation security is costly, controversial, and contentious; no other security measures directly affect such a large portion of the country’s population. Because of the nature of the threat, aviation security is the most intrusive form of security, pushing hard on the frontier of civil liberties. And the threat is real: Terrorists remain obsessed with attacking […]
The Long Campaign: What Have We Learned about War and Ourselves since 9/11
While considerable progress has been made in degrading al Qaeda’s operational capabilities, the terrorist threat inspired by its ideology could persist for decades. The terrorist group’s efforts to inspire homegrown terrorists continue, but so far, have produced meager results. America’s Muslims have rejected al Qaeda’s exhortations while effective domestic intelligence efforts have prevented almost all […]
A Final Word on the NDAA
In his vigorous riposte to my February 2012 article “The NDAA Makes It Harder to Fight Terrorism” Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) insisted that I was wrong to see the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as anything more than codifying existing authority. The legislation, Levin says, changes nothing. Yet discussions in the Senate prior to the bill’s passing […]
Security Awareness for Public Bus Transportation
Case Studies of Attacks Against the Israeli Public Bus System Bruce R. Butterworth Shalom Dolev Brian Michael Jenkins This report presents 16 case studies of attacks planned or carried out against Israeli bus targets, along with statistical data on the number, frequency, and lethality of attacks against bus targets that have taken place in Israel […]
Senator Levin Sets the Record Straight on the NDAA
What the Law Does and Doesn’t Do on Detention By Carl Levin Earlier this month, with his piece “The NDAA Makes It Harder to Fight Terrorism,” Brian Michael Jenkins added to the confusion surrounding the military detention provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act by promulgating the unfounded allegation that the NDAA exposes American citizens […]
The 10th Anniversary of 9/11
Los Angeles, CA – Wednesday, August 31, 2011 – In commemoration of the upcoming 10-year anniversary of 9-11, Town Hall Los Angeles is proud to be a community partner with the RAND Corporation in presenting Brian Michael Jenkins, coeditor of the recent RAND study “The Long Shadow of 9/11: America’s Response to Terrorism,” on Thursday, […]
The NDAA Makes It Harder to Fight Terrorism
Military Custody Is Counterproductive Despite his earlier threat of a veto, President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012 into law on the last day of 2011. The bill, which was sponsored by Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), had bipartisan support, passing in the Senate by 86 to […]
Redefining Security
On September 12, 2011 the National Capital Planning Commission Speaker Series sponsored “Redefining Security a Decade After 9/11.” This video features Brian Michael Jenkins of the RAND Corporation as he talks about the current threats and countermeasures being employed in today’s security environment. Watch the full video here.
ASF 2011: Mass Transit Security
Though mass transit systems have been attacked by terrorists around the world, and a successful attack here at home could rival the death and destruction caused by 9/11, only a small fraction of the money and attention devoted to aviation security has been devoted to mass transit security. Is it past time to right this […]
Is it Time to Consider a New Approach to Airline Security?
From the failed attempt to blow up a passenger plane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit in 2009 to the unsuccessful attempt to bring down two cargo airliners flying to the United States in 2010, Americans need no reminder that – 10 years after 9/11 — terrorists remain obsessed with attacking airlines and airports. To meet […]
What We Can Learn from the Christmas Day Bombing Attempt
By Brian Michael Jenkins, Bruce Butterworth and Cathal Flynn Friday, March 26, 2010; Washington Post, A23 President Obama’s nominee to lead the Transportation Security Administration told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee this week that he would like U.S. airport screening to more closely resemble the Israeli process. Perhaps attention is turning to […]
White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security: Final Report to President Clinton
Read the full report here http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/212fin~1.html
Remarks Before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
Having been attacked, unsuccessfully, in 1993 increased the probability that it would be attacked again. We recognized this immediately after the ’93 bombing, although we could not assign any specific probability to a second try. In contemplating all of the possible forms of attack, we even included among the theoretical scenarios a plane deliberately crashing […]
Aviation Terrorism and Security
The recent conviction of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef for plotting what prosecutors called ’48 hours of terror in the sky’ by conspiring to bomb a number of manportable SAM attacks on aircraft, and the recent crash of a Comoro Islands causing 127 deaths, show that aviation threats. The aim of this volume, published ten years after […]
The Terrorist Threat to Commercial Aviation
This paper, originally presented at the International Seminar on Aviation Security, Herzeliyya, Israel, February 5-9, 1989, reviews the statistics on terrorist attacks — hijackings and sabotage — on commercial airliners since the first such hijacking involving an El Al plane in 1968. The author also considers the physical security measures undertaken by airlines and airports, […]