The 9/11 hijackers were successful only because of the airline policy regarding hijackings that was in place at the time. That policy forbid crews from resisting a hijacking, and the planners of the event knew this and capitalized on this policy. The level of gate security in effect at the time had nothing to do with the success of that attack.

Let me explain this further. Every airplane cockpit has an axe for the use of the flight crew in exiting an airplane following a crash. Had the pilots been permitted to offer resistance to the hijackers, just how many of those cockpit been taken over? None, I would argue.

That you apparently continue to believe the garbage your management is feeding you is sad.

I attend a working level maritime security meeting chaired by NSC on a routine basis. I can't begin to count how many times over the past 6 years that DHS attendees have come to the meetings to brief us on the newest URGENT THREAT, that we MUST RESPOND TO NOW or else face the consequences of a an ATTACK THAT MIGHT PARALYZE our country!

You know how many of those dire warnings have come to fruition? None. Zero. Zilch. Your superiors, in contrast, have developed a well-deserved reputation for yelling fire in a crowded theater, when there is none.

I really don’t mean to pick on you personally, so accept my apologies in advance if that is your impression.

But at a recent meeting where yet another “critical OPLAN” was to be briefed, the planners from DHS were not aware of: a complementary plan already approved by the President; the fundamentals of either the existing aviation or maritime strategies and implementing plans; or the breadth or scope of activities that might be undertaken in the maritime domain.

The result? The DHS briefers left the room having convinced no one of the need for, much less the concept behind, the proposed OPLAN. The proposed OPLAN was unencumbered by national-level strategic guidance, phases of which might be triggered by a Presidential decision, and relied on interagency participation in activities that weren’t well defined in the plan itself and with no intent to have interagency approval of the plan to ensure that interagency partners could indeed commit to support if asked.

Oh - and how could I forget the fact that they didn’t adequately demonstrate the nature and scope of the "threat?"

DHS is a train wreck waiting to happen. I see their incompetence on almost a daily basis, and it isn't pretty.