Book Recommendation: Lockerbie
 

I just finished reading Rodney Wallis' book, Lockerbie: The Story and the Lessons.
I think that Wallis' editor was on vacation. There are a fair number of typos and the book is more than a little redundant. That said, I learned a great deal about what went wrong.

This is more of a technical than a political account of the security failure. The book discusses how bag matching does and does not work, the merits of various x-ray technologies, passenger profiling, and so on.

Some interesting points:

• The x-ray screener on duty was visually impaired and did not have his glasses on.
• The check-in interviewers merely asked questions and placed stickers on baggage. They did not know what the term "selectee" meant.
• Pan Am assessed a $5 "security fee" per international segment. This fee, however, went to Pan Am's general fund.

I'm sure that a number of you on this board might be interested. The price is a little steep (USD 55.00 from Amazon) but it wasn't available from my library. I have a number of books on airport and airline security and this was by far one of the most informative.