Term Paper GEOG 3300

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The 9/11 Commission Act: Impacts on Airport Security Measures The Ohio State University GEOG 3300: Transportation Security Harvey J. Miller 24 April 202

1 “(T)he bombing signaled a new terrorist challenge, one whose rage and malice had no limit . . . . (A)lthough the bombing heightened awareness of a new terrorist danger, successful prosecutions contributed to a widespread underestimation of the threat” (The 9/11 Commission Report, 2004, pp. 71–73). On September 11, 2001, there were four suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda. Two planes were hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center towers, a third crashed into the Pentagon, and a fourth potential attack was stopped by airline passengers who drove the plane into the ground killing all aboard. These coordinated attacks resulted in nearly 3,000 fatalities and remain the deadliest single terrorist attack in human history (Morgan, 2009, p.222). In response to this horrific attack, vulnerabilities in airline security were exposed. The federal government at the time needed to act quickly and the airline industry was grounded. The entire North American air space was temporarily closed for civilian traffic, and it took a long time to recover once reopened days later. Even articles written today in the popular media say that air travel has never been the same since that day (Kujawinski, 2021). The federal government needed to act fast to assure people that it was safe to fly. They created the 9/11 Commission and put them to work two months after the attacks and charged them with coming up with a detailed plan of action to implement based on their research to make the airline industry safer and prevent future attacks like these. The Commission was a group of people appointed on November 27th of 2002 and was ultimately responsible for making policy recommendations. The policy implementation of the 9/11 Commission Act happened years later and was instrumental in creating many of the federal security protocols and task forces in place at airports today. The Commission came up with a set of recommendations that became the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 and that Act has had a significant impact on airport security measures ever since the Act went into effect. Earlier than that, however, the Commission’s report and recommendations were reviewed in 2004 by the Government Accountability Office which analyzed how best to implement the suggestions. There has yet to be an aviation disaster comparable to the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, and with the 9/11 Commission Act, the goal is for that statistic to stay that way. There were many policies, laws, and procedures put in place immediately following the attacks. For example, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA), which was signed

2 into law on November 19, 2001, gave the TSA the daunting challenge of protecting our Nation’s transportation systems from terrorist threats ( 20 Years After 9/11: The State of the Transportation Security Administration 2021). The Homeland Security Act of 2002 created the US Department of Homeland Security and a new cabinet-level position that oversaw the TSA. The 9/11 Commission also known as The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon The United States was created as an independent, bipartisan commission by congressional legislation and was signed off by President George W. Bush. The purpose of the commission was to prepare a complete account of the circumstances surrounding the attacks, including the preparedness for the attack, immediate responses, and mandated recommendations to prevent future attacks ( National Commission on terrorist attacks upon the United States 2007). The Commission’s report resulted in the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act (9/11 Act) which among other things required that the TSA implement the recommendations of the Commission including requiring 100% air cargo screening on passenger aircraft departing the country. Transportation Security became more centralized as a result of these Acts and became much more proactive in preventing attacks. They also became more comprehensive and were no longer optional. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) also reviewed the Commission’s 2004 recommendations to determine if they would need Congressional approval or if they could be implemented administratively. In the example affecting airline security systems the GAO report of 2004 read: “The Department of Homeland Security, properly supported by the Congress, should complete, as quickly as possible, a biometric entry-exit screening system, including a single system for speeding qualified travelers. It should be integrated with the system that provides benefits to foreigners seeking to stay in the United States. Linking biometric passports to good data systems and decision-making is a fundamental goal. No one can hide his or her debt by acquiring a credit card with a slightly different name. Yet today, a terrorist can defeat the link to electronic records by tossing away an old passport and slightly altering the name in the new one” (GAO 2004, p. 389). This quote shows the level of detail of the report and implementation issues. We now take these kinds of screening procedures including passport usage for granted, but this report was responsible in part for how it became much more universal at every airport.

3 Overview The 9/11 Commission consisted of 10 members that were equally divided between Democratic and Republican appointees. The 9/11 Commission made policy recommendations that later became the 9/11 Commission Act (2007) giving it a policy component, but the Commission also had an impact on other earlier reform efforts. Some reforms were part of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. That Act consisted of multiple points, such as the following requirements: make a transportation security plan, have the TSA control the “no-fly” list, TSA and Congress need to prioritize improving the detection of explosives during airport checkpoints as well as require passengers with an additional security observation be screened for explosives (Kean & Hamilton, 2004). Additionally, TSA was encouraged to lead a study identifying human factors that could be affecting the security screeners, move the explosive detection from the lobbies of airports to be along the airport baggage conveyor systems, require every passenger plane that carries cargo to have a hardened container just for cargo, and TSA was required to improve their efforts of identifying, tracking, and screening potential dangerous maritime air cargo (Kean & Hamilton, 2004). The full report has been published in book form and was originally published in 2004 and provides guidance and an executive summary There is also a great deal of detail about their findings particularly related to the intelligence community the FBI and Aviation Security (The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, 2004). They also provide a link to the original government files. The full report provides insight into all four flights and how they were hijacked along with the FAA and NORAD–their mission, structure, and lack of awareness. They also describe a lack of national crisis management and provide the specific transmission of the authorization from the White House to the pilots to shoot down United 93. There is also detail about bin Laden and counterterrorism efforts with a recount of previous Al-Qaeda assaults and the names of the terrorists and how the cell was formed and the heroic actions of Americans including First Responders. They suggest the need for a more unified effort among the intelligence communities and sharing of information and the oversight of Homeland Security with Congress (The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, 2004). Johnstone reported on the 9/11 Commission Staff Statement from 2004 highlighting the need for improved intelligence and information sharing with airline security. He also described

4 the focus on passenger prescreening including a “no-fly list” and improved passenger checkpoint screening and onboard security improvements and training of flight staff (Johnstone 2015, p. 42). The actual Act that went into effect from the Commission’s work is Public Law 110-53 which officially went into effect on August 3, 2007. It is a 286-page document entitled The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 (9/11 Commission Act). It describes that “This Act amended section 1016 of Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) and amended the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to expand and further refine the scope of the Information Sharing Environment (ISE).” There were specific requirements for state and local agencies to work with the Department of Homeland Security and to share information about anything related to terrorism or weapons of mass destruction. There was also some language around civil liberties since people of Middle Eastern descent were being mistreated and denied their civil liberties because they were suspected of being terrorists just because of their appearance. Also, some Americans felt their basic privacy rights were being violated with their civil liberties. To deal with this there were requirements to "[d]evelop, publish and adhere to a privacy and civil liberties policy that is consistent with Federal, State and local law," and provide "appropriate privacy and civil liberties training" for all representatives at the fusion center, in coordination with the DHS Privacy Officer and the DHS Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties training on privacy and civil liberties.”) ( The 9/11 Commission Act 2007). A major part of the report focuses on protecting civil liberties at the local, state, and federal levels and includes training to improve and prevent the kinds of profiling that were being done in harmful ways. Civil liberties were a focus of the law and there were calls in the act to create a Rural Policing Institute as part of DHS to create training centers that helped train police and others on the importance of respecting privacy and protecting civil rights and liberties, along with an oversight board to advise the President and others "to ensure that liberty concerns are appropriately considered in the development and implementation of laws, regulations, and policies related to efforts to protect the Nation against terrorism" ( The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 ). The Act further adds to the original IRTPA and the Security Act of 2002 to improve information sharing. There's also language about data mining and making sure that data mining activities do not infringe upon people's civil liberties. The ACT also has training materials, privacy guidelines, and specific assessment

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