Instead of a spirit of goodwill toward men, Christmas 2009 turned out to exhibit the same murderous and terrorist acts of violence as occur throughout the world and the US on any other day of the year. On Christmas Eve in North Little Rock, Arkansas, a Salvation Army Major, who had served his community for many years to bring hope and joy to those in need, was shot to death by armed robbers in front of his three small children. On Christmas Day near Salisbury, Maryland, the body of an 11 year old girl was found three days after her abduction. A registered sex offender has been charged with the girl's kidnapping and is the focus of the investigation into her death.
Also on Christmas Day, a terrorist attempting to ignite an explosive device on a Northwest Airlines flight descending into Detroit was thwarted by passengers and alert flight attendants. Again, transportation safety agencies sprung into action after the fact to enhance screening procedures at airports around the world that are directed at the methods just used by the terrorist. Apparently, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) does not take seriously the slogan found on its own website (http://www.tsa.gov/blog/) that says:
"Terrorists Evolve. Threats Evolve. Security Must Stay Ahead."
The only way to stay safe on airlines is for the passengers to take seriously the TSA phrase that follows the words above on its site:
"You Play A Part."
The primary credit for preventing the attempted explosion on the Northwest Airlines flight reportedly goes to a quick acting Dutch passenger seated several seats from the Nigerian passenger attempting to ignite the explosive material fastened to his underwear. The explosive material used by this terrorist was the same material used by the "Shoe Bomber" on another Christmas flight from Europe in 2001, which was also stopped by quick-acting fellow passengers.
So while the government agents paid to protect airline passengers slow down the boarding process seemingly looking for weapons, bombs and other items that could cause havoc in the air, it is the passengers who appear to be the true wall of security when our government fails in its basic duty to protect the lives of people traveling on commercial aircraft.
Now the Congressional hearings and other Government investigations will begin again. Once again (just as it has been revealed in the case of the Fort Hood shooter) it has been reported that the accused Nigerian terrorist was reported to the US Government as a potential threat last month by his own father and was listed on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) database maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). However, someone in the government decided that he was not enough of a threat to list him on the "Watch List" or the "No Fly List", either of which would have required him to be selected for closer scrutiny before boarding a flight to the US in Amsterdam.
The NCTC appears to consider the TIDE list to be a list of nominees for the "Watch List" or the "No Fly List". NCTC continually reviews this list of nominees to determine whether to raise them to a higher status in the warning system of the US. This process of reviewing the TIDE list and how this list is used should receive special attention in the inquiries that will now take place.
Let's hope that airport screening becomes more effective after this new series of government inquiries....
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