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Article: Trouble in the skies. (Federal Aviation Administration fails to provide security for commercial airlines)(includes schematic of a virtually terrorproof airline terminal)(Cover Story)
- Article from:
- Newsweek
- Article date:
- July 29, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. Any reuse, distribution or alteration without express written permission of Newsweek is prohibited. For permission: www.newsweek.com. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IF IT TURNS OUT TWA FLIGHT 800 WAS in fact destroyed by a bomb, Congress and the taxpayers are entitled to ask whether the Federal Aviation Administration has done all it can to ensure public safety. The blunt answer is probably no--and while security can never be perfect, the FAA and the industry it regulates have been sluggish to counter the rising threat of accidents and attacks on U.S. commercial air carriers. This is curious, and tragic, since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, was clearly a warning that saboteurs had adopted new and more dangerous tactics and were capable of defeating the airline security measures then in use. Worse yet, the FAA ...