Heart breaking

[Curtis]

For those interested (and those who can stomach it), the report of the events of September 11, 2001 has been released (372 KB; PDF format). I'm reading through it now, and one thing struck me as particularly heart breaking:

By all accounts, the first 46 minutes of Flight 93’s cross-country trip proceeded routinely. Radio communications from the plane were normal. Heading, speed, and altitude ran according to plan. At 9:24, Ballinger’s warning [refering to a warning to increase cockpit security sent to all UA aircraft] to United 93 was received in the cockpit.Within two minutes, at 9:26, the pilot, Jason Dahl, responded with a note of puzzlement: “Ed, confirm latest mssg plz—Jason.”

The hijackers attacked at 9:28.

Too little, too late.

 

[schi0249]

Truly sad stuff. It might have been handled poorly, but I don't think any one group is to blame. 9/11 was caused by a total collapse of communication between presidents, CIA, FBI, FAA, etc. I hope the government takes the groups findings seriously.

 

[Alexvrb]

They are. Some of the barriers between the CIA and FBI are being softened, for instance. Not removed, we don't want a single organization. But at the very least we need to undo some of the damage done to their ability to communicate.

Oh, I did recently hear something irritating on the news about Air Marshals. Apparently they're trying force limited dress code on them. Why the heck would you want to do that? They should look just as good or bad as all the other passengers! I don't think that plan will last though. It just irritates me that anyone would ever, even for a day, think that is a good idea.

 

[schi0249]

The point of an air marshal is to be inconspicuous (sp?). If they assign dress codes for them, it might be easy to pick one out. The best way is to have them dressed anywhere from business suits to "scrubs".