ABSTRACT
In the fi rst edition of this book, the opening sentence of this chapter announced that it may very well be diff erent from others in the book. Th at caveat is even more true in this second edition. Th e reason is simple: between the editions, the American homeland had been successfully attacked using commercial aircraft —September 11, 2001 happened. Th is event not only changed our lives in ways we are both aware and not aware of, but it completely transformed the landscape of civil aviation security. Today, 4 years later, we have a cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a newly created Transportation Security Administration (TSA), new public laws, as well as new federal aviation regulations* (FARs*), and a greatly changed role for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in civil aviation security. In short, the awareness, mindset, federal budget, and civil aviation security structures and processes are completely new, in conjunction with the quantum leaps on both the technological and human factors aspects of security.
