Pre-9/11 Threats to Aviation Security and the U.S. Policy Response

A general understanding of historical events and policy decisions over the past 40 years is essential to understanding current aviation security policy in the United States. Therefore, this book begins with an overview of the historical context for current U.S. aviation security policy going back to the late 1960s and early 1970s. This historical examination looks at the key global events impacting aviation security, primarily from a U.S. perspective, and the response of the U.S. government to these events in the years before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This chapter provides an account of how U.S. policies, strategies, and approaches to aviation security evolved over the past 40 years in the context of signifi cant aviation security incidents and the U.S. government response to those events.