Politicians, commentators and the media are having a field day debating whether the Bush administration had enough information to prevent or warn against the attacks on Sept. 11. I do not think anyone can fairly blame the administration for failing to perceive the magnitude of the events that were about to unfold.
But it is clear that the politicians, the airlines, the media and the public have known since the 1960s that terrorists hijack airplanes, and the risks of terrorist activity have increased significantly in the last few years. We were all also aware that airport security was a joke.
It is a tragedy that we were not able to anticipate and prevent the events of Sept. 11. But if we are to win the battle against terrorism, we must recognize that we ignored the issue of airline security for far too long because the costs seemed to outweigh the benefits. We must make sure we do not make that mistake again in another area of vulnerability.
