Aviation and Violence

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Aviation and Violence

• Methods and Madness

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First Occurrence 1933

• October 10, 1933 A United Airlines flight from
  Newark to Oakland exploded over North Liberty,
  Indiana.
• The plane carried 4 passengers and 3 flight crew,
  all were killed.
• It was eventually determined that an explosive
  device, probably nitroglycerin, had been placed
  in the cargo hold.
• No suspects were ever charged.

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Why is aviation an attractive target?

• For criminals it provides access to billions of
  tons of cargo, hundreds of millions of
  passengers, and the ability to move easily and
  affordably between long distances.
• For terrorists, it provides an international
  stage for their political, social, or religious
  beliefs.
• For disruptive passengers, its a venue to
  exhibit a wide variety of aberrant, abnormal, or
  abusive behaviors

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Understanding the Enemy

• Why is it necessary for aviation security to
  understand perpetrators of violence and the ways
  in which they succeed?
• By focusing on the most violent individuals,
  security personnel can identify the inherent
  vulnerabilities in the system and better manage
  the risks.
• How?
• Based on the analyses of vulnerabilities,
  security personnel can develop policies and
  measures that are proactive enough to anticipate
  potential threats.

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Primary Perpetrators Their Preferred Methods
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Have we left anyone out?

• Yes!
• Flight crews have committed and are prone to
  future violence against aviation.
• Why arent they on our security matrix?
• Reason 1 they are responsible for a
  statistically insignificant number of violent
  actions. Since 1980, there have been more than
  100 million commercial airline flights, but less
  than a dozen documented cases where deliberate
  action on the part of a crew member caused a
  major aircraft accident.
• Reason 2 these incidents are almost impossible
  to prevent. For aviation security planners to
  try to anticipate them would be a waste of
  valuable time and resources.

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Terrorists

• Most acts of terrorism are committed to
• gain publicity for an organization and its
  purpose
• To achieve political goals
• To warrant a response from the entity being
  attacked
• Prior to 9/11, terrorists were viewed as lone mad
  zealots
• willing to risk their lives, but did not
  deliberately undertake actions that required
  their deaths in order to succeed.
• They wished to live after the act in order to
  benefit from their accomplishments.

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A New Twist Suicide Terrorists

• The motivations of suicide terrorists are
  different from the mad zealot. They perceive
  their own deaths as an act of martyrdom.
• The leaders of terrorist networks are not
  suicidal, but are cold and rational. For them
  suicide terrorism has inherent tactical
  advantages
• It is a simple and low cost operation.
• It guarantees massive casualties and extensive
  damage
• Certain death means no terrorists can be
  interrogated
• It has an immense impact on the public and media
• Only disadvantage finding and training new
  recruits which has not been difficult in some
  countries.

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Terrorists cont.

• A terrorists action must succeed if anybody is
  to be terrorized.
• Terrorists traditionally rely on the same narrow,
  but dependable, tactics. They are rarely
  innovative.
• 9/11 was no exception hijackings and suicide
  pilots were well-proven tactics.

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Criminals

• Aviation has always attracted criminals,
  including corrupt insiders.

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Disruptive Passengers

• Disruptive Passenger Incident aberrant,
  abnormal, or abusive behavior on the part of
  passengers either at airports or onboard
  commercial flights.
• Terrorist acts receive much more attention, but
  disruptive passengers pose a much more pervasive,
  ongoing threat.

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• Sept 1, 2001-December 31, 2001
• At the nations 25 busiest airports, there were
  more than 8000 disruptive passenger incidents.
• In the 2 years prior to 9/11, there were 30
  documented cases of cockpit intrusions by
  disruptive passengers.

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Aircraft Sabotage

• Shoot-ats
• Incidents in which in-flight aircraft are fired
  upon (SAMS, antiaircraft artillery, small arms
  fire, etc.)
• Cargo Theft
• Takes various forms from baggage handlers
  stealing from luggage to armed assaults targeting
  specific cargo.
• Aircraft Bombing
• a long preferred technique for both terrorists
  and criminals
• Commandeering
• refers to seizing or taking over an aircraft
  without authority while the aircraft is on the
  ground and the doors are open.

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In-Flight Assault aka Air Rage

• Alcohol abuse
• Distrust of fellow travelers
• Frustration with security measures
• Mental illness
• Illegal deportees
• The vast majority of cases are never reported to
  the proper authorities.

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Hijacking

• An incident is defined as a hijacking rather than
  a commandeering when the aircraft has in-flight
  status. That is, once the doors are closed.
• Prior to 9/11 hijackings normally followed a
  pattern of negotiations between the hijackers and
  the authorities, followed by some form of
  settlement or the storming of the aircraft by
  armed police or special forces to rescue the
  hostages.
• Since 1947, approximately 60 of hijackings have
  been refugee escapes. From the beginning, most
  hijacking incidents involved individuals or
  groups of individuals trying to get away from
  political or economic conditions in their
  homeland.
• Terrorists discovered the benefits of hijackings
  as a viable tactic in the late 1960s, and
  leveraged the option to its fullest culminating
  with 9/11.
• Criminals tend to use hijacking only a s a lat
  resort to accomplish their goals.
• Disruptive passenger incidents can escalate into
  hijackings as distraught, drunk, or deranged
  passengers look for other ways to act out their
  intentions.

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Airport Sabotage

• Includes bombings and attempted bombings of
  aviation facilities, shootings, shellings (mortar
  attacks), arsons, and similar incidents.
• These incidents are primarily the work of
  terrorists, although criminals will occasionally
  engage in such actions.

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Airport Assault

• Airport terminals and concourses are often very
  crowded making them vulnerable to terrorists,
  criminals, and disruptive passengers.
• Criminals use the crowds to pull off armed
  robberies etc. Armored car heists have occurred
  on tarmacs.
• One example of a terrorist assault was the attack
  on the El Al ticket counter at LAX in 2002 when
  an Islamic businessman opened fire.
• Disruptive passengers can express the same types
  of disruptive behavior in the airport as they do
  on the aircraft.

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Assessment of Violence

• By recognizing how violence is committed against
  the aviation industry, it becomes easier to
  establish a viable security system to meet the
  threats.