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Case Study

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, airport security faced scrutiny for how hijackers could smuggle knives onto planes undetected. In response, the TSA implemented strict new security measures like banning sharp objects and restricting access areas. However, over time the TSA adjusted protocols in response to events, sometimes relaxing rules but also imposing new bans on liquids in 2006 after a foiled UK terrorist plot. Airport security remains an ongoing challenge that balances safety, costs, and civil liberties as risks evolve.

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Yohannes Bogale
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63 views2 pages

Case Study

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, airport security faced scrutiny for how hijackers could smuggle knives onto planes undetected. In response, the TSA implemented strict new security measures like banning sharp objects and restricting access areas. However, over time the TSA adjusted protocols in response to events, sometimes relaxing rules but also imposing new bans on liquids in 2006 after a foiled UK terrorist plot. Airport security remains an ongoing challenge that balances safety, costs, and civil liberties as risks evolve.

Uploaded by

Yohannes Bogale
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Risk Management and Insurance

Case study I

Is Airport Security Worth It to You?


Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration (now
the Transportation Security Administration [TSA] under the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security [DHS]) wrestled with a large question: how could a dozen or more hijackers armed with
knives slip through security checkpoints at two major airports? Sadly, it wasn’t hard. Lawmakers
and security experts had long complained about lax safety measures at airports, citing several
studies over the years that had documented serious security lapses. “I think a major terrorist
incident was bound to happen,” Paul Bracken, a Yale University professor who teaches national
security issues and international business, told wired magazine a day after the attacks. “I think
this incident exposed airport security for what any frequent traveler knows it is—a complete
joke. It’s effective in stopping people who may have a cigarette lighter or a metal belt buckle,
but against people who want to hijack four planes simultaneously, it is a failure.”

Two days after the attacks, air space was reopened under extremely tight security measures,
including placing armed security guards on flights; ending curbside check-in; banning sharp
objects (at first, even tweezers, nail clippers, and eyelash curlers were confiscated); restricting
boarding areas to ticket-holding passengers; and conducting extensive searches of carry-on
bags.

In the years since the 2001 terrorist attacks, U.S. airport security procedures have undergone
many changes, often in response to current events and national terrorism threat levels.
Beginning in December 2005, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) refocused its
efforts to detect suspicious persons, items, and activities. The new measures called for
increased random passenger screenings. They lifted restrictions on certain carry-on items.
Overall, the changes were viewed as a relaxation of the extremely strict protocols that had
been in place subsequent to the events of 9/11.

Hailemariam G.
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The TSA had to revise its airline security policy yet again shortly after the December 2005
adjustments. On August 10, 2006, British police apprehended over twenty suspects implicated
in a plot to detonate liquid-based explosives on flights originating from the United Kingdom
bound for several major U.S. cities. Following news of this aborted plot, the U.S. Terror Alert
Level soared to red (denoting a severe threat level). As a result, the TSA quickly barred
passengers from carrying on most liquids and other potentially explosives-concealing
compounds to flights in U.S. airports. Beverages, gels, lotions, toothpastes, and semisolid
cosmetics (such as lipstick) were thus expressly forbidden.

Less-burdensome modifications were made to the list of TSA-prohibited items not long after
publication of the initial requirements. Nevertheless, compliance remains a controversial issue
among elected officials and the public, who contend that the many changes are difficult to keep
up with. Many contended that the changes represented too great a tradeoff of comfort or
convenience for the illusion of safety. To many citizens, though, the 2001 terrorist plot served
as a wake-up call, reminding a nation quietly settling into a state of complacency of the need
for continued vigilance. Regardless of the merits of these viewpoints, air travel security will no
doubt remain a hot topic in the years ahead as the economic, financial, regulatory, and
sociological issues become increasingly complex. (The Wall Street Journal, 7 June 2002)

Questions for Discussion


1. Do you see any morale or moral hazards associated with the homeland security monitoring
and actively searching people and doing preflight background checks on individuals prior to
boarding?
2. Discuss whether the issue is pure risk or speculative risk, static risk or dynamic risk, financial
risk or non financial risk.
3. Discuss the perils and hazards

Hailemariam G.
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