Israel Matzav: Forgetting the lessons of 9/11

Forgetting the lessons of 9/11

Jeff Jacoby reminds us of some of the forgotten lessons of 9/11 of which we were reminded by the attempt to bring down Delta 253 in the skies of Detroit and southern Canada last week. To me, this is the key lesson.

Terrorists can always adapt to new restrictions. After 9/11, knives and sharp metal objects were banned from carry-on luggage, so Richard Reid attempted to detonate a shoe bomb. Thereafter everyone's shoes were checked, so the 2006 Heathrow plotters planned to use liquid-based explosives. Now liquids are strictly limited, so Abdulmutallab smuggled PETN, an explosive powder, in his underwear. There is no physical constraint that determined jihadists cannot find a way to circumvent. Yet US airport security remains obstinately reactive -- focused on intercepting dangerous things, instead of intercepting dangerous people. Unwilling to incorporate ethnic and religious profiling in our air-travel security procedures, we have saddled ourselves with a mediocre security system that inconveniences everyone while protecting no one.

How quickly we forget. Read the whole thing and remember.

Israel Matzav: Forgetting the lessons of 9/11