“Law enforcement officers and federal air marshals on the same flight are quietly introduced to each other before takeoff so they can study each other’s appearance and learn where they’re seated. That way if something happens, like an attempted hijacking, they’d know where help is. It’s a professional courtesy thing.”
“Okay, so if there was an air marshal on board, you would have been introduced to each oth…” Griffin’s voice trailed off. “You’d know who’s carrying a real firearm on the aircraft and where they’re sitting.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Marshall said. “There’s your terrorist advantage. Get yourself a simple pack of permission forms — forms that no one verifies — and keep boarding passenger aircraft pretending to be in law enforcement. Eventually, you’d be introduced to someone who has a real weapon. Someone you and your accomplices can overpower. Maybe you can even gain control of the plane. I’m not an aircraft engineer, but shooting a gun inside a pressurized cabin probably isn’t good. Take it one step further — if no one is introduced to you, you can safely assume there’s no air marshal on board. My friend said that flights at Reagan National in Washington, DC, always carry two marshals, and they always whisper who they are to the flight attendants in plain view of other passengers, and they always sit in first class.”
“Did you contact Delta?” Griffin asked.
“I emailed their Consumer Affairs group and told them there was a firearm security hole in their boarding process. Seven days later, a woman called back and accused me of being the problem. She said that the ticket agent who gave me that form was a newbie and that it was a simple training mistake. She said the situation would never have turned dangerous unless I was dangerous. I also emailed the facts to the Chairman of the US Subcommittee on Aviation Safety. He never got back to me at all. I was sort of upset about that. I figured somebody should know.”
Griffin faced the camera. “For those of us who fly, especially in today’s aviation environment, this is a very scary situation. Stay tuned for an exclusive follow-up with officials from Delta Airlines and the Department of Homeland Security. Reporting for ‘Crime Stoppers Tip Line’ at Mitchell International Airport, this is Neela Griffin, Fox 6 News.”
The camera stopped.
Griffin unclipped Marshall’s microphone. “This is great material. Thanks for coming forward. It needs to be told. I’m actually leaving for Italy tonight on special assignment, and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t talk to any other stations, okay? I think we can do at least two more segments after we confirm a few facts.”
Marshall shook Griffin’s hand and headed down the airport corridor.
Griffin walked over to Lee. Her face carried an obvious smirk. “You were saying something about a nutcase?”
“Italy?”
“Sorry. I wanted to tell you yesterday, but I forgot,” Griffin apologized. “Gillespie assigned me to it personally. I’ll be back Tuesday.”
Chapter 6
Jack Riley waited politely as a few stragglers hurried to their seats. There wasn’t much talking.
“Okay, why is K-Day so powerful and so perfect for a terror attack? Two reasons. The first is obvious, and it once cost a US president a general election. Anyone? George Bush Sr.? Bill Clinton?
“One of the best ways to significantly hurt the United States of America is to hurt the economy. With respect to America’s resolve and the US military’s campaigns in the Middle East, terrorists have learned that entangling countries into lengthy war hurts both physically and economically. Therefore, terror will become drawn out forever, and it will turn both high-tech and guerilla lethal.
“One more thing. In my humble opinion, I believe our intelligence agencies are being fed information for no other reason than to burden our security forces and keep true motives hidden. Two young and inexperienced wannabe jihadists managed to shut down the entire city of Boston, including its transportation systems. One anonymous phone call threatening a chemical or explosive attack in New York’s tunnel or subway system will alert 25,000 defenders and cost twenty-four million dollars. Think about that: one incredible call. And that’s just one alert in one city. How long can any budget hold out under that kind of pressure? Questions?”
“Mr. Riley, I think you and your entire presentation are preposterous,” Illinois Congressional Representative Nancy Petri spoke up. “A Congressional Report on Terrorism showed that cities can survive even the largest calamities. We concluded that 9/11 was more a human tragedy than an economic one. The attacks were simply too small and too geographically concentrated to make a significant dent in the nation’s economic output. And it certainly didn’t cause any recession. The Bush economy was already in its third consecutive quarter of contraction no matter what individuals in your political party may say. You do remember that after closing for just four trading days, our financial markets opened and operated without a single major problem? The American people have an uncanny ability to rebound.”
Murmurs sprang up around the room, and buoyed by the sound, Petri continued.
“And you’re obviously either misinformed or haven’t done your homework on theme parks. Just last week, my family and I attended the pre-season opening of Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. They unveiled state-of-the-art metal detection equipment that every one of us had to walk through. In addition, they hand-searched purses and even baby strollers. As far as your baseball scenario, I highly doubt that such a thing could ever happen. Our enemies wouldn’t dare. Think about what that would mean to the country’s psyche. Besides, we have top-notch security in place to stop those actions. I personally resent even hearing such nonsense.”
Jack Riley held back a smirk. “My ideas aren’t preposterous, ma’am; they’re devastating. Terrorists don’t give a rat’s rear end about what we hold in esteem, including sports. In fact, the more we idolize a cultural icon like baseball, the higher it moves on the target scale. The truth is, we don’t like to hear reality. Americans tend to live in a figurative world where everything — and I mean everything — is taken for granted with respect to open freedoms.
“The ramifications of target vulnerabilities are just starting to emerge, and they are crushing. September 11 cost New York City eighty-three billion dollars and sixty thousand jobs. We estimate that the sporting event we used to call America’s pastime would be completely shut down for two seasons. The forecasted economic losses to cities with host baseball stadiums are in the hundreds of billions. Three small-market teams might never recover. They’d simply be lost to history.
“But it’s more than that. The psychological impacts would last for years. And, of course, we haven’t discussed the date. That, my friends, is utterly unthinkable. The explosion at the end of the fuse. K-Day is a fixed secular holiday, a national celebration, and a time when citizens go about their daily lives having fun and enjoying traditional summer activities. Want to permanently imprint a terror tattoo right on America’s forehead? Destroy the sanctity of her birthday. That’s right. The Fourth of July would signal the beginning of the end of our precious open society.
“The major cities within the US would become military guard posts. With respect to those theme parks, every single one schedules an evening fireworks celebration. The crowds will be enormous, unconcerned, and anticipating noise. If you think 9/11 damaged the airlines, Komodo would sound that industry’s death knell — especially on routes to those locations.
“And to prove that, let’s talk for a moment about travel. Annual theme park attendance is over three hundred million, a number that’s expected to increase steadily. Can anyone here spell target-rich environments? After K-Day, an entire generation of prime spenders will never take their families to a theme park again, no matter how safe the physical conditions become. The mere potential that something so horrific and violent could happen again will be enough to dissuade travel.