Security Expert: 11 Years After 9/11, Airports ‘Remarkably Safer’

By Bob Oakes September 11, 2012

Select coverage from last year, the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks:

–Last Year’s Complete 9/11 Coverage–

BOSTON — The two planes that pierced the North and South towers of the World Trade Center in New York City 11 years ago Tuesday departed from Boston’s Logan International Airport — a fact that heightened scrutiny at Logan, and led to an overhaul of security procedures.

Peter DiDomenica, a state police veteran, was brought in as Logan’s director of security policy after 9/11.

Since then, through his own private company, DiDomenica has trained airport and mass transit security screeners around the world.

Now a member of the Boston University Police Department, DiDomenica joined Morning Edition Tuesday to discuss airport security.

Kathy

We are not safer – there is a perception that we are safer. Screeners are minimum wage workers who couldn’t tell a bomb from an Ipod. We are safe from gels, I guess, and lotions and half empty bottles of Coke, since they can’t go through the screening.

Now, if you’re young, female and attractive, like my daughter, you are not safe from groping. I have been on at leasth three flights with her where she was the ONLY member of the family to get a pat down. I’ve also seen this abuse happen in other airports and have heard stories from friends who have been sickened seeing blatant abuse.

What keeps us safer is the other passengers. Eleven years later and my husband still checks out the other passengers on the plane. And he’s not the only one…
AmanaPlan

Airlines were too cheap to reinforce doors in the same way that Israeli airlines did. I wish there had been some investigation about those corporate decisions, but I haven’t seen any. Here is one story written at the time of 9/11.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2001-09-13/news/18358751_1_cockpit-doors-airline-security-american-airlines