2. Air Travel Was Never The Same
There are many people out there who believe this was all some inside job involving the Bush administration, and while there remain some troubling questions, one thing is undeniable, this was a complete failure of America’s intelligence apparatus and a failure of airport security systems.
After the tragic 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, it would have been natural to assume that both our intelligence services and airport security would have been laser focused in their efforts to identify potential hijackings or bombings of commercial planes. Sadly that was not the case.
If we take a moment to look at what you didn’t have to do before 9/11, you might be quite surprised at just how relaxed everything really was. You didn’t need a ticket to wander around the airport or wait at the gate. You didn’t have to worry about what you had in your pockets while walking through security and you certainly didn’t have to show any identification before boarding the plane.
