It could have been catastrophic. But thanks to the intervention of passengers and crew, the FlyDubai flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel was able to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. Authorities have arrested one of the pilots who stabbed another pilot and then tried to crash the plane carrying dozens of Israelis before being subdued. The Israeli defense minister called the incident an "attempted jihadist terrorist attack."
Bob Maginnis is a fellow for national security at Family Research Council and is author of more than a dozen books on defense issues.
"I don't want to get too far ahead of the investigation, but clearly an armed confrontation inside the cockpit for an Israel-bound airliner raises all sorts of security concerns, and it could become more of a national security incident. At this point, it does sound incredibly suspicious. That's why the Israelis scrambled fighter aircraft to respond to the incident."
Maginnis says the Israelis themselves have adopted strict protocols on their passenger aircraft for quite some time.
“Obviously, the Israelis have stepped up some of that post 9-11, just because they're surrounded by enemies, and an airliner coming from outside the country into Tel Aviv has to meet certain protocols. I've traveled with the Israeli aircraft, and I've also watched as they go through the procedures, and of course, they have agents that are monitoring individual behavior before getting on the aircraft. It's not at all surprising.”
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu also made the 9-11 comparison in an appearance Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends” morning show Thursday.
In the U.S., the biggest post-9-11 change was not simply that airports got “more security.” The entire responsibility for aviation security shifted from the airlines to the federal government, and the perceived threat changed dramatically.
Congress responded by passing the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) in November 2001. The most important institutional change was creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Instead of airlines being primarily responsible for checkpoint screening, the federal government took over passenger and baggage screening.
Israel is on top of its game, Maginnis said.
“The protocols are pretty extensive, but you're not going to prevent everything. You do what you can.”
