Re: What was your 9/11 experience?

I was on the West Coast on business and woke up when my wife called me
and said, "Turn on the news. An airliner just hit the World Trade
Center."

For a while I thought it was the biggest ***-up in aviation history,
and immediately thought of the B-25 that hit the Empire State Building
(thankfully not carrying a bombload) lo these many years ago. Soon,
of course, it became clear that we were watching not an accident but
the Pearl Harbor of a strange new war.

Five years on, I'm still struggling to understand the nature of the
enemy's motivation. At first I thought, these are people with no
vested interest in the world of airplanes and skyscrapers and the
efficient conduct of business in the Western world, yet they have some
ability to enter and move about in our society and take advantage of
its weaknesses in a technologically adept way. It doesn't fit facile
stereotypes. One thing is undeniable, though: civilization as we know
it in the industrialized democracies is a fragile thing, and not
everybody defines it as we do or even particularly wants it at all...

I next flew on, I think, the second day after the general grounding
was lifted, but before most of the present security measures (whatever
you may think of their effectiveness and sins of omission) were in
place. Then and on the next few flights, on one of the open-seating
airlines, I noticed that a few sizable fellows who looked like they
might be able to play rough made a point of sitting near the front...
as did I. We acknowledged each other. On one of those flights, The
Subject finally came up in conversation. Yep, there was sort of an
unspoken grassroots consensus that anybody who took a hostage or made a
try at the cockpit door was going to have an interesting few minutes
of direct citizen action. I get the impression that this was pretty
common (fortunately untested except for that one loon who tried to put
a match to an explosive-laden shoe and was, indeed, subdued by fellow
passengers and brought to justice).

Speaking societally, the trick now is to figure out what the enemy
might try next -- which might well be some form of havoc that has
nothing to do with aircraft, and might not even have to occur in front
of witnesses or anybody who could intervene -- and what to do about it.
Hopefully this will involve sigint/humint that enables the good guys
to stop it preemptively...

--Joe

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