Free Against All Enemies by Richard A. Clarke

question to FAA: how could we resume flight?
    â€œWe can’t just put everybody back on the planes and go back to business as usual,” Mike Canavan was insistent. Canavan was an Army three-star general, a former commander of Delta Force, who had only recently retired and taken over the job of Director of Security at FAA. He had been in Puerto Rico doing a personnel shake-up of his San Juan operation when the attacks hit. Using his military contacts, he had grabbed a DOD aircraft to get back. Using his FAA contacts, he had been given F-16 escorts so that he would not be shot down by mistake.
    â€œWe need to search all the aircraft and airports for hidden weapons. I think some of the knives or box cutters they used had already been put on the aircraft for them.” Canavan had a report of box cutters found hidden away on one of the aircraft that had been grounded.
    â€œMineta told the President that the system would reopen at noon Wednesday. That would just give us about twelve hours, Mike.” I was looking for a reality check from FAA because my team did not see how the airports could reopen for days.
    â€œOpen tomorrow? That ain’t gonna happen, Dick.” Canavan had already had this conversation with his boss, following Mineta’s return from the White House. “We have been on to the airlines. They could not open at noon even if we wanted to. And we don’t. I want FAMs on every flight.”
    â€œWell that means thousands of Federal Air Marshals and last time I checked you had a few dozen,” I said, knowing where Canavan was going. The FAA had flown armed agents on only a few flights on overseas routes. I made Canavan a proposal I knew he would like. “After the bombing at the Atlanta Olympics we threw hundreds of federal agents into security in Atlanta, Border Patrol, Customs, Secret Service, U.S. Marshals. We can do that again, but it will take days to brief them and position them.”
    Canavan agreed. “That’s what I need for now, but we are going to have to have a dedicated and large FAM program quickly, and it’s going to cost.”
    â€œMike, I told the President about the minimum-wage rent-a-cops doing screening of passengers and carry-on. He understands that will have to end.” We would have to screen every passenger closely before we resumed flights and then put in place a permanent system.
    â€œFAA needs to take that over, too,” Canavan pushed, “but for this week we are going to have to supplement the rent-a-cops with the real thing, local police, National Guard, federal agents.”
    â€œWhat about everything else?” Paul Kurtz asked. “Are we letting everything resume flying this week? How do we check private planes? I look out my window every day and see private jets taking off from National flying right at the White House before they veer off.” Large passenger aircraft were only a piece of what had been grounded that day. Cargo aircraft, executive jets, personal aircraft, traffic helicopters, crop dusters, Goodyear blimps, and hot air balloons also filled America’s skies on a normal day. Dealing with them would have to come later. I asked Kurtz to work with FAA to phase those other aircraft back in after we had a security plan for them. For weeks thereafter, I would catch snippets of Paul’s conversations. “I don’t care if there is no aerial camera shot of the game, no blimps over stadiums…” and “What do you mean I still have all the traffic helicopters grounded?”
    Condi Rice joined us again in the Situation Room. The President now wanted to be sure we were all going to get some sleep. “I need you bright and fresh in the morning. Go home.” Rice made sure we understood it was an order. I worried about her security if she planned to go back to her apartment in the nearby Watergate. So had the President; she was going to spend the night in the Residence.
    After 1:00 a.m.,