bomb-sniffing dog detected an explosives device just 12 minutes before it was set to detonate (Federal Aviation Administration, 2001). Seven months later, the Department of Transportation created the K-9 Explosives Detection Team Program (Federal Aviation Administration, 2001). This was the first widespread measure taken to combat the threat of blowing up commercial airlines. Through the years, the role of K-9 teams has grown and the value of well-trained, proficient explosives detection teams in the airport environment has proven effective, but this was not an effective solution to the entire threat. Terrorist threats and hijackings, many involving live explosives, plagued civil aviation again in the early 1970s. It took another disaster and more than a decade for the U.S. government to again take a serious look at airline security. This push was provided by the June 1985 plunge into the sea of an Air India flight near Ireland as the result of a powerful explosion in its cargo hold and a hijacking the next month of TWA Flight 847 from Athens. (Federal Aviation Administration, 2001) The FAA ordered U.S. air carriers to tighten security at major airports in other countries. And U.S. air carriers overseas were under FAA orders to match every piece of luggage with every passenger to defeat the possibility that a terrorist might check a suitcase containing a bomb, then not take the flight. Since that date, more than 24 fatal explosions have been recorded on aircraft around the world. Despite this evidence, the U.S. has made little real progress toward countering such threats to our airlines and their passengers. Today, only a small percentage of passenger baggage on domestic flights is screened for explosives. (Federal Aviation Administration) U.S. officials historically have responded to aviation disasters by proposing flurries of security measures, only to roll back many of them when airlines objected and the public's focus on the issu...
