over the planes and eventually crash the planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. A few months later, Richard Reid boarded a plane in Paris, France, headed for America with explosives in his shoes. None of the security precautions discovered the explosives. Only passengers who saw Reid trying to ignite the explosives stopped the destruction of the plane. Reid attempted to blow up this plane only one day after he was detained and extensively questioned while trying to board another plane to America.Since September 11th, many changes have been made to the security in airports, but I believe that they are not enough to keep us safe. Currently, airport security includes armed National Guard troops watching over lobbies and terminals, more checked luggage requirements, and more metal and x-ray detectors. Right after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, every airport in America was shut down for several days and only opened with National Guard soldiers watching for suspicious behavior. But, after only a month of the extra security guards, the majority of the airports were without the Guard troops. Another precaution that airlines are currently taking includes several new checked luggage requirements. In November, Congress passed a law that requires airlines to screen all bags in four ways: with explosive-detection equipment, with explosive-sniffing dogs, with hand searches and by matching passengers to bags. Congress set a deadline of January 18, 2002, and, in that sort amount of time, airports were only able to institute a bag-matching policy. This is where baggage handlers make sure that every bag on board belongs to a passenger on the plane. If a passenger gets off the plane for some reason, their bags must be taken off the plane also. Luggage is also, according to the new law, supposed to be thoroughly examined by x-ray machines and chemical-detecting machines. Only ...
