Surprised Flight 253 Terrorist was Allowed to Fly? I’m Not. Here’s Why

On Christmas Day, 23-year-old Nigerian national Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines plane in his home country with the intent of killing 278 passengers and crew members aboard. The Associated Press reported that he was on a U.S. terrorism watch list, but he wasn’t on the “no fly” list. How can this be? Doesn’t it make sense that if someone is suspected to have terrorist ties, he should not be allowed to fly on a commercial airliner, let alone be given a U.S. visa? This is apparently what happened in Abdulmutallab’s case. Before a passenger can board a U.S.-bound airliner from anywhere in the world, the airline is required to ensure he has a valid U.S. passport or visa. If the person arrives without a visa, the airline is subjected to a large fine and the passenger is sent back home. So how did Abdulmutallab get a U.S. visa despite being on a government terrorism list? When I worked as a DEA Supervisory Special Agent in Pakistan between 1994 and 1998, I was amazed how the visa process worked. I got the impression the State Department was more inclined than not to issue a visa, and it only turned down people who clearly had no intention of returning home. I was a member of what was called the “Visa Viper” committee to discuss giving certain risky individuals a visa or not. Almost without exception, I was outvoted by other Karachi Consulate department heads, and visas were issued. In one case, an individual had a police record of burglary. I asked why we would knowingly allow a burglar in the United States. But because the committee members felt the Karachi police were generally incompetent and corrupt, these were sufficient reasons to grant the man’s request. When the visa section reopened at the Karachi Consulate after being closed for extensive remodeling, State Department employees celebrated the event. Now, they said, visa applicants wouldn’t have to travel 800 miles to the embassy in Islamabad to file their phony applications. At the beginning of a State Department employee’s career, he or she is almost always assigned to the visa section with the responsibility of screening people who will never return to their home country, seek employment instead of tourism, or intend to commit terrorism or other criminal acts. These employees are frequently right out of college and have no real life experience. Yet they are our first line defense. Al Qaeda’s method of operation has transformed from setting explosives on airplanes with timing devices, hijacking aircraft, to individual suicide bombers on board. In the early 1990s, Ramzi Yousef and his uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, devised the “Bojinka plot,” wherein they were going to plant explosive devices on 12 U.S. airliners that were set to explode simultaneously over the Pacific Ocean. That plot could have caused more deaths than the events of 9/11. Fast forward to Richard Reid, the infamous “shoe bomber.” His foiled suicide bombing attempt led the Transportation Security Administration to require all passengers to remove their shoes to be X-rayed for explosives. Then came the London plot to mix explosive chemicals on airliners bound for the U.S., which resulted in severely limiting the liquids and gels passengers could carry on board planes. This latest event will undoubtedly bring more restrictions on the traveling public. It was no accident that Abdulmutallab waited until Northwest Flight 253 was about to land before attempting to set off his explosive device. The flight from Amsterdam took the polar route and had just entered U.S. airspace when he ignited the device. He hoped to crash the airliner in a populated area in Detroit as opposed to destroying the plane as it taxied on an isolated runway. Combining the terrorism watch list with the no-fly passenger list would be a good start to improving security. Mandating the airlines report to the FBI when someone on both lists attempts to purchase an international airline ticket would also help track these people and gather credible intelligence about al Qaeda’s intentions. These changes with vigorous screening of visa applicants will go a long way in making air travel safer for Americans.