Standing on the 55th floor of One World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan, Assistant Secretary of Transportation Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. gazed upon an audience of government and private-sector security professionals. His subject: the US government’s approach to the relatively recent phenomenon of terrorist hijacking. As the architect of the federal sky marshal program, Davis offered no easy assurances about the escalating threat. Fighting terror, he admitted, presented no quick solutions. Rather, it demanded constant vigilance, because, as Davis noted, “a great deal can be done before a tragedy demands the action that should have previously been taken.” Addressing the solemn room in the North Tower on September 11, 1974, Davis gave voice to the single greatest fear haunting the aviation industry: an airborne mass-casualty event.
h/t patthedog
