...this time it was on the front page of the Dallas Morning News.
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/dmn/stories/080104dnnatdryrun.9ff31.html
Full article:TDMN said:Suspicious activities cause in-flight anxiety
05:01 PM CDT on Sunday, August 1, 2004
On Internet Web sites, pilot chat rooms and in airport crew lounges, the stories are chilling: strangely acting airline passengers making a quick dash to the cockpit in an attempt to force federal air marshals to reveal themselves. Groups of passengers trooping to the lavatories, taking cameras and other odd objects with them. Careful surveillance of when cockpit doors are open.
Many within the aviation industry say they have witnessed or heard credible reports of passenger behavior that can't be chalked up to anything other than nefarious activity. Their fear is that terrorists are casing U.S. flights, probing airline operations and federal air marshals' tactics.
Federal officials insist there is no evidence to suggest that terrorists are conducting dry runs for future attacks.
"There is no specific intelligence indicating that terrorist groups are currently conducting test flights or surveillance activities on any commercial airlines," said David Adams of the Federal Air Marshal Service. Officials with the Transportation Security Administration, FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement echoed his comments.
The official denials have not stopped ominous reports from circulating.
"We've heard of people standing up all at once, looking at PDAs [personal digital assistants, possibly to communicate with one another] and trying to identify the federal air marshals. There have been reports of that in pilot chat rooms," said American Airlines Capt. Dennis Breslin.
American Capt. Gary Boettcher told The Dallas Morning News that he knows that airline crews have found razor blades, knives and other potential weapons secreted under passenger seats.
The dry run fear isn't an idle one.
As the 9-11 commission revealed, the al-Qaeda operatives who hijacked four planes on Sept. 11, 2001, took flights the summer before the attacks to familiarize themselves with airline operations and test security.
Asked about aircrews' accounts, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Russ Knocke acknowledged, "there is bizarre behavior that occurs." He credits heightened vigilance by aircrews and passengers in bringing those episodes to the attention of authorities.
Terrifying flight
The topic of terrorist test runs burst into public view last month when a freelance writer wrote with dramatic detail of an experience aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit to Los Angeles that "terrified" her. Annie Jacobsen posted her account on an Internet financial Web site, and an edited version ran on the Viewpoints page of The News. She described seeing a number of Middle Eastern men congregate throughout the June 29 flight, taking a camera, cellphone and other objects into the bathrooms and signaling each other with gestures she interpreted as ominous.
When the plane landed, law enforcement scrambled to interview the 14 men who turned out to be Syrian musicians heading to a gig at a casino near San Diego. Authorities acknowledge the men's behavior was suspicious. But, Mr. Adams said: "These people did nothing wrong."
AP
The topic of terrorist test runs burst into public view when a freelance writer chronicled her experience aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit to Los Angeles last month.
The Syrians were not detained. And though authorities initially reported they were traveling on expired visas, Mr. Knocke said it has been determined that the musicians received visa extensions and were here legally.
Story brought comments
Northwest Airlines spokeswoman Mary Stanik refused to discuss the Syrian incident. "In the interest of security, we are not commenting further," she said.
Ms. Jacobsen's story prompted enormous discussion of terrorist surveillance flights on the Internet, television and in newspapers, including The News.
"The terrorists are probing us all the time," Capt. Boettcher wrote Ms. Jacobsen.
Said Mr. Knocke: "The fact of the matter is that there is no intelligence to support the theory of dry runs."
Suspicious incidents are fully investigated and the information shared with intelligence analysts throughout government, Homeland Security officials say.
And, they note the government and airlines have tightened up procedures to guard against security breaches.
The TSA has directed aircrews to tell passengers that they can't gather in groups near lavatories and that they must use bathrooms nearest their class of service. The FBI, in a weekly bulletin to law enforcement, cautioned that terrorists could smuggle bomb components on board and assemble them in flight. And aircrews report they've been warned by the government to be on the lookout for passengers handling electronic equipment strangely and been advised to check lavatories for suspicious packages. In some cases, airlines also have installed seals or wiring to determine if compartments, paneling and equipment have been tampered with.
A few days after Ms. Jacobson posted her article, an earlier incident surfaced.
On Feb. 15, flight attendants reported that six passengers on an American flight between Puerto Rico and New York were acting suspiciously and videotaping in the lavatory. As with the Syrian musicians, investigators questioned the men and determined there was no criminal conduct. The men were cruise line employees heading on vacation, Homeland Security officials said.
Stories such as these have everyone on alert, said Dave Kameras, spokesman for the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents about 50,000 flight attendants at 25 airlines.
"Obviously the heightened security in the industry and the at least anecdotal evidence that these types of activities are going on, creates concerns for the people that have to work in these environments every day," he said.
Many of the tales are apocryphal, government officials say, such as a widely circulated report that a passenger tried to gain entry to the cockpit by breaking through a bathroom mirror. A thick bulkhead behind the lavatory blocks access to the cockpit, said Boeing spokeswoman Mary Jean Olsen.
Authorities are careful not to discourage reports of suspicious activity, and in fact encourage passengers and aircrews to be vigilant.
Kathleen Romagnoli said she and her fellow flight attendants are doing just that.
"Anything that anybody can come up with can be suspicious. Toys, anything," said the 14-year American flight attendant, who has not witnessed anything to suggest terrorists are probing airline defenses. "You also do not congregate around bathrooms no matter what color you are. No more than two passengers."
Mr. Kameras said the suspicious episodes highlight the lack of standardized protocols on how aircrews should respond.
"There's no coordination of response between flight attendants, the air deck crew and federal air marshals," he said. "Some of the airlines do have training, but it varies widely. In some cases, it's just sitting down and watching a 20-minute video."
His complaint is shared by others, who also deplore the lack of information on how cases are resolved.
Though there is a hotline for aviation personnel to report suspicious activity, "When an aircrew member sends something to the TSA hotline, we have no idea if it's getting to the proper agencies or not," Capt. Boettcher said.
Mr. Knocke said federal authorities share the information they can and notes that federal air marshals brief pilots on security threats before each boarding.
The airlines are reluctant to discuss the topic.
"I'm not at liberty to talk about it because it could harm the efficacy of the security measures," said American Airline spokesman Tim Wagner. "There are multiple levels of security that customers and even employees are not aware of that have been implemented."
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/dmn/stories/080104dnnatdryrun.9ff31.html