James Oberstar: “Today, we conclude consideration of the most important aviation security bill in 30 years. Since the beginning of…”

“Today, we conclude consideration of the most important aviation security bill in 30 years. Since the beginning of aviation security in 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed an executive order establishing the Federal Air Marshal Service in response to repeated acts of skyjacking that were occurring at a rate of an average of one every 2 weeks, he signed that executive order on September 11, 1970. Thirty-one years later, an ominous date for us all. With the establishment of the air marshals and 2 years later with the establishment at airport checkpoints of X-ray machines for carry-on luggage and metal detectors for passengers, we did not in the domestic United States experience a skyjacking until this past September but once in 1991, and a minor incident it was. Since then, aviation security has evolved through several iterations. The first was persons skyjacking aircraft. The next was placing bombs aboard aircraft, blowing up Pan Am 103, blowing up TWA on the runway at Cairo, blowing up UTU, a French airliner, over Chad in central Africa. Each time we responded with new initiatives, based on the last terrorist action.”