President's commission on aviation security and terrorism

Pan American Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988. 243 passengers, 16 crew members, and 11 people on the ground were killed by the explosion. It was the second most disastrous passenger airline explosion up to that time[1] By the next day, experts found enough evidence to declare the explosion to be deliberate sabotage.[2] Within days intelligence sources reported an anonymous telephone call to the United States embassy in Helsinki, Finland, on December 5, 1988, warned of possible sabotage on the flight.[3]

Newly elected President George H. W. Bush met with victims’ families in April 1989. Relatives present asked for an independent investigation of airline security which, they claimed, should have prevented the disaster. Bush promised he would look into establishing just such a commission. Relatives also complained about the State Department’s poor consular services for assisting victims’ family members. This news seemed to shock the President.[4]

U.S. government personnel were belatedly reported to be deeply involved in the investigation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was working closely with its European counterparts [5] The Department of Justice was conducting a criminal investigation, and the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) was investigating its internal securities procedures.[6]

U.S. Congressional response to the disaster came when Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) [7] introduced Senate Resolution S. Res. 86, calling on the President to appoint a special commission “to investigate the events surrounding the destruction of Pan Am 103”[8] That same day, President Bush did so.

Official name

Enabling authorities

Termination

Purposes

Membership

The enabling Executive Order required the President to appoint 4 Commission members from the U.S. Congress: 1 Republican Representative, 1 Democratic Representative, 1 Republican Senator, and 1 Democratic Senator.[11]

Public hearings

Testimony from

-family members of Pan Am Flight 103 victims
-aviation community representatives (pilots, flight attendants, airlines, airport personnel)
-consumer groups

Reports of findings from

-the General Accounting Office (GAO)
-the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on aviation security

Testimony from the State Department on dealings with victims’ families

Testimony on counter-terrorist and aviation security technologies from

-scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Naval Research Laboratory, George Washington University, Los Alamos National Laboratory
-the FAA
-airport security experts
-security technology manufacturers

Testimony from

-The Hon. Dante B. Fascell Representative[16] (D-FL, Chair of the U.S. House. Foreign Affairs Committee. on international aviation security
-U.S. Embassy in Moscow personnel on the “Helsinki Warning”.
-Pan Am representatives about their personnel’s responses to the “Helsinki Warning”.
-Testimony from executives of American Airlines, Pan Am, United Air Lines, and Trans World Airlines
-Testimony from FAA Director of Civil Aviation Security Raymond Salazer on aviation security policy issues.

Findings

Recommendations

The Executive Order enabling the commission required its final report to be screened for classified information. Only an unclassified text would be released to the general public[18] The Final Report contained 64 specific recommendations summarized below in categories used by the Commission.[19]

International security

Domestic security

Mail and cargo

The FAA

Research and development

The FAA should vigorously foster research and development of

Intelligence

Threat notification

Treatment of the families of victims of terror

National will

Aviation Security Improvement Act of 1990

Rep. James L. Oberstar, a member of the Commission, introduced HR 5732, “Aviation Security Improvement Act of 1990” on September 27, 1990, in the second session of the 101st United States Congress. This bill embodied nearly all of the recommendations of the Commission. It became Public Law 101-604 on November 16, 1990.

Footnotes

  1. ”Explosions Aboard Aircraft—1949 through 1989” Report of the President’s Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism, pp. 160-166.
  2. Investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 . See also Steven emerson and Brian duffy, The Fall of Pan am 103: Inside the Lockerbie Investigation New York, NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1990.
  3. Saundra Torry, “Legal Issues Complicated by Dec. 5 Phone Tip of Possible Attack on Plane” Washington Post (December 29, 1988), p. A20; Jack Anderson, “’Helsinki Warning’ Timely or Buried?” Washington Post (July 28, 1989), p. E5.
  4. Laura Parker, “U.S. Agency Orders Measures to Improve Airline Security—Bush Meets with Families of Bombing Victims” Washington Post (April 4, 1989), p. A1
  5. Laura Parker, “Aftermath of Flight 103 Probe…” Washington Post (July 9, 1989)
  6. Senator George Mitchell (D-Maine)Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000811. “Presidential Commission to Investigate Aviation Security and the Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103” Congressional Record (August 4, 1989), p S10143
  7. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000123
  8. Congressional Record pp. S10143-10144 (August 4, 1989)
  9. University of California, Santa Barbara. “American Presidency Project”. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=23534
  10. University of California, Santa Barbara. “American Presidency Project”. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=23550
  11. Executive Order 12686 (August 4, 1989) section 1.
  12. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=D000018
  13. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000124
  14. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Presenthttp://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000123
  15. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=O000006
  16. >Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=F000041
  17. Lautenberg, Frank. “Findings and Recommendations of the Commission on Aviation and Terrorism” Congressional Record (May 15, 1990), pp. S6270-S6271
  18. <Executive Order 12686 (August 4, 1989) section 2 (b).
  19. Final Report pp. 123-125.
  20. “Statement on Air-Hijacking” Bonn, Germany, July 17, 1978. <http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/summit/1978bonn/hijacking.html
  21. Final Report p. 117.

Sources

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