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Copyright 2002 Times Publishing Company

St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

March 10,2002, Sunday, 0 South Pinellas Edition

SECTION: NATIONAL; FIGHTING TERROR: COULD IT HAPPEN AGAIN?; Pg. 1A

LENGTH: 3644 words

HEADLINE: Could this happen again? // Improved security still can't stop it all

BYLINE: CHUCK MURPHY

BODY:

Dust from the World Trade Center towers was still drifting back to earth as shock turned to outrage.
We'll cut off their money. We'll fortify our borders. We'll put soldiers in airports.
But six months after the worst terrorist attack in history, the legislative and executive response might not be enough
to stop a determined, organized group from doing the same thing all over again - or worse.
Terrorists could still elude detection and gain legal entry to the United States. They could still use their tourist or
visitor visas to get Florida drivers' licenses. They could still get Social Security numbers, rent cars and take pilot
training.
They could also still sneak weapons onto airplanes.
If anything, the outrage felt on Sept. 11 might be all that would stop terrorists from taking control of a plane today.
The flight attendant who spotted a fuse in a bomber's shoe, the passenger who helped tie a deranged passenger to a seat
and the pilot with a crash ax have proven to be the most effective deterrents since Sept. 11.
Efforts in Congress to specifically address the plot that led to the attack were considered impractical or too narrow
and referred for further study.
In Jacksonville last month, U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill acknowledged that the laws passed since Sept. 11,
including the sweeping Patriot Act, were never intended to respond directly to the techniques used by the hijackers.
Instead, they were designed to disrupt al-Qaida's operations around the world, making it more difficult to organize that
kind of attack.
"I don't see anything in the Patriot Act that makes it illegal for terrorists to take flight lessons," O'Neill said. "But
hopefully what we're going to be able to do is identify terrorists and be able to say to them, "You're not going anywhere,
much less to flight school.' "
To accomplish that, the Bush administration and Congress made some changes in financial controls, aviation
security, immigration and intelligence gathering. But while those acts will have a broad, noticeable impact on the
public, there is no certainty that they would have stopped the events of Sept. 11.
"Smart people can get around even the strongest protections," said William Wechsler, a former special adviser on
money laundering to the Treasury Department who is now vice president of Greenwich Associates, a strategic
consulting firm.