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Statement About Air Transportation Safety

March 09, 1972

THREE times in the past 48 hours, tragedies that could have taken hundreds of lives have been narrowly averted. An explosive device was found aboard a passenger aircraft at New York's Kennedy Airport Tuesday night and defused only minutes before it was due to explode. Early yesterday morning, a bomb shattered a jetliner on the ground at Las Vegas. Fortunately, no one was aboard; had the plane been in flight, it would surely have been lost with all aboard. Then, later yesterday, a third bomb was discovered on another jet at Seattle.

Eighteen months ago, I ordered comprehensive, forceful action to halt the wave of criminal incidents on U.S. flag aircraft. The sky marshal and passenger screening programs conducted jointly by the Government and the airlines since that time have progressively reduced the hijacker's chances of success. From a onetime high of 83 percent, the success average of hijacking attempts diminished to 44 percent last year and now to only 25 percent thus far in 1972. Our efforts will continue until we reduce that rate to zero.

Now, however, our air transportation system faces a new threat, in the form of vicious extortion plots like the ones which have been directed at air traffic across the country this week. We must not be intimidated by such lawlessness. Rather we must and will meet this blackmail on the ground as vigorously as we have met piracy in the air.

As the attempt to create a crisis situation has emerged over the past several days, I have mobilized all appropriate security forces and resources of the Federal Government under the overall command of the Secretary of Transportation. This includes the Departments of State, Transportation, Defense, Treasury, and Justice--particularly the FAA, LEAA, Bureau of Customs, U.S. Marshals Service, and FBI. With this assistance we have so far rendered the plot a failure; no lives have been lost; the brazen ransom demands have been resisted. The Federal mobilization will continue, and will be augmented as necessary, until the current threat is crushed.

I have today ordered Secretary Volpe to take a series of measures aimed at better protecting against such incidents in the future.

The Federal Aviation Administration's new security regulations for air carriers, published in the Federal Register March 7, will take effect at once; we can no longer afford the 90-day implementation period previously stipulated for them. These regulations mandate immediate steps by every carrier to prevent or deter carriage of weapons or explosives aboard its aircraft; to prevent or deter unauthorized access to its aircraft; to tighten its baggage check-in procedures; and to improve the security of its cargo and baggage loading operations.

The Department of Transportation will expedite final rulemaking action for new security regulations governing airport operators, to complement the measures now required of the airline companies. The effect of these regulations will be to enforce the strict separation of operating areas at airports from public areas, thereby tightening the control of physical access to the former so that a security envelope is created around the aircraft and their supporting systems and personnel.

There is no time to lose. I have asked Secretary Volpe to convene a meeting as soon as possible with leaders of the aviation community to check on the follow-up of the steps we are taking today. He will continue to monitor progress of these efforts closely, and will keep me continuously informed.

Commercial aviation in the United States has built a commendable record of service and safety. I mean to do all in my power to help protect that record, by preventing air travel from becoming a vehicle for traffic in terrorism. We shall keep our airports, our airways, and our air travelers safe.

Note: On the same day, the White House released the transcript of a news briefing on the President's statement by Lt. Gert. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., Assistant Secretary for Safety and Consumer Affairs, and Richard F. Lally, Director, office of Transportation Security Department of Transportation.

Richard Nixon, Statement About Air Transportation Safety Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/255168

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