Sci-fi Writers Join War on Terror

yoyoq writes "Homeland Security is looking for suggestions from sci-fi writers. "Looking to prevent the next terrorist attack, the Homeland Security Department is tapping into the wild imaginations of a group of self-described "deviant" thinkers: science-fiction writers." Here's a suggestion: 9-11 could have been prevented with locks on the cockpit door."

Comments

Re:Idea!!!

[Holmwood]

Ha!

Leaving aside the Terminator suggestion, the SF writer involvement in suggesting government policy isn't actually quite as crazy (or as unprecedented) as it sounds.

One of the requirements for this group is that the individual has to have a PhD in a technical area (physics, engineering, etc.). These aren't just random writers off the street.

As TFA notes, the 9/11 commission said the attacks were a result, in part, of the government's "failure of imagination". SF writers, unlike some beltway bureaucrats and politicians, aren't lacking in that, at least.

As for precedent, both Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven (coauthors of Footfall, and the Mote in God's Eye amongst other works) were a significant part of the push in the 80's to develop what is now National Missile Defense.

(Of course, that may or may not be a good program, but it's certainly an example of educated SF writers influencing public policy).

Holmwood

Hey Homeland Security!

[MillionthMonkey]

I wonder if a science fiction writer could have come up with a story as screwed up as this one about the tuberculosis guy. A patient with tuberculosis flew to his wedding in Greece and while he was on his honeymoon in Italy he was notified by the CDC that his tuberculosis was a scary drug resistant strain, to avoid travel, and to turn himself in to Italian authorities to be quarantined. They also told him that he had been put on the no-fly list. But damn it, he's on his honeymoon. So what did he do? He flew from Prague to Montreal to successfully avoid the no-fly list, and then he drove across the border into New York State, with no-flying:

Health officials said the man had been advised not to fly and knew he could expose others when he boarded the jets from Atlanta to Paris, and later from Prague to Montreal.
The man, however, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that doctors didn't order him not to fly and only suggested he put off his long-planned wedding in Greece. He knew he had a form of tuberculosis and that it was resistant to first-line drugs, but he didn't realize it could be so dangerous, he said.
"We headed off to Greece thinking everything's fine," said the man, who declined to be identified because of the stigma attached to his diagnosis.
He flew to Paris on May 12 aboard Air France Flight 385. While in Europe, health authorities reached him with the news that further tests had revealed his TB was a rare, "extensively drug-resistant" form, far more dangerous than he knew. They ordered him into isolation, saying he should turn himself over to Italian officials.
Instead, the man flew from Prague to Montreal on May 24 aboard Czech Air Flight 0104, then drove into the United States at Champlain, N.Y. He told the newspaper he was afraid that if he didn't get back to the U.S., he wouldn't get the treatment he needed to survive.
...
The man told the Journal-Constitution he was in Rome during his honeymoon when the CDC notified him of the new tests and told him to turn himself in to Italian authorities to be isolated and be treated. The CDC told him he couldn't fly aboard commercial airliners.
"I thought to myself: You're nuts. I wasn't going to do that. They told me I had been put on the no-fly list and my passport was flagged," the man said.
He told the newspaper he and his wife decided to sneak back into the U.S. through Canada. He said he voluntarily went to a New York hospital, then was flown by the CDC to Atlanta.
He is not facing prosecution, health officials said.
"I'm a very well-educated, successful, intelligent person," he told the paper. "This is insane to me that I have an armed guard outside my door when I've cooperated with everything other than the whole solitary-confinement-in-Italy thing."

So what was unfortunately revealed by this episode?

• After six good years of hysteric overspending we still can't track down TB patients on their honeymoons much less bioterrorists
• So we put patients with communicable diseases on our handy terrorist no-fly list
• Handy travel tip for anyone on the no-fly list: fly Czech Air to Canada and enter the U.S. via rental car!
• Tuberculosis causes dementia as is shown here by the illogical desire to get to the U.S. for medical treatment

Re:Genius yoyoq!!!

[bolek_b]

I think unless there is a serious flaw on the side of airport security, the equipment advantage of the bad guys is not so big. The ONLY weapons which caused 911 were surprise and bad assumptions. The terrorists were allowed into cockpit with the assumption that it is just one of "routine hijackings" (scenario: land somewhere, demand something, negotiate, release hostages). The incorectness of the assumption was the moment of surprise and I truly believe that all pilots since then have to consider a 911 scenario as well.

Let us now think about those executions of passengers. We may not prevent them, but we can reduce the casualties. Assume that there are approx. 6 bad guys armed with improvised cold weapons, therefore effective attack range of each member is cca 1 meter. What are tactical options of passengers?

• They have vast numeric advantage. Say at least 50 men and don't forget about capabilities of many angry women.
• They may create improvised weapons and shields as well. Trays, belts, blankets...
• The cramped space onboard in my opinion favors the defense. The movement of attackers can be obstructed by improvised barricades (luggage)

As long as the cockpit is not penetrated, the pilots may help with another effective countermeasures (but they would require a tactically skilled flight attendant coordinating the actions, or some kind of CCTV in the cabin):

• Perform sudden maneuvers (rapid descent, steep banking) to incapacitate attackers; they won't probably wear belts during the incident
• Change parameters of cabin environment: temperature, light, sound -- anything which may disrupt focus and coordination of the attacking group
• Decompress the cabin and therefore restrict the movement of all passengers
• I personally can think of merits of equipping flight attendants with tasers, sticky foam, pepper spray (or even stun grenades)

In this mental exercise are some assumptions as well. The foremost is that only cold weapons are available to terrorists. Here we have to rely on the integrity and skill of airport personnel, but even with handguns I believe passengers with improvised shields would stand a chance. When it comes to bombs, well, bad luck, BUT: the bad guys can destroy the plane, but they will not control it.

We need a change of philosophy...

[Firethorn]

Personally, much of my solution to the problem involves a shift in our teaching process. For years we've taught 'let the professionals handle it'. IE the police.

Even the police had been infected with this - during Columbine they secured a perimeter and waited for SWAT. This cost lives. Now standard procedure for many departments is that police go in when they get there. Officer Dan might not be SWAT, but he has a gun he should be competent with, and he's what's there, not what's going to take another 15 minutes(and possibly another 60 dead).

We saw the ultimate failure at Viginia Tech - Students hid under desks and tried to flee - from a single assailant. Far fewer lives would have been lost if they'd done the same thing flight 93 had done - attacked back.

I think that a cultural change to one of resistance, one that venerates the 'one who stood first' would be a good thing, in many ways.

I believe there's a lot of truth to the saying: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

As for using scifi authers, I figure it's brainstorming, and a scifi author is generally both inventive and cheap. I can think of far worse things to spend ~30k on.