So much here! - The Untold Pre-History of 9/11 - The National Interest

As the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks approaches, we should remember that the events of that day were far from unforeseeable. - Chris Naylor

Standing on the 55th floor of One World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan, Assistant Secretary of Transportation Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. gazed upon an audience of government and private-sector security professionals.

• His subject: the US government’s approach to the relatively recent phenomenon of terrorist hijacking. As the architect of the federal sky marshal program, Davis offered no easy assurances about the escalating threat...
• Addressing the solemn room in the North Tower on September 11, 1974, Davis gave voice to the single greatest fear haunting the aviation industry: an airborne mass-casualty event...

Largely forgotten today, the US government’s decades-long quest to contain and prevent hijackings unfolded in a series of warnings, shifting security postures, evolving threats, and missed opportunities...