The terrorist attacks of 9/11 attacks were successful in large part not only because of a massive U.S. intelligence failure, but also because of bureaucratic foot-dragging and wrangling over security measures by the airlines and the FAA.

This article in the 10/6 LA Times examines the aviation industry's balky and largely incomplete implementation of security measures recommended by the Gore Commission in the wake of the crash of TWA Flight 800.

However, I note with some dismay that the article attributes the Flight 800 disaster to ignition of vapors in the 747's center wing tank, much as another article that I read recently attributes the EgyptAir 990 crash in the same area to co-pilot suicide. Both of these theories have been rejected by most competent analysts.

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