Terror Attack Veteran Says Prevention Is The Best Tool

The attempted terror attack at the Glasgow Airport last weekend -- however apparently botched it was -- sent waves of apprehension through the global aviation community. Different airports around the country have responded with various tactics and efforts in an attempt to protect themselves from just such an attack, even though the official terror alert status has been at the second highest level, 'orange,' since last fall.

"At this point, I have seen no specific, credible information suggesting that this latest incident is connected to a threat to the homeland," US Department of Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff said shortly after the Glasgow attack.

At the Mineta San Jose International Airport in California, police stepped up random vehicle checks, according to the San Jose Mercury News, and security officers have become more visible to the public. The San Francisco International Airport hired several extra San Francisco Police Officers to patrol outside the terminals. Oakland International Airport increased patrols using the Alameda County Sheriff's Department and their bomb-sniffing dogs.

According to Denver's Fox 31, the Denver International Airport has made its security force much more visible and has increased random vehicle checks including those entering parking lots and garages.

Tampa International Airport in Florida started inspecting vehicles as they entered the airport and upped their K-9 patrols, according to the Tampa Tribune.

Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis, MA took a slightly different approach -- by placing three 10-foot concrete "Jersey" barriers in front of the glass entrance to the airport terminal, according to the Cape Cod Times, ostensibly to prevent vehicles from slamming into the terminal, as a Jeep Cherokee was able to do in Glasgow.

Chertoff said Wednesday there was no link between the Glasgow incident and any possible threat to the US. But, Barnstable Municipal Airport Manager Quincy "Doc" Mosby felt he should attempt to address a potential threat... however unlikely it was to occur in a place like Hyannis.

"The 'softest' part of the terminal is the entrance," he said. Mosby notes HYA averages about 200,000 passengers a year, making it the third busiest airport in the state, behind Nantucket Memorial Airport and Logan International.

"As other targets become hardened, the ones that are softer could become more desirable targets," said Martha's Vineyard Airport Manager Sean Flynn. While he did not block that terminal entrance as HYA did, he also refused to discuss his security measures.

"Every airport manager evaluates his own airport," Flynn said.

Is all this activity effective? Is it even necessary? Former London Metropolitan Police Inspector Anthony Purbrick who has spent the last half century in law enforcement says good old fashioned teamwork, between a wary public and law enforcement, is one of the best defenses against terrorist activity.

Pubrick teaches a citizen police academy in Barnstable, and cites it as a good example of what he is talking about. The class regularly adds to the more than 500 pairs of eyes already on the street supporting police, he told the Cape Cod Times.

"They're more aware of things that don't look right, don't smell right," he said.

Sadly, he and his fellow Londoners are used to violent attacks, Purbrick said, having withstood assaults during World War II and terrorist bombings by the Irish Republican Army, but they don't get overly dramatic about prevention or dwell too much on it.

"You can't really walk about worrying about it," said Graham Munro, 26, a resident of Massachusetts originally from a small Scottish town north of Glasgow. He travels back to Scotland several times each year. "It's not the worst terrorist attack." He said of the Glasgow Airport incident.

Jeanie Drinkwater immigrated from Scotland some 40 years ago, still travels extensively and says she doesn't really feel any different here than in another country.

"You can't let them dictate what you're going to do," she said.

FMI: www.town.barnstable.ma.us/departments/airport/05/, www.dhs.gov, www.met.police.uk