One Was Convicted In Pan Am 103 Bombing

At least six men who were suspected, and in some cases convicted, as potential security threats to the United States kept licenses issued by the FAA for years, despite laws passed following the events of September 11th, 2001, which required them to be revoked.

One of the men, a Libyan, was convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. He was sentenced to 27 years for his role in that tragedy.

The New York Times reports that the FAA finally suspended the licenses on Thursday.

According to the story, the FAA and TSA were apparently unaware that these six, which also includes an Iranian-American who was convicted of attempting to sell fighter parts to Iran and a Lebanese citizen who was caught and convicted of trying to sell military equipment to Hezzbollah, held FAA licenses. At least two were dispatchers, who assist in creating flight plans and keep track of passengers and cargo. There was also a private pilot on the list, as well as a person who was imprisoned after the FBI seed a large shipment of parts destined for Iran. He was re-issued a license to fly large commercial jets following his release from prison.

All were discovered by a small family-owned data-mining company in New York which was demonstrating list-scrubbing software banks use to identify terrorism links.

A spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department, Amy Kudwa, told the Times her department would “conduct a comprehensive review to see why the system failed to identify these people” and would see if the department should be looking at more federal lists. Homeland Security may not currently be scanning lists kept by the Departments of Treasury and Commerce.

In an interview with the Times, Safe Banking Systems president David M. Schiffer said the database is made up from public records.  “We saw something, and we’re saying something,” he said, a twist on a sign New Yorkers regularly see on trains and buses reminding the public to be on the alert for possible terrorist activity.

FMI: www.tsa.gov, www.faa.gov