s might use airliners as weapons, witnesses told an independent commission this week.

"The notion that these hijackings and terrorism were an unforeseen and unforeseeable risk is an airline and FAA public-relations management myth," said Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general at the Department of Transportation, in testimony Friday.

But Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta told the 10-member panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks that the federal government was caught unawares and had not anticipated such an attack.

"I don't think we ever thought of an aircraft being used as a missile," he said, acknowledging that the United States was unprepared.

During two days of hearings, some commission members argued there were plenty of indications that terrorists were planning a major attack against this country in the months before Sept. 11. These members said they were stunned by Mineta's comments and by how they conflicted with other testimony.

A security inspector with the Transportation Security Administration told the commission Thursday that undercover tests he had conducted revealed persistent, egregious weaknesses in airport security systems.

"Although we breached security with ridiculous ease up to 90 percent of the time, the FAA suppressed these warnings," said Bogdan Dzakovic, who became a Federal Aviation Administration whistleblower one month after Sept. 11.

Dzakovic called the state of airline security "unsafe" and said his "Red Team" of undercover security agents were frequently able to smuggle bombs and firearms aboard airplanes. After he informed the FAA of these security lapses, Dzakovic says, little was done to fix the problem.

Officials defending the agency's actions contend that many of Dzakovic's recommendations were implemented and that his Red Team was simply not told the changes had been made.

Despite often-conflicting testimony at the hearings, commission chairman Thomas Kean, a former New Jersey governor, said the panel gained considerable insight into how the attacks occurred. "We've certainly learned about the failures of the system on 9/11," he said.

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States was created in November. Its hearings this week marked the panel's second such public session. Nearly two months ago in New York the commission heard from the families of the attacks' victims.

On Thursday, the members of Congress who helped create the commission complained that the Bush administration is not being forthcoming with information the panel needs for its fact-finding mission.

"I hope the administration will not abuse the principle of executive privilege to deny the commission the critical repository of day-to-day activity on issues related to the terrorist attacks," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Commission members acknowledged that they were having trouble getting some information, but expressed confidence that they eventually would get the documents they requested.

The commission is required by law to complete its investigation by May 27, 2004.

Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune

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