Lockerbie

"The explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988, is a tragedy that never should have happened. Rodney Wallis, an expert in aviation security matters, warned the industry one year before the bombing that transfer of baggage from one airline to another represented the prime opportunity for terrorist activity. As a remedy to this weak link in security, Wallis urged the adoption of passenger and baggage matching, a system that he had helped to develop. Mandated by the FAA for use at high-risk airports, this was the critical feature missing from Pan Am's activity at Frankfurt, an omission so cruelly exploited by the bombers. Wallis argues that governments' primary emphasis on technological solutions to the continuing terrorist threat puts the flying public at unnecessary risk every day.". "This book brings together all of the facts surrounding the sabotage of Flight 103, including the investigation and the civil litigation in which so much of the story unfolded for the first time. It uncovers the fundamental weaknesses in Pan Am's communication and management policies which created an environment where good security was impossible. Wallis supports the policy that "politics are politics" and explores the possibility that U.S. and U.K. policy towards a "neutral" trial for the two Libyans indicted for the bombing may have been affected more by the wider scenario of Middle East politics than simple justice for the victims of Lockerbie. Although the tragedy has led to improvements in defense technology for use against acts of aviation sabotage, these methods have yet to be applied universally."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.