Long before 911, the FAAís own employees repeatedly warned the agency terrorists could penetrate the nationís air security systems. As members of the agencyís Red Team, a small group of former special ops personnel, disguised as terrorists were assigned to test the airport security systems.

Steve Elson, a former Navy Seal, and Bogdan Dzakovic, a former air marshal, easily slipped through airport security systems at Logan Airport in Boston, San Francisco, San Juan and elsewhere. They toted automatic weapons on their backs and carried bombs in suitcases. With ease, they picked locks and walked onto ramps, up into the cockpits, rode food service trucks past guards and boarded planes.

Time and again they warned their superiors the air security system was next to useless. Nobody paid them any heed. In these interviews, the two talk about their work.

copyright 2006 (ridgeway / ng)