Web warning - Online story raises questions about terror probes

WASHINGTON -- A writer's harrowing account of the odd actions of 14 Middle Eastern men aboard a Detroit-to-Los Angeles flight in June is prompting new concerns about airline security.

The men traveling together on the Northwest flight lingered in the bathroom, congregated in the aisles and signaled each other during the trip, according to the account. Passengers and the crew feared the men planned a hijacking, said the writer, Annie Jacobsen.

When Flight 327 landed on June 29, the men were met by agents of the FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Transportation Security Administration.

Government officials confirm her account of the flight and the arrival scene. But they say none of the men posed a threat. In fact, they were members of a backup band for a singer, Nour Mehanna, who is described as "the Syrian Wayne Newton" and were heading to a show near San Diego.

The online story created a furor nonetheless.

Jacobsen was interviewed on network television and by newspapers. She received dozens of e-mails from flight attendants and pilots who said they had experienced similar incidents. Members of Congress asked Homeland Security Department and FBI officials to brief their staffs about the incident.

In the month since Jacobsen's frightening flight, it has become clear that in some ways the airline security system worked well.

Pass and fail

An alert passenger -- Jacobsen -- notified the flight crew of her suspicions. Air marshals on board kept tabs on the men during the flight, even inspecting the lavatory to make sure they had not left anything that might endanger the plane. Law enforcement officials met the musicians at the airport, questioned them extensively and checked their names against terrorist watch lists.

Not all went as well as it should have. Passengers are not supposed to congregate in groups on airliners, according to a government advisory issued in December.

Jacobsen said seven of the men stood up and went to the lavatories as the plane was preparing to land and the flight attendants were strapped in their seats.

"They seemed to be more in charge of the aircraft than the flight attendants," Jacobsen said.

Northwest declined comment on the flight attendants' actions.

Congress focused on a different potential problem: When the FBI questioned the men after the plane landed, it is not clear the agent examined the musicians' immigration status or checked whether their visas had expired.

Homeland Security spokesman Dennis Murphy said stamps on the men's passports indicated they might have been in the country illegally. Murphy said visas are so complicated that "it does take a trained eye to know what to look for and how to look for it."

No one from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau questioned the men, which the Homeland Security Department now acknowledges was a mistake.

Murphy said the law enforcement officials were simply concerned whether the men were a threat. "The bottom line is there was no threat," he said. "Everyone was here legally. Can the system do better? Sure."

Last week, congressional aides questioned air marshals and the FBI about why immigration officials had not checked the musicians' status at the airport. A second briefing is planned.

Some pilots and flight attendants say the incident was just one of many that played on fears that terrorists might be conducting dry runs for another attack.

Dave Mackett, president of the Airline Pilot Security Alliance, a group of pilots that works to improve aviation security, said reports of possible terrorist probes have been on the increase.

He said he has been told of passengers' suddenly walking toward the cockpit, perhaps to check the crew's reaction; of people using lavatory in rapid succession; of passengers' noting flight numbers in notebooks.

Murphy, the Homeland Security spokesman, said air marshals collect reports of suspicious activity and forward them to the Transportation Security Administration's intelligence unit for analysis.

"All have been checked and resolved," he said. "There is nothing to indicate that organized probing is going on."

The government does want to encourage reports of suspicious activity because al-Qaida has a history of probing the aviation security system.

"We want an alert citizenry as one of our best defenses," Murphy said.

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On the Net:

Transportation Security Administration: http://www.tsa.gov

Homeland Security Department: http://www.dhs.gov

To read Jacobsen's story: http://www.womenswallstreet.com