Airliners Remain Virtually Defenseless Against Shoulder-Fired Missiles

Sen. Charles Schumer, Sen. Barbara Boxer, (center) and Rep. Steve Israel, display a shoulder-fired missile launcher during a news conference on Capitol Hill, after discussing their efforts to meet the threat posed by these weapons.

A much cheaper defense against missiles is training local police to recognize missiles and missile parts, with the hope that they'll be able to disrupt an attack if they encounter the weapons on patrol. Santo Polizzi, a deputy special agent for the Transportation Security Administration, which trains foreign and domestic law enforcement agents, says that raising awareness is critical. "There are three or four basic components to these missiles, and if police know what to look for, they can help neutralize the threat," he says.

One of the most enduring lessons of the Mombasa attack was that the missiles didn't have to hit their target to cause damage. Even the failed attack nearly crippled the Kenyan economy because tourism fell about 25 percent in the wake of the incident. "Illustrating the economic impact of a successful attack is one of our strongest bargaining chips with countries when we need to urge them to destroy their stockpiles," says Bloomfield. The Rand study noted that the cost of shutting down U.S. airspace for a day after a shootdown would be $1.4 billion; it would rise to more than $70 billion if the shutdown continued for a month.