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Dr. John T. Dailey, a member of the group and the agency's chief psychologist, developed a list of behavioral characteristics from all previous skyjackings. The task force formed a 3-man team to test not only the use of that profile but also to determine how many passengers fit enough of it to be considered potential skyjackers, and also to test the use of an off-the-shelf metal detector to find any possible weapons carried by passengers. Eastern Airlines, the most hijacked at the time, agreed to have the rests run at its gates. After visiting 9 airports throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, the team reported back its conclusions. First and foremost, only 5-tenths of 1 percent of Eastern Airlines passengers fit enough of the profile. This meant that if the profile was used as Step One in a screening system, it would enable 99.5 percent of all passengers to board their flights without unnecessary delay. The task force press officer readily admitted it could not prevent all skyjacking attempts, but it would provide a major deterrence. Second, the weapons detector should only be used as a backup because such equipment only could be as good as the personnel operating the devices. The American Civil Liberties Union approved of the profile because it was non-discriminatory. In addition, a New York State federal court judge ruled that the profile did not violate the 14th Amendment to the Constitution regarding illegal search. After a final test in New Orleans involving all airlines there, the task force was disbanded and a permanent office of security was created with only one member assigned to the new unit. NINE/ELEVEN goes into inflight defenses, including armed air marshals, arming of pilots, skyjacker motivation, the questionable effect of random searches, and predictions in the group's final report in 1978 which used the term "terrorists." The book also delves into what has gone wrong, and why.
David H. Brown was an Ohio newspaper reporter for nearly 15 years before beginning a 24-year career as a government public information officer. He founded and was first president of the National Association of Government Communicators. He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism, and a master's degree in public relations. Retiring in 1991, he became an adjunct professor of speech and also taught journalism. He also created and taught media relations courses. His first book in 1995 was based on his classroom experience and half a century of public speaking. In the early 2000s, he wrote took books on airport security, based on having been the press officer for an FAA task force that developed the original screening system. In addition, he turned to his newspaper background to write three novels. A major book reviewer touted his last one, OPERATION RED HERRING, as having movie potential.
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In 1969, at the height of airplane hijackings, Congress mandated the Federal Aviation Administration to develop a program to deal with this problem. The FAA formed a task force consisting of 9 members from various disciplines within the agency.