American Airlines Mechanic Charged with Sabotage

[Chris K]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/06/us/fl...rge/index.html

Truly unbelievable. It's not like he just plugged up the toilet - the aircraft had to abort its takeoff.

I hope they throw away the key.

Chris

[3WE]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/06/us/fl...rge/index.html

Truly unbelievable. It's not like he just plugged up the toilet - the aircraft had to abort its takeoff.

I hope they throw away the key.

Chris

What...no procedures? Tests? Two sets of eyes?

[Evan]

BBC reported this today:

An American Airlines mechanic charged with sabotaging an aircraft in July has possible links to the Islamic State (IS) group, US prosecutors say.

Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, 60, has a brother in IS and had IS propaganda on his phone, they said.

So much for security theatre, eh? HTF does a guy with a brother in the IS get through a background check for a job like this? Something is very broken there....

(II'm not convinced that this was terrorism or that the guy was sympathetic to the IS. There are a lot of IS relatives who despise IS and terrorism. But it just reveals a big failure in security screening.)

[elaw]

So much for security theatre, eh? HTF does a guy with a brother in the IS get through a background check for a job like this? Something is very broken there....

(II'm not convinced that this was terrorism or that the guy was sympathetic to the IS. There are a lot of IS relatives who despise IS and terrorism. But it just reveals a big failure in security screening.)

It seems you may have answered your own question.

Possible scenario: they run a background check on some guy, it comes up that his brother is an active member of the IS. It also shows that he was born and has lived in the area his entire life, has attended the local Baptist church more or less regularly for years, is well thought-of by others in the community, and has no other "red flags". They interview the guy, and he disavows any allegiance to or support for the IS. Given that info, do you or don't you hire that person?

The reality is you cannot ever know 100% what's in someone else's head and therefore cannot ever with 100% certainty predict their actions, no matter how hard you try. Also one of the principles this country was built on (that we do tend to ignore when we want to) is that you don't punish people for the actions of their relatives.

So depending on exactly what the background check showed (assuming one was done... if not that's a different discussion), I can easily understand how that person was hired.

[Evan]

It seems you may have answered your own question.

Possible scenario: they run a background check on some guy, it comes up that his brother is an active member of the IS. It also shows that he was born and has lived in the area his entire life, has attended the local Baptist church more or less regularly for years, is well thought-of by others in the community, and has no other "red flags". They interview the guy, and he disavows any allegiance to or support for the IS. Given that info, do you or don't you hire that person?

True. Hopefully they at least knew about his brother. As to hiring him, that's difficult. It's unfair to deny him the job due to his brother's activities, but IS is a very exceptional issue. It's just too hot. I think, under the circumstances of the times we are living in and the potential risks, unless there is overwhelming evidence and personal referrals establishing him as a safe hire, it should prevent hiring him. And even then, he should be closely, continuously monitored. Let him take it out on his brother, and blame ISIS, I guess.