Take Steps Against Terror While There’s Still Time

Re “6 Flights Canceled as Signs of Terror Plot Point to L.A.,” Dec. 25: If the safety of the American people depends on our government, we’re in a heap of trouble. This latest Air France fiasco illustrates the sheer stupidity of our visa policies.

Our government, in the time of an emerging major terror attack, has a policy of not requiring visas for the citizens of more than 20 Western nations. All they have to do is buy a ticket to anywhere in the U.S. and provide an up-to-date passport, and they are allowed 90 days to do whatever they want. Richard Reid, the British shoe bomber, comes to mind. This is an invitation to disaster.

Tom Ridge, the honcho of the Department of Homeland Security, is the most incompetent member of the administration and should be given the boot, now, before he puts the American people in harm’s way. He can’t even enforce the existing immigration laws. The American people had better realize that this is a war against Western civilization.

J.L. Dunlavey

San Jose

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Security and intelligence officials continue to worry about airline hijackings despite reinforced cockpit doors, random assignment of air marshals to flights and confiscation of nail clippers from passengers. The best way to guarantee that an airliner cannot be hijacked is to retrofit all airliners so there would be no physical access between the passenger cabin and the cockpit. The flight crew should board the cockpit compartment through a separate entryway at the fore of the fuselage; the only way in or out of the cockpit would be from outside the plane. Though this may seem to be expensive, it would be far less than the cost of hijacked airliners.

Howard R. Krauss

Los Angeles