Federal aviation security whistleblowers are warning that America remains dangerously vulnerable to another major terrorist attack, arguing that many of the security failures they exposed before 9/11 were ignored, and that critical weaknesses still exist today.

Retired federal investigators who spent years testing U.S. airport security say the threat from Islamic terrorism has never disappeared and caution that the current geopolitical climate, particularly tensions involving Iran, should serve as a wake-up call.

Among them is former Federal Aviation Administration Red Team leader and U.S. Air Marshal Bogdan Dzakovic, whose covert teams repeatedly demonstrated before 9/11 that terrorists could easily bypass airport security.

FAA Red Teams Exposed Major Security Failures Before 9/11

Dzakovic led the FAA’s elite Red Teams, which were established after the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

The attack, orchestrated by a Libyan intelligence operative, killed all 259 people aboard the aircraft and 11 people on the ground after a bomb hidden in luggage passed through airport security undetected.

Following the disaster, the FAA created Red Teams to probe America’s aviation security by attempting to smuggle mock explosives and inert weapons through airports.

According to Dzakovic, the results were alarming.

For years, the teams successfully bypassed airport security roughly 95% of the time.

Their findings consistently showed that U.S. airports remained highly vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

Repeated Warnings Were Ignored

Dzakovic worked alongside retired FAA Special Agents Steve Elson and Brian Sullivan to identify weaknesses throughout America’s aviation system.

Sullivan repeatedly warned officials about serious security failures at Boston’s Logan International Airport, the same airport where 10 of the 9/11 hijackers later boarded the aircraft they used in the attacks.

The three investigators repeatedly urged the FAA to strengthen passenger screening, baggage inspections, checkpoint procedures, and cockpit security.

According to Dzakovic, their recommendations went nowhere.

He said they also brought their concerns before Congress, other federal agencies, and the administration of President George W. Bush without meaningful action being taken before the attacks.

Terrorist Plots Were Already Escalating

Dzakovic argues there were numerous warning signs throughout the 1980s and 1990s that Islamic terrorist groups were increasingly targeting aviation.

He points to several major attacks and plots that should have fundamentally changed America’s security posture.

Among them were Hezbollah’s bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon the same year, the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, the 1994 hijacking of Air France Flight 8969, and the 1995 Bojinka Plot.

The Bojinka conspiracy, masterminded by Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, involved plans to simultaneously bomb 11 U.S. airliners over the Pacific Ocean.

Investigators uncovered the plot only after a fire broke out in an apartment in Manila, leading authorities to bomb-making materials and computer files detailing the planned attacks.

Dzakovic argues these incidents clearly demonstrated that commercial aviation had become a primary target for Islamic terrorist organizations.

‘A System Designed for Failure’

Following the September 11 attacks, Dzakovic filed a formal whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

His submission included more than 500 pages of documentation alleging that the FAA had knowingly failed to address critical aviation security vulnerabilities.

According to Dzakovic, the Office of Special Counsel ultimately agreed with his assessment.

He later testified before the 9/11 Commission, describing how Red Team operatives had successfully placed inert explosive device components into airline baggage dozens of times without detection.

Dzakovic says much of the evidence he presented was ultimately omitted from the commission’s final report.

"What happened on 9/11 was not a failure in the system; it was a system designed for failure," he said.

Whistleblowers Warn Threat Has Not Disappeared

Sullivan believes the same mindset that ignored repeated warnings before 9/11 continues to place the country at risk.

"The terror threat is real and ongoing, especially in light of the U.S. conflict with Iran," Sullivan warns.

He also cited warnings from the Air Line Pilots Association that aviation remains a prime target for terrorist organizations seeking to exploit security weaknesses.

According to Sullivan, U.S. leaders must confront those vulnerabilities before America’s enemies do.

"U.S. leaders need to get serious about the vulnerabilities in our aviation security system before our adversaries take advantage of them again," he said.

Whistleblowers Say America Cannot Afford to Ignore the Lessons of 9/11

More than two decades after nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered on September 11, the former investigators say the most important lesson remains unchanged: ignoring credible warnings carries enormous consequences.

Their story has been documented in the award-winning documentary "Please Remove Your Shoes" and in Dzakovic’s book "Fortress of Deceit: The Story of a 9/11 Whistleblower," both of which chronicle their unsuccessful efforts to persuade federal officials to strengthen aviation security before terrorists struck America.