Note: CAPPS was in use well before Sept /11 but not allowed to use racial profiling as an element of the system as this is politically incorrect. Some are of the opinion that a racial profiling system would have resulted in the highjackers being given a more thorough security screening which may have detected the weapons carried on board.
Why is it that despite it being repeated time and time again, it simply fails to penetrate some peoples' brains that
there was no breach of the rules on carry-on items on Sept 11.
The box-cutters used were at the time perfectly legal for carriage in the cabin. Some of them at least were almost certainly detected on the scanners at the airports, but the rules said they were OK.