A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/727662
WEEKLY MESSAGE FROM ATO COO TERI L. BRISTOL Sept. 9, 2016: Protecting Our Freedom Hi everyone. This Sunday marks the 15th anniversary of 9/11. None of us will ever forget where we we re or what we were doing on that fateful morning. The events that unfolded struck at the heart of our a irspace system and our nation. The anniversary reminds us that we have to remain vigilant against new and emerging threats to the NAS. In the ensuing min utes after 8:00 am that day, Boston Center controllers started to suspect that two planes flying out of Boston were hijacked, especially after radio contact with those aircraft was lost. After the first plane hit the World Trade Center, our security team g ot on the phone with the F BI to find out what they knew. When it became clear that this was a coordinated attack involving several planes, we brought the Defense Department on the line so we could coordinate a response. We took the unprecedented step of cl earing the airspace. We stopped all departures, shut off oceanic arrivals coming from Europe and other places, and safely and quickly brought down every one of the roughly 5,000 p lanes in the sky at that time. There was no playbook for doing something like this. Everyone, including our entire operations workforce and the airlines, worked together to accomplish this feat under enorm ously difficult circumstances. I invite you to look at the video we posted in 2011 to mark the 10th year after 9/11. We ' ve never hung up from the ph one call we made that morning. It ' s now become the FAA ' s Domestic Events Network, or DEN, which is the primary non - secure aviation security coordination line for the U.S. Gove rnment. The DEN enables us to share real - time security threat information and coordinate responses w ith other government agencies. We now have about 100 participants on this line that operates 24 hours a day. After 15 years, one thing remains clear – we ca n ' t afford t he luxury of being complacent. We must remain vigilant as we guard against new and emerging threa ts to the security of the NAS. As we evolve NAS infrastructure by leveraging new NextGen technologies, we have to identify and mitigate new potenti al security risks that can be introduced. On this note, we' re taking key steps to ensure pro tection against cyber threats. In fiscal year 2017, we will be standing up an executive position to lead a new cybersecu rity organization for the NAS. We're also wo rking with the NextGen office to develop an enterprise level threat model to identify and assess the risk of potential cyber threats. As we mark this tragic anniversary, let ' s reflect on how precious freedom is. It ' s something to be treasured and honored, but also protected. Never Forget. Thanks everyone. Teri Teri L. Bristol ATO Chief Operating Officer