AURORA, ILL. – The Federal Aviation Administration has significantly increased the security of its air traffic systems to ensure that they are more resilient and less vulnerable to the type of attack that occurred at the Chicago En Route Center in Aurora, Illinois on September 26, 2014, when an off-duty, contract employee set fire to the facility.
Fortunately, Chicago Center was able to transfer control of Chicago-area airspace to other adjacent centers and within 3 days, more than 80 percent of traffic was restored at O Hare, and more than 90 percent of traffic was restored at Midway.
The FAA immediately launched a 30-day review of contingency plans and security protocols for its major facilities. The agency systematically evaluated its ability to minimize the “insider threat.” This included an intense analysis focusing on parts of the infrastructure where one or more points of attack have a high probability of significantly compromising air traffic operations.
Security enhancements now include improved oversight of security assessments at facilities, an increase in the frequency of assessments, additional access restrictions, and more robust verification of employees and contractors. The FAA has also increased the monitoring of contractor company compliance with security requirements and instituted mandatory reviews of contract and contractor personnel changes.
