Why has it taken more than two years for this to happen?

US officials announced that any foreign airliner entering US airspace could be required to have armed police on board.

“We are asking international air carriers to take the protective action as part of our ongoing effort to make air travel safe for Americans and visitors alike,” Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in a statement.

The announcement came after US officials said intercepted intelligence indicated that al-Qaeda may try to hijack foreign airliners for a repeat of the September 11, 2001 attacks in which 3,000 died.

Isn’t this the kind of thing they should have ordered on September 12th?

You’d think that after the devastation of the 9/11 attacks, the government’s biggest priority would be to put all their effort into making sure a similar attack didn’t happen again. If I were in charge, my efforts would include making sure there are locks on every cockpit door, increased security in airports, an armed guard on every plane, bomb screening for every person and bag that goes on airplanes, etc. While some of these have been done, the rest have been dismissed for being too expensive or too difficult to implement. But apparently they didn’t have much trouble finding money to wage a war over nuclear weapons that didn’t exist, bailing out the airline and insurance industries, and tax cuts for people who don’t need them.