ARTICLE: After Eight Years, Terrorists Still Fly, By CLARK KENT ERVIN, New York Times, December 28, 2009

The eternal call for the American security establishment to pre-think every possible attack vector:

Perhaps the biggest lesson for airline security from the recent incident is that we must overcome our tendency to be reactive. We always seem to be at least one step behind the terrorists. They find one security gap -- carrying explosives onto a plane in their shoes, for instance -- and we close that one, and then wait for them to exploit another. Why not identify all the vulnerabilities and then address each one before terrorists strike again?

Since the authorities have to succeed 100 percent of the time, and terrorists only once, the odds are overwhelmingly against the authorities. But they'll be more likely to defy fate if they go beyond reflexive defense and play offense for a change.

This is an anal-retentive definition of resilience, often offered by contractors willing to sell you THE PERFECT ASSESSMENT!

The old adage still holds: no plan survives first contact with the enemy.

Accept that and plan for in-flight response.