June 29, 2004, Jacobsen, traveling with her family on Northwest Airlines flight 327, witnessed what she believed was a terrorist "dry run." The blogosphere quickly made world news of Jacobsen’s article on her terrifying experience, launching her on a year-long investigation. In Terror in the Skies, Jacobsen tells, for the first time, the full story of the events on Northwest 327 and the investigation that followed. What happened on her flight, she discovered, was not an isolated incident, and if our air security does not improve, 9/11 is likely to happen again. Jacobsen interviewed dozens of flight attendants, pilots, air marshals, FBI agents, government officials, and ordinary passengers—eventually gaining access to confidential government reports and correspondence. She reveals a Department of Homeland Security, especially its Federal Air Marshal Service, mired in bureaucracy and political correctness. Teams of terrorists consistently "probe" security on airline flights, and front-line law enforcement officers and airline personnel are effectively prevented from doing anything about it. Jacobsen’s persistence earned her the wrath of the Air Marshal Service’s management, which embarked on an unsuccessful campaign to discredit her. Their willingness to ignore even congressional inquiries and federal legislation, in an attempt to preserve ill-conceived policies and cover their mistakes, is one of Jacobsen’s most disturbing discoveries. From her search for flight 327’s "Syrian Wayne Newton" to her testimony to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Jacobsen’s scrutiny of our air security makes the case for an overhaul of our security services. Many of the federal agents involved in the events of flight 327 have stood firm: nothing happened. But as Jacobsen shows, we can no longer afford to take nothing happened for an answer.

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