What Happened to EgyptAir Flight MS804?

As you’ve no doubt heard, a plane belonging to EgyptAir bound from France to Egypt went missing this week during a routine flight.

Frank Gaffney discussed the issue on Secure Freedom Radio with Fred Fleitz, the Senior Vice President for Policy and Programs at the Center for Security Policy. As a former CIA analyst, Fleitz has an extensive background in analyzing such matters. Gaffney asked him to break down what we know so far:

“From what I’ve heard so far Frank, it looks like this probably was not the result of technical difficulties. There’s evidence that the plane tried to make some strange right and left and 360 degree turns shortly before it fell from the air. There are fishermen who said they saw a fireball so obviously the plane exploded before it crashed so it is looking like this is an act of terror and my concern as a former intelligence analyst is that this raises real questions about whether Jihadis have found new ways to penetrate airport security, both by getting their members as employees and possibly by finding technical workarounds to ways to detect bombs placed on aircraft.”

Gaffney pointed out that many American airports have staff members in various positions who may embrace Sharia Law which obliges them to embrace Jihadi philosophy and wonders if we have “lost our minds” on this issue. Fleitz responded:

“Well, you’re raising a question no one wants to talk about, I mean Western societies, we want to be tolerant, we don’t want to tar and feather every Muslim employee as a Jihadi but we know the French and British have identified people with ISIS sympathies working at airports. This is a problem in this country. Congressman Peter King was on the radio this morning talking about how TSA is finding this is a real problem, they’re trying to ferret out people who appear to have sympathies with ISIS or al Qaeda working in these sensitive positions and these are people behind the scenes, baggage handlers and mechanics who could easily put a weapon on a plane.”

Gaffney stressed that they obviously weren’t talking about all Muslims but pointed out that there is a difference between modern post-Sharia Muslims and those who embrace a medieval view.

Frank Gaffney then shifted the conversation to reports that a Chinese military jet recently harassed a U.S. military plane in international waters and asked Fleitz for his thoughts:

“I think a lot of Americans did a double take when they heard that report because we know Russian military aircraft have been doing that to U.S. ships recently and now the Chinese have done it. This dovetails very closely with something Bill Gertz wrote recently in the Washington Free Beacon recently, he said that according to a new Pentagon report, China’s military underwent a major restructuring last year to prepare for war, a massive restructuring that includes updating strategies, to conduct regional cyber warfare, to seize control of the South and East China Seas and to expand China’s military to operate far from Chinese territory. ..I think this newest incident is another very compelling example of why we really have to prepare.”

Gaffney points out that every time something like this has happened, we seem to respond with little more than a shrug and asked Fleitz how that is perceived.

“In the Asian Pacific, we’ve been AWOL. Where’s the so-called pivot to Asia that President Obama promised? My friends in Japan have asked me about that. They say you know that Chinese military is surging, North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is growing larger and you guys said you’d send more forces here. Where are they? I mean the president has been leading from behind in the Middle East but in Asia he has been completely absent and our adversaries are taking advantage of this.”

Gaffney noted that much of our foreign policy has been guided by Obama adviser Ben Rhodes, who has been exposed for lying to congress in the effort to pass the Iran Deal. He asked Fleitz for an update in that development.

“We know from the New York Times profile that this failed novelist is the most influential foreign policy maker in the United States next to the president, so congress wanted to hear from him this week. The House Oversight Committee said we want to talk to you and they basically declared executive privilege, they wouldn’t let him come up and the real issue here is that these low level aides are not supposed to be acting as the secretary of state or the secretary of defense. Those are positions that give advice to the president who are confirmed by the senate. You can’t have these super policy makers who congress is not able to talk to and isn’t able to confirm. And I think related to what’s happening in Asia, this man could not be more incompetent and unqualified to run our foreign policy.”

Gaffney said he hopes Rhodes and the Obama administration will be held accountable.

They certainly should be.