[Steve_Seattle]

"A strange pilot would be red flag time."

A mole would by definition not be a strange pilot, but someone who was assumed to be legit, someone who had gone through the normal training. Al Quaeda bides its time, and will prepare for years to pull off something big. As for not being allowed to take a pee within 30 minutes of DC, I don't expect terrorists to follow the rules on that or anything else. :-)

[japaneseghost]

At a bigger airport, yes, but National is quite small. Everybody knows everybody. We have yet to see any good-ole boys lurking as AQ moles.

And there are only 2 kinds of flight attendants out of National - fat old women with attitudes and young macho gay men. They would take anyone suspicious down before the Air Marshal could reach the seat.

If someone stands up 30 minutes from National, they are given one shouting warning, then they get trampled. You get told that if you have to take a dump, do it before the plane goes off - or do it in your pants - if you want to land alive.