The Jericho Forum has eleven “Commandments”, the third of which is “Assume context at your peril.”

For example, The Concorde doesn’t have locks on its doors. Nor does the modified Boeing 707 which served as JFK’s Air Force One. Neither plane needed them since, it was assumed, they would always be surrounded by the protective perimeter of airport security and/or the US Secret Service.

Today, however, both of these jets are protected by nothing more than a low chain link fence, security cameras and the guards across the street in the Museum of Flight. The vast majority of the protections which once ensured the integrity (and to a lesser extent, the confidentiality and availability) of these two airplanes are gone. Sure, they’re decommissioned so the pure asset value is reduced (and the cost of protecting them should decrease as well), but both planes still posess significant intangible value as pieces of avaiation history.

I can think of any reasons why the designers wouldn’t have put locks on the plane, such as ensuring that the doors couldn’t be accidentally locked during an emergency, but it still doesn’t change the fact that the plane assumes its environment will protect it from a breach.

Assume context at your peril, indeed.