Airport screeners miss bomb parts

Airport screeners miss bomb parts
By EILEEN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 5 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Government investigators smuggled liquid explosives and detonators past airport security, exposing a dangerous hole in the nation's ability to keep these forbidden items off of airplanes, according to a report made public Wednesday.

The investigators learned about the components to make an improvised explosive device and an improvised incendiary device on the Internet and purchased the parts at local stores, said the report by the Government Accountability Office. Investigators were able to purchase the components for the two devices for under $150, and they studied the published guidelines for screening to determine how to conceal the prohibited items as they went through checkpoint security.

At the end of the testing, investigators concluded that terrorists could use publicly available information and a few cheaply available supplies to damage an airplane and threaten passenger safety.

"It is possible to bring the components for several IEDs and one IID through TSA checkpoints and onto airline flights without being challenged by transportation security officers," said the GAO, Congress' investigative arm.

The covert tests were conducted at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at 19 airports in March, May and June of this year. The GAO did not identify the airports.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071115/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/airport_security;_ylt=AsZPpH4ahSRwolXqKqERt5Fh24cA

Airport screening is only there to create the ILLUSION
that Big Brother is protecting you. Actually providing
any genuine security would be too much of a hassle for
Big Brother's big business buddies, so it's not going to
happen any time soon.

I think that's what's most important.

:spank:

What Would McGuyver Do????

I mean, hey, you could launch tubes of toothpaste or bottles of aftershave with it!

:rofl:

:hi:

There is no real safety as if if there were another torrorist attack the same methode would be used twice , It's insanity and people put up with this , this is the part that boggles my mind and they say thanks giving it will be at a new all time high .

If you can get people to toss out expensive items and go through removing their shoes and go through screens that show their entire body then I don't know what else to call it other than mass mind control and a prep for more of the same . Yet people still say they love to fly , I don't get this at all .

There are very few terrorist attacks, period. So trying to prevent them is not effective. You can prevent common things, like catching the common cold, by taking certain measures.

When it comes to a terrorist attack, the only way to head it off is by identifying the terrorists while they are planning it. To that end, all they had to do was beef up the CIA and its spying abroad. They did get the names of two of the hijackers and put them on the terrorist watch list (which was already too big, another weakness in that system). They also could have used more Arabic translators and gotten some of the translations done faster, and then would have had warnings that they could have given airports. Somebody might have noticed something, being on alert.

The only way is to try to zero in on the terrorists and spy on them, not to presume everyone is a terrorist and make them prove otherwise by methods which are ineffective and which actual terrorists could pass.

We have this mentality in the culture today that we can just make rules and a system that applies to all and that such a system can stop up unusual happenings. Very unrealistic.