Airport Screeners Fail Bomb Test

Although I mention it on my blog occasionally (such as here) if you spend much time around me in person you will find this is really a hot button for me.  CBS spells it out in greater detail and to a much wider audience.  Keeping bomb making materials off of planes is not practical:

Between October and January teams of undercover federal investigators walked through various airport checkpoints carrying common household items in their bags. By themselves the materials were not bombs. But they were ingredients which could have been mixed together in an airplane restroom to make an IED, an improvised explosive device.

Because the GAO report is classified, officials will not identify the airports involved or the “household items” that were part of the test. But, security sources confirm, screeners using wands, x-ray machines and explosive trace detectors all failed to find the potential bomb-making materials.

The Department of Homeland Security questions the validity of the test, saying in a statement that the threat revealed is only “hypothetical.”
“While random items commonly found under a kitchen sink could conceivably be concocted into an IED… we find it highly implausible,” the statement reads.

I seem to recall there were people, prior to September 11th 2001, that said the hijacking of airplanes and flying them into building was only hypothetical too.  But all parties in the article miss the correct conclusion.  The correct conclusion is that airplane security as we presently know it is a waste of time and money.  There are better ways to expend our security resources.

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One thought on “Airport Screeners Fail Bomb Test

  1. As much as I agree with you on the waste of time and money… It is there to make the sheeppeople feel safe…

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