Did someone say COOKIES?
Posted on 10/25/2005 10:34:52 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN DIEGO - A terminal at San Diego International Airport was evacuated Tuesday after luggage screeners mistook a child's toy and a cookie for bomb-making components, officials said.
A screening machine at the Commuter Terminal detected what appeared to be bomb-making material in a carryon bag around 7:45 a.m., said Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Jennifer Peppin.
A bomb squad was called to the terminal, which serves regional flights, and investigators determined the bag did not contain any "IED," or improvised explosive devices, Peppin said.
"Essentially what they did find was a child's toy and some organic material in a bag that turned out to be a cookie," Peppin said. "Those two items combined on-screen, they very much appeared to be an IED, and it turned out not to be."
The terminal was reopened about 9:20 a.m. and passengers were allowed back in, Melendez said. Five commuter flights to Los Angeles and one flight to Salt Lake City were delayed, said Steve Shultz, an airport spokesman.
The discovery followed bomb threats called in earlier Tuesday to airports in Long Beach and Orange County. The calls triggered massive searches of both facilities but no explosive devices were found.
Hmmm sop what kind of cookie does the bomb sniffing equipment mistake for explosives... I'd like to avoid eating that variety at airports.
The official story.
what they did find was a child's toy and some organic material in a bag that turned out to be a cookie..
First it was my belt, then my shoes, and now I can't take no damn oreos or my G.I. Joe with the kung fu grip through the mags without getting wire-brushed by some illiterate moron with an attitude and a badge.
I feel so much more secure knowing our Dept. of Homeland Security is protecting us from cookies!
The solution?
Find who flipped out over a toy and a cookie. Fire them.
Repeat as necessary.
Did someone say COOKIES?
It was a TSA screener that saw it on the screening machine screen and acted accordingly when it appeared to be indicative of components for an IED.
What the heck....? This sounds like it's from The Onion.
The Culprit...
What kind of cookie? This is important. Cookies can go horribly wrong.
This doesn't make a lot of sense. My experience is that when something suspicious shows up on the x-ray machine, the screeners open and search the bag to investigate further. So, these screeners couldn't recognise a toy and a cookie when they opened and searched the bag?
Genius alert!! I guess it pays better than his last job flippin' burgers.
Yeah. Very weird--almost makes me put on my tinfoil hat. I can't imagine how a toy and a cookie = IED.
"Nothing to see here, folks, just move along."
"We're the TSA - Continuing the legacy of expensive taxpayer funded federal government non-solutions to America's problems"
Thanks TSA!
Find out who the DHS spokesperson who reported they found "all components of an IED" and fire them! Unless, of course it's more of a case of "these are not the toys you are looking for"...
I once went through the Sanford Airport in Fla, and got pulled aside and the questioning started. What was I carrying in my bag, was it my bag, where did I pack it, on and on.
Then it was, can I open the bag, is it safe to do so. I'm like "Like Duh, yeah, it's got CLOTHES in it"
So this guy peels out the clothes, piece at a time, one by one, sock at a time, etc. Takes at least 5 minutes. At the very bottom, there's a brass pen that's got a little LED light and a bit of clear plastic at the end that sorta glows when you click the pen. The guy heaves a sigh of relief, starts apologizing and putting stuff back.
He said "you won't believe what this looks like on the screen"
The moral of the story, it doesn't suprise me in the slightest that a cookie and a toy can look like something nasty.
Someone needs to post a picture of Jim Henson's infamous Cookie Monster (Photoshopped holding a grenade).
That line has me cracking up in my cubicle
LOL... I've discovered tin-foil hats go with every color-scheme! It's become part of my regular apparel since Oct. 1st! (o;
Beat me to it.
FERTILIZER?!! They thought cookie stuff was fertilizer?
cookies and rumors of cookies. didn't nostradamus predict this?
The TSA is a joke. I fly 40 weeks out of the year. Eighty times a year I go through this TSA screening process. Pathetic. And my friend's (ex Special Forces) ceramic knife always gets through the magnetrometer.
Where's the beer? (kidding)
I'm having a hard time understanding all the rude remarks about this. A bomb threat had previously been phoned in.....something comes on screen that is suspicious and it is checked out. Isn't that what we want them to do? If it had not been done and was truly an IED and blew up the plane....THEN you should complain.
A cookie is more than Just Organic Material!!!
Hey, don't forget Bert has known associations with OBL--pictures used by AQ supporters, esp. in Indonesia prove it!
Wasn't a bomb-sniffing machine.
I had to give up some toys this weekend at a TSA checkpoint in Denver. I had failed to properly clear out my daypack before going through security and got pulled over.
The nice lady took a very small multitool from me, which I doubt would have been capable of disassembling anything, plus an old swiss army knife that was actually a cigar cutter. Take them away I told her. She told me I could have them mailed for $8 EACH. No way, take them away.
She kept going back to two flashlights I had in there. A Surefire E2E and a new Digilight. I got the impression she was trying to figure out some way to confiscate my two high powered flashlights. The Surefire was loose, but the Digilight was in it's case with spare batteries. I asked if she wanted to try them out, but she just kept fondling them, eventually allowing me to leave. (for those unaware, the Surefire is a $75 flashlight and the Digilight runs about $39)
That's the Soviet solution. Scientific socialism is infallible, thus when something goes wrong the fault must lie in an imperfect human cog in the machine. Find a scapegoat and send him to Siberia, don't even mention there may be something wrong with the system or you're going to Siberia too.
I disagree with that. The problem here is the system itself. What exactly would you expect to happen when you hire thousands of the surly and dim with power complexes, half train them, remove all liability and judgement, and tell them to treat Americans (but not Arabs) like terrorists?
Last week, going through security, I had on a cotton button-down twill shirt over a polo shirt, with the outershirt open and untucked. The first gal asked about removing my jacket, and I shrugged and said "it's just a shirt,", and she didn't ask me to remove it. However, for not jumping when she first asked, she got me the full wanding treatment, complete with extra-polite (SLOW) instructions and questions.
Do anything other than mindless obedience, and you will be punished.
In related news...
Senior citizen's Sope-on-a-Rope turns out not the be the hangman's noose screeners originally thought.
MY SON HAS AN IED IN HIS SCHOOL BACKPACK!! WHAT SHALL I DO??
She kept going back to two flashlights I had in there. A Surefire E2E and a new Digilight. I got the impression she was trying to figure out some way to confiscate my two high powered flashlights. The Surefire was loose, but the Digilight was in it's case with spare batteries. I asked if she wanted to try them out, but she just kept fondling them, eventually allowing me to leave. (for those unaware, the Surefire is a $75 flashlight and the Digilight runs about $39)
Nonsense. Security systems do not require suspension of common sense.
Maybe you want to make excuses for an idiot. I personally do not.
I wasn't complaining, perhaps you're referring to the plural "You". I am not in the slightest bit suprised that certain objects in certain configurations look like weapons or explosives and it's simply something we have to deal with to keep some ragtop from blowing up an airplane.
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