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TSA Issues Secret Warning on 'Catastrophic' Threat to Aviation
First Look / The Intercept ^ | 02/25/2015 1:34 PM | Jana Winter

Posted on 02/26/2015 12:53:00 PM PST by ctdonath2

The Transportation Security Administration said it is unlikely to detect and unable to extinguish what an FBI report called “the greatest potential incendiary threat to aviation,” according to a classified document obtained by The Intercept. Yet despite that warning, sources said TSA is not adequately preparing to respond to the threat.

Thermite — a mixture of rust and aluminum powder — could be used against a commercial aircraft, TSA warned in a Dec. 2014 document, marked secret. “The ignition of a thermite-based incendiary device on an aircraft at altitude could result in catastrophic damage and the death of every person onboard,” the advisory said.

TSA said it is unlikely to spot an easy-to-assemble thermite-based incendiary device during security screening procedures, and the use of currently available extinguishers carried on aircrafts would create a violent reaction. The TSA warning is based on FBI testing done in 2011, and a subsequent report.

A thermite device, though difficult to ignite, would “produce toxic gasses, which can act as nerve poison, as well as a thick black smoke that will significantly inhibit any potential for in-flight safety officers to address the burn.”

(Excerpt) Read more at firstlook.org ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aviation; terrorism; terrorthreat; thermite; tsa
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Thermite? That was the first attack method I thought of decades ago when considering possible terrorist attacks on airliners. Took TSA that long to figure out something so obvious? sigh...
1 posted on 02/26/2015 12:53:00 PM PST by ctdonath2
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To: ctdonath2

Well thank goodness this was released worldwide.


2 posted on 02/26/2015 12:54:42 PM PST by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: ctdonath2
Sure. They all have to work and they'll all get big checks in a couple weeks.

Fear mongering for the low information voter works since 49% of the adults in the US don't work, but most of them take their trips to Disney World and use their EBT cards.

4 posted on 02/26/2015 12:56:23 PM PST by b4its2late (A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
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To: ctdonath2
Took TSA that long to figure out something so obvious?

This is BS. Just another "leak" to scare the beejeezuz out of us. The "Thermite Threat!"

5 posted on 02/26/2015 12:56:39 PM PST by Fido969 (What's sad is most)
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To: ctdonath2

Well I’m just going to drive from now on.


6 posted on 02/26/2015 12:56:47 PM PST by VanDeKoik
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To: ctdonath2

Well, at least we know that Al-Qaedi won’t be involved, after all they have been decimated.


7 posted on 02/26/2015 12:57:26 PM PST by Michael.SF. (It takes a gun to feed a village (and an AK 47 to defend it).)
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To: ctdonath2

I think they waited to bring it out for times just like these. They want their funding to buy more furniture and parties.


8 posted on 02/26/2015 12:57:36 PM PST by b4its2late (A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
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To: ctdonath2

Let’s hope that terrorists don’t buy the MacGyver DVD boxed set to see what mixtures other than thermite can be made to blow up. Also hope that TSA doesn’t watch it because then you’ll never get on a plane with a paper clip, a golf pencil and a AA battery.


9 posted on 02/26/2015 12:59:13 PM PST by KarlInOhio (Darth Obama on 529 plans: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.)
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To: VanDeKoik

Hmmm...IIRC, I’ve only flown twice since 9/11.


10 posted on 02/26/2015 12:59:20 PM PST by ctdonath2 (Si vis pacem, para bellum.)
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To: ctdonath2
what an FBI report called “the greatest potential incendiary threat to aviation,”

Hey, you know what is a bigger "incidiary threat'? Obama giving a nuke to the Iranians. This is the government that I'm supposed to trust to protect me?

11 posted on 02/26/2015 12:59:25 PM PST by Fido969 (What's sad is most)
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To: ctdonath2

You cannot extinguish a thermite fire. It will burn through the floor, cargo containers, and the hull.


12 posted on 02/26/2015 1:00:33 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not, no explanation is possible)
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To: ctdonath2

I still say coordinated use of stinger missiles would be quick, easy, deadly and quite possible.


13 posted on 02/26/2015 1:00:39 PM PST by RonboTex (Get off my lawn!!!!!!!!)
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To: ctdonath2

ISIS should pay TSA a fee for this consulting service they have provided.


14 posted on 02/26/2015 1:02:18 PM PST by The Duke
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To: b4its2late

Problem is, there’s next to nothing that can be done about it short of outright banning metal luggage.


15 posted on 02/26/2015 1:02:27 PM PST by ctdonath2 (Si vis pacem, para bellum.)
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To: ctdonath2

TSA Issues Secret Warning on ‘Catastrophic’ Threat to Aviation


Irony headline of the year.


16 posted on 02/26/2015 1:03:04 PM PST by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: ctdonath2

LOL. I thought the same thing.

I have about ten pounds of it, used primarily for melting old computer hard drives and for entertainment.


17 posted on 02/26/2015 1:04:14 PM PST by baltimorepoet
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To: DesertRhino

TSA = The Stupid Agency


18 posted on 02/26/2015 1:04:45 PM PST by molson209 (Blank)
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To: ctdonath2

I’ve only flown twice since 9/11

Same here. At least commercially. I did fly to Iraq and back a couple times. I’m not counting the flights in helicopters though.


19 posted on 02/26/2015 1:05:22 PM PST by rfreedom4u (Do you know who Barry Soetoro is?)
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To: ctdonath2

Rust is not detectable by metal detectors?


20 posted on 02/26/2015 1:05:26 PM PST by outofsalt ( If history teaches us anything it's that history rarely teaches us anything.)
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