Posted on 12/29/2009 5:43:09 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
“Al-Qaeda practises beating body scanners”
Published on 29 December 2009 - 10:06am
A body scanner at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport would not necessarily have detected the explosives which the would-be syringe bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had sewn into his underwear. A Dutch military intelligence source told De Telegraaf newspaper that Al Qaeda has its own security scanners and has been practicing ways of concealing explosives.
The terrorist group has even carried out test runs at smuggling explosives through European airports, the paper reports.
On Monday Schiphol's operational manager Ad Rutten said the explosives carried by the 23-year-old Nigerian Abdulmutallab may well have been detected had he been scanned by one of the airport's 15 body scanners. Schiphol was the first airport to run a trial of body scanners, which use sound waves to see through passengers' clothing. At present the scanners are only an optional alternative to the conventional metal detector, as European privacy laws prevent them being made compulsory.
Since the attempted attack on the flight from Schiphol to Detroit, Schiphol has been operating tightened security measures. Around 50 extra security staff have been hired in to carry out the tightened checks on passengers to the United States. All passengers to the US are now being body searched at the gate. The airport says that while the chance of discovering any concealed explosives is still not 100 percent, it is at least much higher than it was.
Passenger undergoes body scan at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport - ANP
AQ ping!
There seems to be a lot of movement out there. It seems pretty clear to me that one of these people will be spectacularly successful in the next couple of weeks.
How about this? We build a very serious looking device big enough for a person to stand in. Tell everyone it causes any explosives inside it when it’s activated to detonate. Then you insist everyone boarding a flight step in, close the door and wait a few seconds while lights flash, sounds emanate and perhaps a small cloud of vapor appears. Then the door opens and the person proceeds to board the plane. Make sure there’s some dried blood and tissue in the corners and on the top panel. The catch is, it does nothing. It’s just for looks and intended to identify those who think they are carrying explosives. Anyone who doesn’t want to be run through it can step aside and be searched by hand. It’s up to them. Or, they can step aside and go through a full body scanner. Again, it’s up to them. Or, they can turn around and find another way to get where they want to go.
Failing in this I would like to see them train pigs to detect explosives. Then give the Muslims their choice of being sniffed by a pig or a drug dog. Again, it’s up to them.
The only solution is to accelerate the final test phase of the Next Generation of transportation.
Isolated Extremists, Inc
In fact, if religious reasons were used to screen fliers fitting a "profile", make them eat bacon to prove their religious beliefs to be other-than-Muslim (Jihadists).
If you won't submit to verification then don't fly, period.
Pretty soon, every air traveler will have to be examined by proctologists and gynecologists. And after that, every train traveler, and every theater-goer, etc etc.
Either that, or we learn that the danger comes from the people who want to kill us, not from last decade’s tactics & weapons.
Interesting article. The airport director says that the body scanner would have detected the explosives and the reporter and editor say that they wouldn’t have. Don’t you love new journalism.
I have tested these machines. Unless the operator was comatose, the explosives would have been detected.
Great idea. Way to think outside the box (ha)!
Really though- This is a good, creative example of paradigm shifting. We need lots of smart people brainstorming new ways to fight these people. Didn’t Michael Crichton do some freelance work for the govt, thinking up ways they could attack us?
If its truly undetectable then other than refusing them passage we can only quarantine them in a secure holding area under close surveillance for at least 12 if not 24 hours before they can be allowed to travel.
What has happened to the Japanes in America during WWII, will be nothing to what will happen to islam in America in 2010.
They have one of these at my local airport (RIC). The scanning process is fast. It’s the process that slows everything down.
Everything that you don’t have to remove to go though the x-ray machine you have to take off before entering the scanner. Like my belt and wallet. And don’t have more earthly possessions that you can carry in one hand. For example, I had my boarding pass for a connecting flight in one pocket and the receipt for my checked bag in the other.
Four scans later and I was though. Now I know to just stick all of that stuff in my skivvies.
“In fact, if religious reasons were used to screen fliers fitting a “profile”, make them eat bacon to prove their religious beliefs to be other-than-Muslim (Jihadists).”
Unfortunately, it seems jihadis are given a dispensation to do all kinds of non-Islamic things, like drink alcohol, in order to better facilitate their ability to commit jihad. So I don’t think that will work. We certainly need to ‘profile’ - anyone from a predominantly islamic country should be strip-searched prior to boarding - icluding the women. If they won’t submit, then they don’t have to fly.
That would certainly aid in weeding out the wheat from the chaff!
I am tired of hearing about profiling. IMHO the answer is to profile actions and situations, not people. Doesn't matter what religion or race someone is. If they buy a one-way ticket with cash, have no checked baggage and choose a seat near a fuel tank or other critical location then they are in for a tough time getting on board. Not because of who they are, but what they are doing. If you want to avoid the hassle of being carefully scrutinized then don't do those things. These are things that don't require someone to be on a list, just behave a certain way.
I know these things are supposed to be being done now, but obviously it's not working. And probably especially on Christmas day. The type people who choose to work for government are the type who like their vacations and holidays. Not always of course, but often enough to know those who are working on a holiday are probably not doing so by choice. And they aren't really likely to be paying strict attention to the job. Again, not always, but often enough to be a concern.
However, I fly and never check a bag. Like a guy said, there are two type of bags on an airliner: carry-on and lost.
I also choose my seat to be on the left side of the jet, window. Lots of international flights here and the sun comes in the left side and blinds those that sit across the aisle or jet. So, I close the window. If I wasn't there, some brain-dead would keep the window open and blind everyone and washout the TV screen, too include mine.
I also travel on short-notice. Have to, nature of the business. Not uncommon for me to book a international flight one day and leave the next.
Would seem odd if I was muslime, between the ages of 18-30 and from Yemen. But I am a W/M, 50-ish business traveler so I shouldn't have to put up with abuse. I am not a muslime, I am not conducting jihad. I am middle-aged W/M in a business suite, that travels a lot and know what makes me most comfortable while suffering on-board a jet.
Yes, what you say is part of the equation but religious profiling is essential to complete the picture.
And this stuff about the seat being THE seat to be in to bring down the jet. There are many seats that would do the trick, like center-seat in mid-jet over the wing. Or, last row close to the tail-section, or even first class up-front close to the cockpit. These seat “experts” are talking just to get paid, not to prove a point.
I quite agree! And what you point out is exactly how the system should work. When they noticed you because you didn’t check baggage, or paid cash, or chose a particular seat they would be on the lookout for you as flight time draws near. One look at you would probably end the whole thing, but they could always talk to you for a moment and know you aren’t a likely suspect! They could also check your history and find you’ve made these trips numerous times.
As for the religion part, that would come up if they identified you by the other criteria and actually felt it worth their time and effort to interview you.
A good interviewer can talk to someone for a minute or two and get a feel for their truthfulness. And thankfully they don’t have to depend on their gut feeling. They can always frisk you, or worse, depending on what they find.
Like most things governments, actually more correctly bureaucracies, do they never take the simplest or most efficient route. Regardless of how honest and sincere their intentions when they set out to address a problem it’s just a matter of time before the silliness takes over and in a short while they’ve completely abandoned serious efforts to solve the problem. Instead the get bogged down in the process and soon it outweighs the outcome.
Ironically enough, even if we could do teleportation cheaply and easily, those boobs in D.C. would still charge an arm and a leg.
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