Posted on 07/11/2005 7:25:18 AM PDT by since1868
uly 11, 2005 -- The NYPD has disconnected cellphone service in all the city's vehicular tunnels since the London terror blasts — to prevent anyone from detonating a bomb, authorities said yesterday.
Service will remain off until further notice, spokesmen for the Port Authority and Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.
PA spokesman Tony Ciavolella said the cutoff came "at the request of the NYPD." The PA operates the Lincoln and Holland tunnels.
MTA spokesman Brian Dolan said a similar policy was enacted Thursday in the Brooklyn-Battery and Midtown tunnels.
A police source said disabling cellphones in the tunnels is a good security measure, but not a foolproof one.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Spoken like a true purist. Glad you were not a general in the wars. You have to be innovative, and think outside the box to protect the number of citizens at risk in America.
And, I am thrilled that views like yours are not in the decision making process. Most people in war do not have pristine situations in which to operate. And, like it or not, we are in a war situation.
>>> It is too late to report...you react.
The report could save an oncoming train or keep the train from making the next pick up. (in addition to reacting)
Absolutely! It's annoying that bad times make for bad laws. OTOH, the Sooooooooopremes will overturn the un-Constitutional parts...
> It is too late to report...you react.<
By doing what, pray tell? What if you are a 60 year old woman?
You react. I react. A 97 year old grannie with brittle bones and sharp eyes may have somewhat more limited options. A few cell phone pictures of the would be terrorist and the backpack could do wonders for an investigation.
I wish the NLG and or ACLU would just get declared Domestic Terrorists. It would save us all with this speculation of who has what motives. And get the offices cleaned out faster.
Really? BLESS YOU!!!
Right, keep them off balance. Let them know that we don't just let our people be sitting targets.
Any plan they come up with will be scripted to death since they will have spent years getting it done. A little interruption or alteration will work wonders and keep them busy creating new plans.
They will find that they are not able to skirt every option available to Homeland Security and people willing to be innovative to counter attacks on the fly.
Did you notice that England immediately shut down the entire transportion system after the attack? Why did they do that? To prevent the possible consecutive attacks all through the system.
Now, the purists here will complain - well, those that have to stop their whole transit system for freedom, do not deserve freedom.
And, again I say - so very glad such people are not protecting us - we would be slaughtered massively.
>>> But..... you still can use the "timer" option on your cell phone to set off the triggering device for a bomb.
A little help here with understanding this please.
GTMA...
How about a detonation with a walki-talki?
Not me! We grounded all flights immediately on 9/11.
Too bad we didn't hold potential terrorists at the airports though.
No one (on our side) knows how many would-be hijackers simply walked away from the aborted flights.
So you won't be able to make a call and have them tell you to "bend over and kiss your ass goodbye." What a loss.
See post #47.
March 15, 2004
Cell phones jury-rigged to detonate bombs
In-Depth Coverage
By Lou Dolinar
From Baghdad to Madrid, bombs triggered by mobile phones have become as ubiquitous in the terrorist's arsenal as cell phones in the pockets of businessmen.
"It's not rocket science," says John Pike of Globalsecurity.org, a Washington think tank. "Cell-phone detonators are pretty straightforward tradecraft."
One of the unexploded bombs retrieved by Spanish police in Madrid - 10 exploded and two were found and detonated by bomb disposal experts - was typical. The ringer of the phone was wired to two detonating caps, an operation that experts say is delicate and requires training, but can be accomplished with common tools available in any electronics store. The detonators, in turn, would set off 22 pounds of gelatinous dynamite. Packed around the explosives, in the sports bag that concealed it, were nails and screws designed to serve as a shrapnel. More sophisticated phone bombs also incorporate timers, but in general, all a bomber needs do is dial or e-mail the number and let it ring.
The cell-phone detonators originally were cast as suspicious "trademarks" of Spain's home-grown terrorist network, ETA. But Pike said such evidence was "not at all dispositive" because virtually every terror group has used mobile phone detonators. An analysis of the bomb, Spanish radio subsequently reported, indicated that the detonators were copper, not the aluminum type associated with ETA.
According to Pike, many remote bombs aimed at U.S. troops in Iraq have been triggered by cell phones. In addition:
A cell phone was used in the July 2002 bombing at a cafeteria at Hebrew University in Jerusalem that killed seven people, including five Americans.
In the Bali bombings in October 2002 that killed 202 people, Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists triggered a bomb in a mini-bus outside the Sari Club with a cell-phone detonator.
Late last year, French police found explosives systems meant to be cell-phone detonated during raids around Paris that dismantled a terror group with ties to al-Qaeda and Chechen rebels.
A car bomb detonated by mobile phone killed 12 people at Jakarta's Marriott hotel in August 2003.
During searches in Saudi Arabia, cell phones rigged to detonate bombs were found by investigators of the May 12 bombings that killed 35 people.
Cell-phone bombs have one major weakness, jamming. With up to a 150-yard range, jammers prevent the phones from ringing and thus stop the detonation; in rare cases, they may accidentally ring the phone and detonate the device prematurely.
The jamming concept originated in Israel in the early '90s and is currently used by U.S. troops in Iraq. The United States has tested an air-dropped cell-phone jammer, WolfPack, that can knock out all cell-phone traffic in a combat zone. There have also been reports the U.S. military has gone even further and is testing a short-range device in Iraq to protect convoys. This gadget detects cell phones near a convoy, then rings the number, detonating any potential bomb before the convoy gets too close.
Not a fan of Ben Franklin?
Shhh, you are going to interupt the Paranoia Party.
I saw it and was not impressed. This is a red herring anyway since such a spotting is not going to occur. These dumbasses know at least enough to make sure the bomb is not seen AND no one is going to recognize a spot of color as an explosive. Excuses to prevent the authorities from trying to deal with terrorism are of no interest to the serious minded.
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