So we now know that the Nigerian who tried to blow up an airliner as it was coming in to Detroit was on the terrorism watch list. Nevertheless, he obtained a visa to come to America and was allowed onto the aircraft. He also was able to bring explosives through security and take them aboard. (Go here for details.) How many security breaches did he pull off?
Now airports are imposing new security measures–such as not allowing passengers to go to the bathroom during the last hour of the flight, not allowing them to have blankets or coats over their laps–to make passengers’ lives more miserable. Just as the shoe bomber caused airport security to force passengers to take off their shoes, they seem to be gearing measures to correspond to the last attack rather than taking broader and more creative action. (Yes, the Nigerian went to the bathroom to mix his explosives at the end of the flight and covered them up with a blanket. But why couldn’t the next terrorist blow up the plane at the beginning or the middle of the flight?) A better idea might be to enforce the procedures we already have in theory but apparently not in practice, such as screening for explosives and checking passenger tickets against terrorist lists!
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In