christianpost.com — Shampoo, iPods and Starbucks lattes have suddenly become security threats. Terrorists could easily slip a few apparently innocuous items past airport security and assemble them into a lethal explosive once aloft, security experts said.
Aug 11, 2006 View in Crawl 4
rafikichiAug 12, 2006
@ AhmedB .... In the morning I have to swipe my badge through a gate to drive my truck into the air operations area. My truck is not searched or inspected by anybody other than myself before I access the aircraft ramp. The truck itself could easily be used as direct transport for malicious materials from outside the airport to within feet of an aircraft... once I am parked at an aircraft there is no security measures stopping me from accessing the inside of the aircraft. I do so regularly to get a fuel load from the crew of an aircraft.By the way, the TSA requires a background check and fingerprinting before allowing someone to work out on the ramp. This is all that is required for someone of malicious intent to get the access I have.
carter15Aug 12, 2006
I just want to mention the latest plot by Al-qaida that has thrown British airports into turmoil, and what was their weapon of choice? Chemicals inside ordinairy drinks bottles, and an i-pod for a detenator. If it weren't for intelligence from Pakistan, there could have been disaster because there is no way of checking inconspicuous items if they are dangerous. There needs to be development in security checks or another disaster will happen.
highdecibelAug 12, 2006
I feel I should point out the fairly obvious thing about this article, rather than talking about reasons for terrorism, who's plotting attacks, and why airplane food is so awful.Shampoo, iPods and Starbucks lattes have suddenly become security threats.1. I personally never wash my hair on planes, but thats just me.2. iPods, technically could be used to make a detonator. So I see the point, and even as someone who gets really bored, I can live without my iPod for 5-10 hours.3. Lattes? Come on, like I'm that fussed.If you remember in the good old days of espionage. Anything could be used as a weapon. Take the umbrella assassin. These measure sound stupid, and its possible that a really clever terrorist would find a way round it. But it eliminates the opportunities to do so.
williamdyerAug 12, 2006
@xeniacTried the train. Comfortable, and you arrive IN manhattan, which is sweet. But unreliable.Will try limoliner next time.
ogletreeAug 13, 2006
I am sick of hearing that these things are necessary to save our lives. No it is not. If somebody really wanted to blow up a plane they can. Sept 11 will never happen again. The only reason it happened is that nobody thought anybody would try that. That was a one time deal. Of course now they have the option to take the gun from the pilot and hide behind a door that can't be opened. All of this knee jerk taking away simple items from obvious non-terrorists is just political and a way to hide the fact that they really have not done much to protect us. They just need to suck it up and start searching all Arab people. Every one that gets randomly searched already believes that is what is happening anyhow.I know that is harsh but it is way safer than random searches where terrorist can walk buy and an 80 year old woman gets a cavity search. My mother in law has been searched just about every time she goes. What kind of idiot thinks an old gray hair lady is going to blow up the plane. I have nothing against Arabs as a people and I?m sure it would suck to have to go through that every time but you can?t get around the fact that the people that hate us the most are Arabs. Harassing people just because it looks bad to only search one kind of people is stupid. Why should we put our people through this just so we can look better? The rest of the world already thinks the worst of us what do we care.
Closed AccountAug 13, 2006
f**k your ipods and laptops s**tI JUST WANT MY f**kING BOOK TO READ IN PEACE.You dont need your laptops onboard.That is all!
williamdyerAug 13, 2006
Actually, the most relevant specific confirmed case of a liquid explosive used was nitroglycerin in a contact lens solution bottle, triggered by timer built on-the-spot out of a cheap plastic wris****ch.
buckrogers1965Aug 14, 2006
Why do the pilots have to have a door that opens into the passenger compartment anyway? Only allow access to the pilot compartment from a separate door outside the aircraft. They can have a small bathroom and a coffee machine and serve themselves their own coffee. No way to get to the airplane controls, no way to hijack the airplane.Secondly, why aren't they using an encrypted transmission of the black box data to remote data stores 100% of the time? All they have to do is encode the data stream to the public key of the FAA and of the airline so that both organizations have to provide the private keys for decryption to happen. It makes me very suspicious anytime the black box can't be found, this would totally eliminate that possibility. Surely if they can provide cell phone and wireless service from airplanes they can route a very low data rate of encrypted packets to a secure server or two as well.Do these two things and air travel just became a lot more secure.
halfbreed7092Aug 15, 2006
Clearly the solution is to ban airplanes. That should put a dent in those latte, iPod and laptop sales.