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There's lots of snarky and unjustified cynicism here, given that concealing explosives in laptops is not a theoretical risk; it was recently done. Here's an exc
by marcoperaza 10y ago
There's lots of snarky and unjustified cynicism here, given that concealing explosives in laptops is not a theoretical risk; it was recently done. Here's an excerpt from the CNN article:
>The official said the move is partly based on intelligence that they believe indicates Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is close to being able to hide explosives with little or no metal content in electronic devices in order to target commercial aircraft.
It's a particular concern at these airports because of screening issues and the possibility of terrorists infiltrating authorized airport personnel, the official said. Flight and cabin crews are not covered by these new restrictions.
In February 2016, a bomb hidden inside a laptop detonated aboard a Daallo Airlines flight out of Mogadishu, Somalia. The bomber was killed and a hole was blown in the side of the fuselage. The aircraft landed safely.
- TillE 10y ago1) We already have screening processes for that. 2) So the bomb is now in the hold. That's not really much of an improvement.
- marcoperaza 10y agoRemote or timed detonation is trickier than manual detonation. I'm not familiar with how checked luggage is screened, but it's possible that it is potentially controlled by the US for flights heading to the US, or otherwise more reliable. Again: >It's a particular concern at these airports because of screening issues and the possibility of terrorists infiltrating authorized airport personnel, the official said.
- stuaxo 10y agoThose guys were doing it non-manually when nokias were the phone of choice, and back in the day the IRA probably used plain clocks, it's not going to be much extra hassle for them.
- addicted 10y agoDo the physical properties of explosives change when they happen to travel outside these specific airports?
- marcoperaza 10y agoNo, but if you suspect that a high proportion of potential attackers will originate from a small subset of airports, then you can focus extraordinary security measures on those airports. It's all about tradeoffs.