More Box Cutters On Airplanes

Al Qaeda and its affiliated terrorist groups have long had an interest in using aircraft as weapons. The FBI and Homeland Security Department have issued numerous warnings about possible tactics terrorists could use, including use of small carry-on items such as cameras to hide bombs powerful enough to blow up airplanes.

Wow. These guys are good. Without their guidance I never would have made the connection between 9/11 and Al Qaeda's fetish for using airplanes as weapons. And without their warnings, I never would have thought that something as small as a camera could be made into a bomb that could bring down an airplane (obviously, I know nothing about Pan Am 103 and the radio in the suitcase or anything about the concept of overpressurization, nothing at all). </sarcasm>

This is important, but not unexpected or surprising. We knew that security wasn't perfect. We knew that the Feds really weren't doing a much better job than the private security contractors. This episode simply proves out the point.

The problem isn't necessarily in the topside security - what you and I see every time we wait in line, take our shoes off, and deal with the clueless, robotic yo-yos at the security checkpoint. Those guys actually put on a pretty good dog and pony show and are relatively effective.

No, the problem is in the lax security of the illegal immigrants working for the catering and cleaning crews. The problem is in the lax security of the cargo going on the flight. The problem is in the weak security surrounding the mail going on each flight.

I'd almost be willing to put money on it, that this was an inside job, pulled off by a concerned member of a cleaning crew (yes they do exist, despite the empty peanut bags under the seat in front of you when you board) to point out the laxness in security as you approach the airplane from the airside. When I worked at the airport, it was simply amazing what could, and did, get through. I'm sure that security has tightened up some since then, but it is still going to be more lax than upstairs by an order of magnitude. Someone is trying to warn TSA that they need to get their act together before some Al Qaeda wannabe pulls this off.

But of course TSA and the FBI are reacting in exactly the wrong way. They've decided to search every single airplane by the end of today. What they needed to be concentrating on was finding out what message exactly was intended to have been sent and why. Terrorists are not going to go after Southwest Airlines as their primary target, the airplanes are too small (they're 737s) and they rarely are leaving with a full fuel load. The explosive potential just isn't in a Southwest 737 like it is in a transcontinental 767 for United or American. This is a message, not an attempted highjacking.

Someone needs to find out why it was sent.