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| TSA announces more intrusive passenger screening |
| 2004-09-17 |
| Edited for brevity. U.S. officials got a wake-up call last month about the need to screen airline passengers for explosives when two Chechen women apparently carried bombs onto two Russian planes and blew them up. Bags checked onto planes in the United States must pass through machines that can detect various kinds of explosives. But neither the walk-through metal detectors that passengers use on the way to gates nor the X-ray machines for carryon bags can detect plastic explosives. The Transportation Security Administration announced Thursday that, starting next week, all passengers must take off jackets before passing through metal detectors. Also, more travelers will be subjected to pat-down searches and checks for explosives. Rafi Ron, former head of security at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport and now a security consultant in Washington, said the steps were "something we've been expecting for too long, but finally it's coming." Screeners will advise passengers of the new procedures when they put their carryon bags on the conveyor belt, agency spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said. Every passenger selected for secondary screening after passing through metal detectors will have their carryon items subjected to checks by explosives trace detectors. Screeners also have more discretion to conduct pat-down searches and check carryon bags for bombs. |
| Posted by:Dar |
| #6 Northwest Airlines --- Noor Mehana --- frequent trips to the restroom. Of course, being male, the C4 would of had to been in the place where the Dustin Hoffman character in "Papillon" kept his cash, and when the one guy made a gesture indicating something was cancelled, it became obvious something was amiss, and wires couldn't be connected. {Praise the fact that airline food goes right through you} Never mind Jihadis! Do the gig at the casino, get some cash, and get to the virgins on another day... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-09-17 6:25:49 PM |
| #5 Squat and spread. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-09-17 6:02:38 PM |
| #4 Not to be too graphic, but this is a very tough issue to solve. It's not too difficult for a person to carry a a significant amount of C4 in their uterus or rectum... That with a cell phone (for battery) and a few inches of wire, and a few minutes of privacy in the john, and you can drop the plane of the sky. Short of a full body cavity search, how to prevent this? |
| Posted by: Francis 2004-09-17 5:58:42 PM |
| #3 I heard a piece on the radio this morning asking why this was necessary . . . like we w ould bring in C4 underneath our coats. If you looked at the piece on here several weeks ago about the latest fashions in suicide bombers you would know that that is exactly what is being done . . . strapping vests of explosives and nails, nuts, etc. to the bombers and giving them a switch to set it off with. What I would like to see is bomb sniffing dogs at airports to vet passengers as they enter the terminal area. This would be far more effective than random searches. Yes, false positives are a distinct possibility. What would you prefer, a few false positives and one good hit or nothing at all and one plane going down? |
| Posted by: Jame Retief 2004-09-17 2:00:01 PM |
| #2 Maybe the mean suit jackets and blazers? I know BWI and I think Dulles do not make you remove a sports coat. |
| Posted by: IG-88 2004-09-17 1:38:22 PM |
| #1 We have had to take off jackets and usually shoes going through security in Alaska ever since we started flying again after 9-11. They want it all to go through x-ray. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-09-17 12:10:09 PM |