kefkat
Vital Football Legend
Thoughts on and discuss
...........................................
Aviation security
No more of the same, please
A lot of what passes for security at airports is more theatrical than real
..............................................................
THE growing certainty that the mid-air destruction of a Metrojet airliner flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg was caused by a bomb placed in the baggage hold has led to predictable calls from politicians for tighter airport security across much of the world. “What we have got to do is ensure that airport security everywhere is at the level of the best,” said Philip Hammond, Britain’s foreign secretary. “That may mean additional costs; it may mean additional delays at airports as people check in.” The deaths of 224 people aboard the Airbus A321 is a tragedy. But if passengers groan at ever more intrusive security screening, they are right.
Airliners are exceedingly tempting targets for jihadist terrorists, particularly those wanting to attack the “far enemy” in the West. Inspired by its success on September 11th 2001, al-Qaeda and its offshoots have sought several times since to strike at aircraft. In 2006 an ambitious plot to bring down several planes crossing the Atlantic simultaneously was foiled by good intelligence work. In 2010 a tip-off from a Saudi agent working for the British helped uncover an attempt by al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch to send bombs disguised as printer toner cartridges to Chicago. Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber”, and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the “underpants bomber”, tried to set off explosives on board airliners before being subdued by their fellow passengers.
Cont: http://www.economist.com/news/international/21678236-lot-what-passes-security-airports-more-theatrical-real-no-more?cid1=cust/ednew/n/bl/n/20151112n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/n/n
...........................................
Aviation security
No more of the same, please
A lot of what passes for security at airports is more theatrical than real
..............................................................
THE growing certainty that the mid-air destruction of a Metrojet airliner flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg was caused by a bomb placed in the baggage hold has led to predictable calls from politicians for tighter airport security across much of the world. “What we have got to do is ensure that airport security everywhere is at the level of the best,” said Philip Hammond, Britain’s foreign secretary. “That may mean additional costs; it may mean additional delays at airports as people check in.” The deaths of 224 people aboard the Airbus A321 is a tragedy. But if passengers groan at ever more intrusive security screening, they are right.
Airliners are exceedingly tempting targets for jihadist terrorists, particularly those wanting to attack the “far enemy” in the West. Inspired by its success on September 11th 2001, al-Qaeda and its offshoots have sought several times since to strike at aircraft. In 2006 an ambitious plot to bring down several planes crossing the Atlantic simultaneously was foiled by good intelligence work. In 2010 a tip-off from a Saudi agent working for the British helped uncover an attempt by al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch to send bombs disguised as printer toner cartridges to Chicago. Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber”, and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the “underpants bomber”, tried to set off explosives on board airliners before being subdued by their fellow passengers.
Cont: http://www.economist.com/news/international/21678236-lot-what-passes-security-airports-more-theatrical-real-no-more?cid1=cust/ednew/n/bl/n/20151112n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/n/n
