Federal investigators smuggled the components of liquid-based bombs past screeners in 19 airports nationwide in secret tests earlier this year, showing that a terrorist could thwart the latest U.S. security regulations."Our tests clearly demonstrate that a terrorist group, using publicly available information and few resources, could cause severe damage to an airplane and threaten the safety of the passengers," concludes a Government Accountability Office report that was released Wednesday night by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Using cheap, easily available components, GAO investigators made an explosive device and a firebomb that, when tested, exploded with sufficient force to cause significant damage. Investigators then used public information on the Transportation Security Administration's screening procedures to devise ways to carry the bomb components through airport checkpoints without being challenged...
The hearing was the latest by the House Homeland Security Committee to focus on screeners, who have shown little improvement in spotting explosives since the terrorist attacks of 2001.
Los Angeles International Airport screeners failed to spot simulated bombs in 75% of tests last year, according to recently disclosed TSA documents.
Lawmakers and witnesses said those failures had been compounded by a pattern of official leaks. Clark Kent Ervin, a former inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, said cheating seemed to be a systematic problem.
And they questioned how screeners could perform so dismally when they were being forewarned about tests. "If screeners still fail tests that they know are being conducted, heaven help us when Al Qaeda next probes for weaknesses," Ervin said.
I realize that everyone is looking at this and drawing conclusions about the TSA, and clearly some of those conclusions are warranted. Clearly the TSA is a mess. But let's look at the bigger picture here.
A year ago, inspectors snuck bomb-making parts onto a plane. The failure was widely publicized. One year later the test was repeated. The TSSA failed again. Two tests. Two failures. And in between? Nothing.
If the threat from terrorism was really as severe as many people assume it to be, why is it that the only security failures in the last year have been during simulations? Are TSA testers really the only ones trying to sneak bombs on planes? Had the TSA foiled bomb plots, I have no doubt we would have all hear about it. Had a bomb plot been successfully carried out the story would have been the same. But instead we've had silence. Given the evidence we have, the only logical conclusion to draw is that there hasn't actually been any attempts in the last year to smuggle bombs onto planes. And if that's true, might we not perhaps want to rethink this whole anti-terror thing? Maybe?
What am I missing here?
Subscribe to this blog's feed
