Another Major Security Blunder at JFK Airport

Just days after a jet skier was able to not only wander onto airport grounds by scaling a fence, crossing two runways, jetways, and entering Terminal 3 without setting off or alerting security officials courtesy of a $100 million security system, word comes that a gate close to the airport's fuel tank farm was unsecured and no cameras were positioned to allow security to view the location. However, there are questions as to whether the gate was unsecured or not. There are no questions, however, that there are no cameras in that area:

Gate 112 is a key location in the troubled $100 million Perimeter Intrusion Detection System, because it provides an entryway to the Buckeye pipeline, which carries 8.4 million gallons of fuel daily through the city to the airport.

It was the target of terrorists who were busted in 2007 for plotting to blow it up.
The gate is also near an active runway, 22 Left.

PA officials — including Executive Director Patrick Foye — last night scrambled to explain the situation in a conference call.

The memo is “a lie,” Foye said, although he could not explain how it was inaccurate.
Paul Nunziato, president of the PAPD union, was brought onto the call and immediately declared the memo “is not a lie.”

The Port Authority then had Officer DeFelice call The Post, and, with a union rep on the line, said the fence has two heavy chains and that one of them was unlocked.

He claimed he called in an “unsecure” chain, and could not explain why the memo said the gate was unsecure.

He said the unlocked chain was not a security risk, but could not explain why there were two chains on the gate.

DeFelice and the union rep agreed that the lack of camera coverage on the gate was a security lapse.

The PA denied a request to immediately view the fence.

The lapse comes less than a week after the $100 million Perimeter Intrusion Detection System was embarrassingly breached by a stranded jet-skier, who climbed over an 8-foot section of the fence and walked across two runways without being noticed, despite his wearing a bright-yellow life vest.

The gate was close to where the Buckeye gas pipeline enters the airport. If that name sounds familiar, it should.

The pipeline was targeted by terrorists in the 2007 JFK terror plot to blow up the pipeline and tank farm causing catastrophic damage to the airport and its surrounding communities. Those involved in that plot have been sentenced to prison.

It's absolutely reprehensible that no one bothered to check that the security fence was properly secured or that cameras were positioned to make sure that no one could access this sensitive location.

This once again highlights the security theater that has gone into dealing with threats against infrastructure. $100 million was spent on upgrading security at JFK airport alone, and yet it seems that there are enough holes that anyone determined to cause harm and mayhem could still achieve their goals.

Port Authority Looking At JFK Airport Security Breach

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey operates JFK International Airport, which is in Queens alongside Jamaica Bay and the Gateway National Recreation Area. The airport is surrounded by water on two sides - where its runways are located. After 9/11, airport security was boosted and the Port Authority installed a $100 million Perimeter Intrusion Detection System, that included scanners, cameras, and an 8 foot tall fence.

So, it's a huge question how that entire system failed when a jet skier managed to not only scale the fence, but was able to cross two active runways, enter taxiways and restricted areas before being confronted by Delta Airlines workers at Terminal 3. The jet skier's personal watercraft became disabled adjacent to the airport, so he swam to shore, jumped the fence, and then proceeded towards the airport terminals:

Castillo climbed an eight-foot-tall perimeter fence and made his way to Terminal 3. He approached a Delta Airlines worker, who alerted authorities.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is investigating and said it has increased patrols on the ground and in the water .

“We have called for an expedited review of the incident and a complete investigation to determine how Raytheon’s perimeter intrusion detection system — which exceeds federal requirements — could be improved,” the agency said in a statement. “Our goal is to keep the region’s airports safe and secure at all times.”

Castillo was charged with criminal trespass.

Port Authority Dumps Security Firm Over ID Snafu

Last week, it came to light that a security supervisor at Newark Liberty Airport turned out to be an illegal alien who used an identification stolen from a man who nearly two decades ago. No one - not the security firm, not the Port Authority, not the TSA - knew that this had occurred until a whistleblower came forward and tipped off the Port Authority inspector general's office.

Now, we're seeing the beginning of the fallout from the mess. The Port Authority is dumping the security firm, FJC Security, and opening up the contract to new bidders.

PA officials told The Post they are troubled by a long list of security foul-ups by FJC, capped by last week’s arrest of Peter “Bimbo” Oyewole, who used the identity of a homicide victim to land his sensitive job and pass repeated background checks.

“Recent serious lapses are unacceptable,” said PA Executive Director Pat Foye. “The entire security function at the PA is under review, including our current private security vendor.”

FJC has done work for the Port Authority since 2003 and employs roughly 1,000 people throughout the PA’s system, which includes the region’s airports, the Hudson River crossings, the World Trade Center and the PATH train line. The firm is going to be kept in place until the PA can hire a replacement, officials said.

The company yesterday vowed to reapply for the lucrative PA work, even as it acknowledged its failures.

“We have a tremendous track record, including many successes that the public never hears about for important security reasons,” said FJC spokesman Michael McKeon. “The incidents cited by the [PA] are indeed unacceptable, which is why FJC has always taken proactive steps to improve operations whenever an issue has arisen.”

Oyewole, 55, was busted May 14 after the PA’s inspector general received a tip the security boss was posing as Jerry Thomas since 1992, when Thomas — then a 41-year-old career criminal — was killed in a YMCA shooting in Queens.

Some at the Port Authority have also questioned whether FJC security officers at the GWB could have stopped Tyler Clementi from jumping from the bridge to his death.

That FJC thinks that it can and should rebid for the job (or that the Port Authority might even consider such a bid) tells you plenty about the security situation at the region's ports, bridges, tunnels, and airports. What's particularly troubling is that the identity that Oyewole stole was that of a career criminal - and yet no one thought there was anything troubling about the identification for nearly two decades. No one running background checks spotted anything wrong with hiring a career criminal as a supervisor.

What we've got here is a serious failure by all those responsible for the hiring of Oyewole using Thomas' identification. That includes FJC that originally hired him, as well as the Port Authority and TSA, who each should have conducted their own background checks. It seems that everyone involved relied on someone other than themselves for insuring that everyone was who they said that they were and in the process no one did.

Airport Security Theater Takes Turn to the Absurd

For all the talk of improving security and eliminating all manner of holes in security around airplanes and airports, it seems that there was one huge gaping hole at one of the airports from which one of the 9/11 aircraft took off.

A security supervisor at Newark Liberty Airport was using the identification of a dead man for more than 17 years.

Bimbo Olumuyia Oyelwole, a 54-year-old Nigerian national who was in the country illegally, was arrested at his home in Elizabeth this morning and charged with identity theft, said Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman. He was an employee of FJC Security Services, a company hired by the Port Authority to provide security at some areas of the airport.

The arrest is likely to raise questions about the thoroughness of the background checks airport security personnel are required to undergo.

Oyelwole had passed multiple background checks required by both the Port Authority and federal aviation officials, but it was unclear early Wednesday afternoon how his true identity was not detected. Oyelwole supervised 30 guards and had "air side access," meaning he was able to walk in and out of secure areas. Authorities have no indication that he took on the false identity for any other reason than to remain in the country.

Oyelwole, who entered the country illegally in 1989, had a birth certificate, social security card, and other documents indicating he was Jerry Thomas, a man murdered in Queens in 1992, Coleman said. The investigation was initiated after the Port Authority's Inspector General received an anonymous tip, Coleman said.

"The IG's office is looking into how he obtained the documents to maintain another person's identity," he said, adding that additional charges are pending. Oyelwole is expected to be arraigned in Superior Court in Essex County this afternoon.

Oyelwole worked for four different security companies during his time at Newark, including Lance Security, Gateway Security, and Haynes Security.

The failures here will surely come to light over the next few days and weeks, but suffice to say this mess will not end well for those involved at the Port Authority, TSA, and others responsible for security at the airport.

After all, if the agencies responsible for airport security couldn't vet their own personnel, how exactly can we expect them to do the job of securing the airports from other threats.

And on that point, it seems that the TSA hasn't exactly got a good record either. The TSA is not tracking patterns in security breaches and isn't keeping tabs on security breaches in a way that can reduce their prevalence over time.

Foiled Underwear Bomb Plot Linked With UAV Airstrike in Yemen

Well, as I suspected yesterday, the foiled underwear bomb plot and the UAV raid that killed a major al Qaeda figure (and who was linked to the USS Cole bombing) were connected.

"I was told by the White House that they are connected, that they are part of the same operation," Representative Peter King told CNN a day after news of the intercepted bomb that authorities said was intended to make its way to an airplane bound for the United States or other Western country.
King and U.S. security officials did not say what happened to the suspected suicide bomber or if he was killed in the strike.

"The person who actually had the bomb is no longer a threat," King said.
John Brennan, President Barack Obama's top counter terrorism adviser and a former CIA official, told ABC's "Good Morning America" program that authorities are "confident that neither the device nor the intended user of this device pose a threat to us."

On Monday, the Obama administration said Middle East authorities had seized an improved underwear bomb within the last 10 days that they said shows al Qaeda's determination to build bombs that can pass through airport security systems.

A day earlier, two Yemeni members of al Qaeda were killed by a missile strike on their car, although Washington and Yemen do not acknowledge U.S. drone attacks on militants in the country.

News of the foiled plot was embargoed by the Administration until after the UAV airstrike, which is a smart move since letting on that the plot was busted might have tipped off those involved in the plot that they were being followed closely by US and foreign intel services.

UPDATE:
The same person who passed along the information necessary to thwart the newest underwear bombing plot is responsible for the intel that led to the UAV airstrike killing Fahd al-Quso. Quso was involved in the attack on the USS Cole.

The officials also said that a successful Predator attack that killed Fahd al-Quso over the weekend was related to the plot and was a “part of a 1-2 blow against Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP),” the north African affiliate of the al-Qaida terrorist network. Al Quso, described as director of external operations at AQAP, was “involved (in the bomb plot) in an intimate fashion,” said the senior administration official.

What makes the newest iteration of the underwear bomb so dangerous is that it uses far less metal, making it even more difficult for metal detectors and scanners to pick up the device.

Underwear Bomber Sentencing Underway With Expected Life Imprisonment

The admitted terrorist who sought to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on its way to Detoit is in court today for sentencing. It's widely expected that Abdul Farouk Abdul Mutallab will receive a life sentence.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the privileged son of a wealthy Nigerian banker, returns to federal court in Detroit on Thursday to receive a mandatory life sentence for trying to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253, four months after pleading guilty and admitting it was a suicide mission for al-Qaida.

The hearing is an open platform for passengers and crew who want to speak, but only five of nearly 300 are expected to address the court, according to the government.

Abdulmutallab, 25, tried to detonate explosive chemicals that were hidden in his underwear minutes before the plane landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The government says he first performed a ritual in the lavatory — brushing his teeth and perfuming himself — and returned to his seat. The device didn't work as planned, but still produced flame, smoke and panic in the cabin.

"I've become bolder. I've become stronger," said passenger Shama Chopra, 56, of Montreal, who plans to speak in court. She ran unsuccessfully for the Canadian Parliament in 2011, a race she couldn't have imagined joining years ago.

"I don't have to feel weak," Chopra said in an interview Wednesday. "I don't have to be scared of anything. God has given me a second chance to live."

On the second day of the trial in October, Abdulmutallab suddenly pleaded guilty to all charges. In a defiant speech, he said he was carrying a "blessed weapon" to avenge Muslims who have been killed or poorly treated around the world. He admitted he was inspired by Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American-born cleric and leading al-Qaida figure in Yemen who was killed by a U.S. drone strike last fall.

"The Quran obliges every able Muslim to participate in jihad and fight in the way of Allah those who fight you, and kill them wherever you find them ... an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," Abdulmutallab said.

His lawyers are trying to argue that a life sentence is unconstitutional because he didn't succeed in carrying out the attack that was intended to blow up the plane and all those on board. That argument is a last-ditch attempt to avoid life in prison and it's not likely to work. Mutallab is expected to also give a statement, and I'd expect that he'll use the opportunity to once again rail against the American justice system, the US in general, and to reaffirm his support for jihad.

Yet, that's not the most bizarre part of today's hearing. Among the five people who are testifying today is a passenger, Kurt Haskell, who has been blogging that the terrorist was conspiring with the US government so as to pave the way for full-body scanners to be installed at airports.

Congressional Negotiators Reach Deal on Long Term Funding For FAA

For the past several years, the FAA has been funded on a stopgap basis, and there was even a period when the authorized funding ended and the FAA had to cease all but critical safety operations as Congress bickered over funding.

Now for the first time since 2007, Congressional negotiators in the House and Senate have reached a compromise deal to fund the FAA for the next four years.

The bill authorizes $63 billion for the FAA through the 2015 budget year. It includes compromises on several difficult issues that divided lawmakers along party lines and by region, including air service subsidies for rural communities, safety regulation of cargo shipments of lithium batteries, and rules governing the formation of airline and railroad unions.

The last details of the agreement were hammered out behind closed doors over the past week. Negotiators met Tuesday afternoon to congratulate each other on reaching what they said was a major victory, and to receive a copy of the final bill.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, told lawmakers involved in the negotiations he wanted them to sign the agreement by the end of the day. Final passage of the bill by the House and Senate is expected sometime in the next two weeks.

The FAA's long-term operating authority expired in 2007. The agency has continued to limp along under a series of 23 short-term extensions, but its ability to commit to decisions on major acquisition programs that extend over many years, like air traffic modernization, was hindered by the uncertainty over how much it could spend and by a lack of direction from Congress.

The key issues that were resolved by the package include new limitations on the Essential Air Service, which provides service to rural communities that have few flight alternatives; funding the NextGen air traffic control system modernization at a cost of $1 billion for each year (though it isn't above the amount spent annually in each of the past two years); changes to union rules; and adopting international standards on shipment of lithium batteries even as the FAA and air safety groups had called for more stringent measures.

Christmas Day Underwear Bomber Trial Gets Underway With Defiant Defendant

The trial of Abdul Farouk Abdul Mutallab is getting underway today, and the suspected terrorist is defiant in his hatred and views of the United States.

A Nigerian man accused of trying to bring down an international jetliner with a bomb in his underwear walked into the start of his federal trial Tuesday and declared that a radical Islamic cleric killed by the U.S. military is alive.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's outburst came as jury selection got under way for his federal terror trial in Detroit, where the 24-year-old is acting as his own attorney and has previously told reporters they should stop reporting that Osama bin Laden was dead.

"Anwar is alive," Abdulmutallab said Tuesday, referring to American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed last week by a joint CIA-U.S. military air strike in Yemen.

"The mujahadeen will wipe out the U.S. — the cancer U.S.," he added.

Abdulmutallab, a well-educated Nigerian from an upper-class family, was directed by al-Awlaki and wanted to become a martyr when he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in Amsterdam on Christmas 2009, according to the government.

Awlaki was killed in airstrikes a couple of days ago, but Awlaki was successful in recruiting numerous terrorists to join or act as lone wolf affiliates of al Qaeda. Mutallab is one such thug who attempted to blow up an airplane using a bomb sewn into his underwear just minutes before the plane was to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The bomb failed, but passengers and crew pounced on Mutallab to prevent further attempts and to foil the plot.

Mutallab entered not guilty pleas to multiple terrorism-related charges, including including conspiracy to commit terrorism and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. The government says he wanted to blow up the plane by detonating chemicals in his underwear, just seven minutes before the jet carrying 279 passengers and a crew of 11 was to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

Congress Reaches Interim Deal on FAA Funding

Congress has completely screwed up with fight over extending the authorization of taxes that fund FAA operations. They refused to extend the tax authorization, meaning the agency was losing $25 million a day (more than $250 million since the last authorization ran out).

The fight was two-fold. On the one hand, Democrats were pushing a change to union election rules, while the GOP was pushing for the elimination of a rural airport service rule.

The impasse left thousands of FAA workers without paychecks, and put infrastructure projects on hold while the agency scrambled to keep inspections and air safety programs in operation.

So, it's good to know that a deal was brokered and will be passed tomorrow extending matters; it's a clean bill - no changes on either the rural program or the union rules.

A Security Observation

This past week, I had the opportunity to head north of the border to Canada and visited Niagara Falls and Toronto. It was a well deserved vacation and got to enjoy the weather and majestic scenery (as well as the great wines and icewines from Niagara on the Lake and the Finger Lakes of New York).

Going to both Toronto and Niagara Falls also gave me an opportunity to visit two of the tourist traps that everyone should visit precisely because they are the quintessential experiences for both locations. That means visiting the Maid of the Mist and the CN Tower.

There was no security to speak of for the Maid of the Mist - the fleet of sturdy boats that take hundreds of tourists to within a few hundred feet of the falling waters of the Horseshoe Falls and American Falls. It's an exhilarating experience to be on those boats, but one has more security going on the Staten Island Ferry or the PATH train.

Security at the CN Tower was a slightly different story. There, they had three of those air sensor scanners to check for explosives. It was quick, efficient, and their security guards had a sense of humor (well, sort of). After going through with my camera gear bag, the guard asked whether I had any firearms, grenades, bazookas, etc. I get the attempt at humor because of the boredom of asking the patrons to the CN Tower (the largest freestanding structure in North America). However, I didn't particularly think it was all that professional and being from NYC, I do take security a wee bit more seriously having seen my modes of transportation repeatedly targeted by al Qaeda for attack (PATH, subways, the WTC (twice), tunnels and bridges).

The experience at the CNN tower did suggest that it was possible to scan larger groups of people in a prompt manner and something along these lines could prove useful in securing Amtrak and speeding the screening at airports. After all, it took just seconds to do the air puffer. Even if you add in time to run a metal detector, it would be a vast improvement for all involved.

Major Disaster Averted At JFK Airport When An Air France A380 Clips Commuter Jet

A major disaster was averted last night when an Air France A380 clipped a Delta commuter jet on a taxiway between Terminal 1 and 2.

The video shows how the A380 was taxing along and clipped the tail of the much smaller commuter jet, turning the commuter jet 90 degrees.



Airport officials and the NTSB are likely to review just where and how the planes collided and whether changes need to be made in where the planes are allowed to taxi in light of the new larger A380s. More clearance may be required to prevent future incursions.

British Courts Convict Bangladeshi Man of Terror Plot

A British jury convicted a Bangladeshi man of plotting to kill airline passengers in a plot concocted along with al Qaeda's cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. The man, Rajib Karim, 31, sought a job as an airline attendant so as to gain access to planes.

A jury convicted a former British Airways computer specialist of plotting with U.S.-born extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki to blow up an airplane in an attack intended to kill hundreds of people.

Rajib Karim, a 31-year-old Bangladeshi man, was found guilty Monday of four counts of engaging in preparation for terrorist attacks.

He already had pleaded guilty to five other terrorism offenses, but denied plotting an attack in Britain.

A jury deliberated for 16 hours before agreeing with prosecutors who said Karim used his position at the airline to conspire with al-Awlaki, a notorious radical preacher associated with al-Qaida and thought to be hiding in Yemen.

Al Qaeda continues attempts to penetrate airline security measures by any means necessary. Using someone in Karim's position would allow al Qaeda access to security measures, the means to evade them, and access to airports and airlines so as to carry out future attacks.

Karim had contacted Awlaki and Awlaki asked Karim to research how to put a bomb or a person with explosives on board an aircraft.

This scenario is yet another reason why airline crews need to be screened just as passengers - the possibility that al Qaeda or a lone wolf jihadi inspired by extremists may be among the air crews and ground staff of airports and could attempt to circumvent security measures to carry out attacks against the planes and their passengers is an ongoing threat. So, while measures to expedite those crews and staff through screening makes sense, eliminating those screening measures would open a gap in security that al Qaeda could potentially exploit.

Germans On Heightened Terror Alert As Authorities Find Suspicious Package In Namibia: UPDATE: Package Was Security Test?

German authorities raised alert levels throughout the country on the heels of warnings and increased chatter about terror attacks against the country. They appear to have been on to something since authorities in Namibia found a suitcase among luggage bound for Munich that contained a fuse, clock and wires.

A statement by the Namibia Airports Company said that “a suspicious parcel” had been found in the luggage screening area in the airport at Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, and that as a result a Air Berlin Flight 7377 was delayed and its 296 passengers and 10 crew members sent back to the terminal and asked to identify their luggage. The flight eventually took of with its passengers and crew, but its cargo was left behind, the statement said. The plane arrived in Munich Thursday morning.

The German Federal Criminal Police said that a scan of the suspicious suitcase showed batteries attached by wires to a fuse and a clock. The Associated Press quoted an Air Berlin spokeswoman, Sabine Teller, as saying that no explosives were found in the bag. Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s interior minister, told reporters Thursday that according to preliminary investigations, it appeared likely the bag with the fuse and clock was intended for the Munich flight.

”A lot speaks for the idea that the piece of luggage was supposed to be transported on a plane that was to fly to Munich,” he said in Hamburg, according to Associated Press. He said that the incident proved that “the checks worked” but he declined further comment.

Germany had already dispatched heavily armed police officers and bomb-sniffing dogs on Wednesday to its train stations, airports and key landmarks. In a hastily called news conference in Berlin on Wednesday, Mr. de Maizière, said the government had “concrete indications of a series of attacks planned for the end of November,” and German, Pakistani and American officials offered similar accounts of intelligence that pointed to imminent attacks by terrorists trained in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

The officials said that American military drone strikes in those countries had killed some of the plotters and disrupted the plans, but that others were at large and might still strike.

Concern about the possibility of international flights being targeted by terrorists rose last month when two mail bombs were discovered while being sent on cargo planes from Yemen to the U.S. One of them went through a German airport before being found in Britain.

Further tests will be necessary to determine whether the device was actually a live bomb or not. The luggage didn't have a destination address.

The Windhoek-Munich flight was delayed by six hours as all 296 passengers and luggage were subjected to additional checks before takeoff. They arrived in Germany overnight.

Thousands of German holidaymakers travel to Namibia, a former German colony in south-west Africa, each year using Air Berlin.

A spokeswoman for Air Berlin said the package, thought to be a freight item, did not bear a destination address.

The suspicious finding was disclosed at the same time as the interior ministers of Germany’s 16 federal states were discussing new evidence of possible terrorist attacks in Germany, at a meeting in Hamburg.

If they weren't a live device, the items found in Namibia could have been part of a test run to determine how thorough screeners are in other countries or it could have been part of a wider plan to send dummy items through to divert attention from where the real attack is headed. Either plan means that air security experts have to be on their game and security screeners have to be thorough on all luggage passing through their airports lest a terrorist manages to send a bomb on a flight that could not only kill all those on board, but has the potential of killing many on the ground.

If the item didn't bear a destination address, how did it get on board the luggage/cargo manifest in the first place. Is there someone at the airport who managed to stow the item among legitimate cargo? This sounds like a breach of the air security cordon at the Namibia airport or perhaps the suspicious item was delivered to Namibia from another source and Namibian officials spotted the suspicious package.

UPDATE:
Reuters is reporting that unnamed German sources are claiming that this was a test package:

One German source said the package may have carried a label indicating it was a security test, though it was not clear who would have been responsible for carrying out this procedure.

Police in Namibia, a former German colony neighbouring South Africa with a population of around two million people, would not comment on this possibility.

"We can't confirm or deny it was a test. We will communicate the outcomes of the investigation to the public as soon as it is finished," said Namibian police inspector Jay Nangolo.

Hyperbole Rules the Day on TSA Searches

The TSA is frequently castigated for its heavy handed policies and often contradictory policies. The agency came into existence in the wake of the 9/11 attacks as part of the reorganization of the domestic security apparatus and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

From that point forward civil libertarians have consistently been critical of the TSA's screening policies and often intrusive nature of screenings. They have also been on the vanguard of those critical of the new full body scanners (FBS) that use minute amounts of radiation to scan for objects hidden under clothes without the need for a patdown.

The TSA has recently been fielding these scanners around the country and has allowed airline passengers to choose between the FBS or pat-downs that can include checking the genital region. Lest we forget, the reason for that particular search was because a terrorist attempted to blow up an airliner using explosives sewn into his underwear. That came following another terrorist who attempted to blow up a plane with explosives built into his shoes.

These are ongoing and persistent threats and the TSA has enacted these scans and searches to keep the flying public safe.

Now, right wingers are jumping on the civil libertarian bandwagon claiming that these searches are unconstitutional or otherwise violate their civil rights. These groups are pretty much complaining about policies that they were supporting just a few years ago not out of principle but because the President is someone they do not like.

They've even proffered websites and campaigns to opt-out on the busiest flying day of the year November 24 - of both the pat-down and body scan (even if the FBS aren't available at all airports).

Some argue that the scanners inflict more radiation on individuals than should be allowed - and the pilots union has called for their elimination, even though pilots are subjected to more several times more radiation while on board a transcontinental flight than they are in dozens of scans combined. And the radiation isn't the kind that can increase risks of cancer:

There are two types of machines -- millimeter wavelength imaging and backscatter X-ray scanners. Both are used to see under clothes and identify unusual objects.

Only one -- backscatter X-ray machines -- expose individuals to ionizing radiation such as that used in common medical X-rays.

But the radiation levels are well below the threshold that could be considered a risk to an individual's health, said Dr. James Thrall of the American College of Radiology and chief of radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

"All of the concerns that we have about the medical use of X-rays really don't apply to these devices," Thrall said in a telephone interview.

"The exposure is extremely low and the energy of the X-rays is also very, very low," he said.

"When X-rays are used for medical imaging purposes, they have to be energetic enough to get through the human body. The X-rays used in the backscatter machines in airports have such low energy that they literally bounce off the skin. That is what backscatter implies," Thrall said.

WAVE SCANNERS AROUND THE U.S.

The United States has 40 millimeter wave scanners now in use in 19 U.S. airports. Six machines are used for primary screening at six airports, and 34 machines are used for secondary, or random screening, as an alternative to a pat down at 13 airports.

The real problem pilots have with the scans is that they're being searched in the first place. They'd much rather be able to avoid the scanners and screening. So, they're glomming on to whatever other criticisms are available.

Moreover, the FBS and pat-downs aren't exactly a new policy enacted by the Obama Administration. They began under the Bush Administration and the FBS are now being fielded in large numbers after tests done over the past several years.

Still, FBS is not without some criticism. Is there a reason to post body imagery on the screens that essentially shows the scanned passenger naked? No. The software could be rewritten so as to project the offending items on a generic body outline or skeleton akin to the scene from Total Recall where passengers walked in front of a scanning device that highlighted explosives or weapons with flashing lights. That makes more sense than the current system. It would further speed the scanning and reduce error.

Of course, the FBS, like the patdowns and metal detectors aren't foolproof and require screeners to be consistently competent at their work. Repeated tests have shown that screeners often miss hidden weapons and banned objects. That's why a layered screening system is necessary.

At the same time, the focus on air safety ignores the fact that terrorists can just as easily bypass the screening by attacking other transportation targets like bus depots and railways - as they have done repeatedly around the world for decades.

Greek Authorities Discover Additional Bombs And Highlighting Cargo Screening Issues

Authorities in Greece have discovered another letter bomb, this time addressed to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy. They have suspended all deliveries of foreign-bound mail for 48 hours to track down any other potential packages and to get ahead of the terrorists involved in this particular plot.

The latest discovery was a letter bomb addressed to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, which was intercepted less than 24 hours after a similar device, also sent from Greece, arrived at the mailroom outside the office of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. A cargo plane that left Athens International Airport late on Tuesday, destined for Paris with a stopoff in Rome, was rerouted to Bologna after the Greek authorities realized that the aircraft was carrying a package addressed to Mr. Berlusconi. The police at the Bologna airport found the package and destroyed it, according to the Italian news agency Ansa.

A spokesman for the Greek police, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said two suspicious packages intercepted at the Athens airport on Tuesday night and destroyed in controlled explosions had been addressed to the international police organization Europol at the Hague and the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

Though only one person was injured, and only slightly, and most of the devices were neutralized, the wave of letter bombs unnerved European officials already scrambling to secure the continent’s air-cargo system after the discovery last week of parcel bombs in Britain and Dubai that were shipped from Yemen and addressed to Jewish institutions in Chicago. Those bombs have been linked an Al Qaeda branch in Yemen.

These devices appear to be unrelated to the al Qaeda linked cargo bombs uncovered at a British and UAE airport. Greek authorities are considering an anarchist group to be behind these bombs.

These plots and threats highlight the difficulty of screening cargo, and the huge gaping hole in air security screening that can allow these devices to detonate with terrifying results.

Cargo Bomb Plot Began In September With Dry Run

Intel officials and law enforcement now believe that al Qaeda carried out a dry run of its cargo/package bomb plot back in September before attempting to send bombs through cargo shipments to the US.

The shipments from Yemen to Chicago are reported to have contained literature and other materials, but no explosives.

The idea was to test how long it would take for the packages to reach their destination, US officials suspect.

Last week, two parcel bombs were found on cargo planes in the UK and Dubai.

The parcels - with powerful PETN explosives hidden inside printer toner cartridges - were shipped from Yemen's capital Sanaa through UPS and another US cargo firm, FedEx.

Both packages - which have now been made safe - were addressed to synagogues in the US city of Chicago.

Investigators have linked the "dry run" and last weekend's bombs to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The terrorists were able to discern the shipping pattern and timing based on tracking information provided by the companies. Several countries have stepped up security and are limiting shipment of toner cartridges in passenger baggage or are limiting flights and cargo from Yemen:

On Monday, Germany, France and Britain said they had banned cargo shipments from Yemen, following a similar move by the United States. Britain prohibited passengers from carrying printer cartridges aboard flights, and Germany halted passenger flights from Yemen as well. Many countries have stepped up cargo screening, but no additional bombs have been found.

In particular, the focus is on Yemen, which plays home to al Qaeda and firebrand Anwar al Awlaki, whose videos are frequently used as a recruitment tool. Yemen is finally treating al Qaeda's Anwar al Awlaki as the terrorist minion he repeatedly posts online.

Facing pressure to crackdown on terrorism following last week's international bomb scare, Yemen has charged a radical, U.S.-born Muslim cleric with attempting to kill foreigners and being a member of Al Qaeda.

The announcement to try Anwar al-Awlaki (who is already on a U.S. list of militants to assassinate) was made at the trial of another radical, Hisham Assem on Tuesday.

Assem is charged with a shooting and killing of a Frenchman at a local oil compound last month.

Al-Awlaki is said to be hiding in the mountains of Yemen with his family and friends. He was charged in absentia.

Yemen hasn't exactly been a willing partner in going after al Qaeda, and had to be pushed to make even this half-hearted attempt. Saudi Arabia and Yemen have had several border skirmishes in the past because of the porous border, but this latest move is slightly more than their usual lip service.

However, it shows that security against terror outfits like al Qaeda is only as good as the weakest link. Yemen is a weak link, and it's pitiful air security was such that bombs got onto passenger flights and then into the cargo manifests ultimately destined for the US.

That's got to change, and al Qaeda is continuing to adapt its tactics to what is available and possible. They will continue using failed states and border regions as safe havens, terror recruitment centers, and training centers.

UPDATE:
Here's a bit of speculation on my part as to the tactic of bombing cargo planes. Al Qaeda has gone after hard targets like US Navy ships and softer targets like the US Embassies in Africa and then airlines and other modes of transportation. The attacks are as much about racking up a body count as they are about disrupting the economic system. The 9/11 attacks caused a major disruption of the economy in and around the New York City metro area and seriously affected airlines. Blowing up cargo planes would similarly affect the viability of sending cargo items and that could affect manufacturing, which is increasingly dependent on just-in-time manufacturing. If products get delayed because of extra screening and delays (or slower modes of transportation to avoid cargo screening delays), manufacturers will have to compensate with increased supplies on hand. Al Qaeda is not just attacking to blow up stuff, but to send a message about their ongoing opposition to our very way of life - and that includes our economic system.

Cargo Bomb Plot Tip Came From Ex-Gitmo Detainee

The BBC is reporting that an al Qaeda member and former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was released and then went back to al Qaeda had turned himself in to Saudi authorities who helped crack the latest bomb plot to blow up airlines using disguised cargo packages.

Jabr al-Faifi handed himself into authorities in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago, the officials told the BBC.

US officials have suggested that a Saudi bombmaker is the key suspect in last week's attempt to send the parcel bombs from Yemen to the US.

One bomb travelled on two passenger planes before being seized in Dubai.

Jabr al-Faifi is described as a former detainee at the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

After leaving Guantanamo he went through a rehabilitation programme in Saudi Arabia and then rejoined al-Qaeda in Yemen before turning himself in to Saudi authorities, AFP news agency reports.

He contacted Saudi government officials saying he wanted to return home and a handover was arranged through Yemen's government, interior ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki said.

Jabr al-Faifi is reported to be one of several former detainees from Guantanamo who were returned to Saudi Arabia for rehabilitation in December 2006.

If this is true, then it is perhaps a sign that the rehabilitation program has worked out. Jabr's double cross of al Qaeda means that al Qaeda can no longer trust those that return to the group and may make it harder to carry out future operations without having to worry about the group's intentions becoming knowledge of law enforcement and intel agencies.

Still, it is quite troublesome that former detainees have returned to al Qaeda in relatively high percentages and not all have provided intel to thwart terror operations.

Meanwhile, US intel agencies believe that a Saudi man was responsible for designing the bombs.

U.S. intelligence officials have named the chief suspect in the plot as Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, who is believed to be a member of the leadership of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

He is also suspected of sending his own brother on a suicide mission against a top Saudi official.

Al-Asiri and his brother abruptly left their Mecca home three years ago, their father, a four-decade veteran of the Saudi military, said. Aside from a brief phone call to say they had left the country, he never heard from them again.

With the bomb hidden in a body cavity, Abdullah approached the prince and blew himself up. The prince was only wounded.

Despite all this, officials got lucky and almost missed catching the bombs before they made their way into the US.



Yemen is attempting to improve its security at its airports, but that's a tall order given that the bombs made their way onto several flights before ultimately being detected in the UAE and UK.

At the same time media reports from around the world want to make it sound like Yemen is the latest focus of the war on terror, even though Yemen has always been a significant threat as a failed state that sits astride major shipping lanes and has a porous border with Saudi Arabia and from which multiple terror attacks have been carried out - some of which predate the 9/11 attacks (think USS Cole). Failed states like Yemen continue to be a major threat as a breeding ground for terror training camps, recruitment centers, and areas of operation for terror groups because of inadequate or nonexistent law enforcement. It's one of the reasons why al Qaeda operates from places like in Afghanistan, the frontier provinces of Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen.

Investigations Continue Into Cargo Bomb Plot

The cargo bomb plot's links to al Qaeda are firming up. The bombs' hallmarks indicate one of al Qaeda's bombmakers in Yemen, and the intentions and plot are more sophisticated than previously released.

And the bombs actually flew on passenger planes before being transferred to cargo flights

The explosive found hidden in a package on a plane in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Friday, had traveled on two passenger planes to get there, a Qatar Airways spokesman told CNN Sunday.

Edward Cameron did not say which flights they were or how many people were on board.

Al Qaeda bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, 28, who is thought to be in Yemen, is linked to that package and another one found on a second airplane in the United Kingdom on Friday, a federal official told CNN Sunday.

Separately, an engineering student has been arrested in Yemen as authorities investigate the apparent plot to bomb airplanes with devices hidden inside computer printers, a human rights lawyer in the poor Arab country told CNN.

The student, Hanan Al-Samawi, is a fifth-year student at Sanaa University, in the capital, said Abdul-Rahman Barman, who said he has been asked to represent her.

Her mother, Amatulillah Mohammed, has also been arrested, Barman said, calling the arrest of the mother illegal.

The bombs were put together by the same terrorist who designed the underwear bomb worn by Abdul Farouk Abdul Mutallab last December 25th. The explosive involved is the same in both incidents - PETN. Just six grams of the explosive can be sufficient to blow a hole in the fuselage of an aircraft. A search for further explosive packages turned up nothing. It's not clear how the Saudis got tipped off to the bomb plot, or how or where the bombs were set to explode.

It's unclear how the Saudis were clued in, but earlier this month, a leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen, Jabir Jubran al Fayfi, turned himself in to the Saudi government. Picked up by American forces in Afghanistan in 2001, he had been held in Guantanamo Bay before being turned over to the Saudis. He went through a rehabilitation program for militants and was released, only to rejoin al Qaeda in 2006.

But al Fayfi contacted Saudi authorities from Yemen to express his regret and readiness to surrender, the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement Oct 15.

Authorities were still investigating whether the plot sought to blow up the cargo planes in midair or upon landing -— or whether the bombs were intended for the Chicago addresses on the packages.

British Home Secretary Theresa May said in London Saturday that the device found at the East Midlands airport "was viable and could have exploded. The target may have been an aircraft and had it detonated the aircraft could have been brought down."

She added, "We do not believe that the perpetrators of the attack would have known the location of the device when it was planned to explode."

There's no word of how the bombs were going to detonate - whether they had a timer or altitude sensor or other methods to cause the bombs to explode. Investigators are probably keeping those details secret for now while they continue working back to the terror cell that carried out the plot.

It's possible that the explosives were meant to blow up the planes over urban areas - spreading devastation over a wide area. Or they could have been meant to blow up the planes over the ocean to obscure the cause and make tracing the attack back to the perpetrators. A third possibility is to detonate the bombs on landing - causing the maximum amount of damage to the airport destinations.



The British government says that they are going to look at tightening cargo security, but the fact that these explosives found their way on passenger planes before they were ultimately discovered on the cargo flights in Dubai and East Midlands Airport shows that there are serious holes in air security.

Air security is only as good as its weakest link. Al Qaeda is going to continue exploiting air security gaps, and Yemen is a huge hole in air security worldwide. Containment is absolutely critical meaning that air security must screen packages and cargo coming from the country much more closely than they have to date.

Intercepted Cargo Explosives Sufficient To Blow Up Airliners

Yesterday's investigations at several airports around the world involving packages included one package that that had enough explosives to blow up an airliner. British authorities said that the explosives, comprised of PETN, discovered at East Midlands Airport would have been sufficient to take out an airplane.

“I can confirm the device was viable and could have exploded,” said the British home secretary, Theresa May. “The target may have been an aircraft and had it detonated the aircraft could have been brought down.”

A day after two packages containing explosives addressed to synagogues in Chicago were discovered, one in Britain and the other in Dubai, setting off a broad terror alert, Janet Napolitano, the secretary of Homeland Security, said that the plot “has the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.” Officials on three continents, meanwhile, continued to search for other potentially dangerous packages shipped from Yemen.

It was not yet clear whether the packages were intended for the synagogues or whether the intent was to cause mass destruction in the air.

“We do not believe that the perpetrators of the attack would have known the location of the device when it was planned to explode,” Ms. May said, speaking to reporters after leading a meeting of the British government’s Cobra committee, which oversees Britain’s response to terrorist threats.

On Friday, President Obama said that the explosives represented a “credible terrorist threat” to the United States, and in television interviews on Saturday morning, Ms. Napolitano went a step further.

“I think we would agree with that, that it does contain all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda and in particular Al Qaeda A.P.,” she said, referring to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

While no explosives were found aboard several planes that were searched in Newark and Philadelphia, the discoveries of the devices aboard plane cargoes in the UK and Dubai raised alert levels significantly.

The devices were quite sophisticated, according to reports in the Guardian. They were designed to explode in the air, although one has to wonder why that didn't happen. What's scary is that initial investigations by British authorities by bomb sniffing dogs didn't determine that the devices were explosive in origin.

Both devices, one discovered in the hold of a plane that landed at East Midlands airport after flying from Cologne, the other in a plane in Dubai, were described as "extremely professional" by intelligence officials.

One of the devices was linked to a mobile phone, while the other was attached to a timer. The Observer understands that the East Midlands device was so sophisticated an initial examination by forensics experts initially suggested it did not contain explosives.

"Even when it was examined, the sniffer dogs couldn't detect it," a security source said. "It was only when they [forensics experts] had a second look at it they realised what it was."

It has emerged the devices were discovered only after a tip-off from Saudi intelligence.

Moreover, one has to consider why the feds were warning that the packages could be headed to Chicago area synagogues. On that point, the articles aren't clear, but I surmise that it may have been to send a dual message. One was that Chicago is the hometown of President Obama, and two was that Jews remain a top terror target for al Qaeda.

UPDATE:
Yemeni authorities are busy playing damage control and trying to show that they are taking terrorism emanating from their country more seriously than they have. Mind you that Yemen has been a nexus from which al Qaeda has operated since the terror organization was founded. Its border with Saudi Arabia is as porous as it gets and terror groups operate with impunity. So, take the fact that the Yemeni government has arrested two women in connection with the plot with a grain of salt.

The Saudis know that the border is porous and that al Qaeda poses a threat to the Saudi regime as much as anyone else. The Yemeni government isn't in a great position to deal with al Qaeda or other terror organizations because it can barely control its own territory.

Meanwhile, we've got dueling memes about the nature of the terror threat. On the one hand, you've got depictions of the explosives as sophisticated, while others claim that this signals that the al Qaeda franchise is amateurish.

That these explosives were discovered and thwarted before they could detonate was a combination of luck and good timing. The damage could have been significant had the explosives detonated the planes over urban areas.

Meanwhile, news outlets that should know better are claiming that Yemen is the next front in the war on al Qaeda. BZZZZ. Wrong. Yemen has always been a front in the war on al Qaeda. It's just one that hasn't received much attention since after the USS Cole bombing and ongoing piracy off the Horn of Africa that mostly emanates from Somalia. It's always been a front in the war, just that many people don't realize it.

Authorities Investigating Suspicious Packages In US and UK; UPDATE: President Obama: Threat Credible

Investigators are looking at suspicious package incidents aboard two UPS planes in Philadelphia.

A crew member arriving on a UPS flight from Paris notified authorities of a suspicious package on board describing a potential radiological component, a local CBS affiliate reported.

Philadelphia police and firefighters greeted the inbound flight shortly after 9 a.m. and the two occupants exited the aircraft, the station reported.

A second UPS flight, which was due to take off from Philadelphia, was also isolated in the investigation, local station WPVI reported.

Department of Homeland Security is investigating the incident with help from local police and the FBI, a source at the airport said.

Another plane was cordoned off at Newark Liberty Airport.

Separately, a suspicious package incident was reporter at the East Midlands Airport in the UK. That package was discovered in the DHL processing facility at the airport and after an initial all-clear, the security cordons were reinstated.

UPDATE:
CNN is saying that the toner cartridge was "manipulated".

Airports in some of the United States were on high alert Friday after investigators found a suspicious package aboard a plane flying from Yemen to Chicago when it stopped in London on Thursday night, a law enforcement source with detailed knowledge of the investigation said.

The suspicious package, which contained a "manipulated" toner cartridge, tested negative for explosive material, the source said, but it led to heightened inspection of arriving cargo flights in at least three cities -- Newark, New Jersey and Philadelphia, Pennyslvania and a UPS truck in New York.

Investigators were examining two UPS planes that landed at Philadelphia International Airport and another at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, said Mike Mangot, a UPS spokesman.

Authorities are focusing on flights coming from Yemen into the United States, according to the source.

UPDATE:
The UK incident at East Midlands airport is linked with the alerts and suspicious packages investigations in the US. A suspicious package was discovered during a routine search of cargo on a flight from Yemen bound for Chicago with a layover at East Midlands airport. That got law enforcement in the US checking cargo from flights inbound from Yemen:

A security official told WNBC of New York that numerous suspicious packages had been sent from Yemen and that at least two are thought to have gotten into the U.S.

Moreover, CNN reported that a U.S. ally had warned of a possible threat from Yemen and that some intelligence officials believe al-Qaida might be behind a plot to send explosive devices into the U.S. via Yemen.

The Transportation Security Administration earlier said that cargo flights that landed safely at Newark and Philadelphia airports were being searched after "reports of potentially suspicious items onboard."

UPDATE:
One of the Newark airport planes was cleared after the suspicious package turned out to be reams of paper. Investigations continue at Philadelphia and in New York City where a UPS truck was being searched in connection with this larger probe.

UPDATE:
CNN reports that President Obama has ordered heightened security and synagogues in the Chicago area were warned to watch for suspicious packages:

Security officials called the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago on Friday to urge the organization to be on alert for suspicious packages, a spokeswoman for the group said.

"We were notified about this earlier this morning," spokeswoman Linda Hasse said. "We are taking appropriate precautions and we are advising local synagogues to do the same."

In the last 24 hours, security officials received a tip from an unnamed ally that packages coming from Yemen were destined for synagogues in Chicago, Illinois, according to information given to CNN contributor Fran Townsend.

UPDATE:
The investigation also led to the shutdown of the Manhattan Bridge after investigators traced one package to MetroTech Center near the foot of the bridge in Brooklyn. That package turned out to be paper receipts and the bridge was reopened to traffic a short time later.

UPDATE:
F-16s are escorting Emirates Air Flt 201 (EK 201) into JFK Airport.

The military escort is a "precaution." Two F-16s are following the flight in to JFK, and have been since the Emirates flight entered U.S. airspace.

Emirates flight 201 is being escorted into JFK airport by U.S. fighter jets, according to CNBC.

The flight is expected to land at 3:30 PM ET. It emanates from Dubai.

The flight can be tracked here. With escort I figure they'll be giving it a priority landing assignment and direct approach to JFK's longest runway (Bay runway/13R-31L) at which point they'll move it off to a secure location.

UPDATE:
President Obama, in the course of his press briefing, announced that two suspicious devices did test positive for explosives - one at the East Midlands airport and the other in Dubai. The packages all originated in Yemen, and al Qaeda was apparently behind the incidents. The threat was credible.

UPDATE:
More details:

Intelligence officials have been monitoring the suspected plot for days, an official said. The packages were discovered in England and Dubai late Thursday after a foreign intelligence service picked up information related to Yemen and passed it on to the U.S., one official said.

An official United Arab Emirates security source said the package discovered there was a device containing explosive materials.

No explosives have been found in the U.S. Items continued to be tested in England.

U.S. national security officials alerted President Barack Obama to a "potential terrorist threat," the White House said. Obama planned a public statement on the developments later today.

The two packages were addressed to Chicago religious sites, Chicago FBI spokesman Ross Rice said. Both were sent from the same address in Yemen to Jewish organizations in Chicago, U.S. officials said. Other than Rice, all the officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.

It appears that several decoy devices may have been mailed out in addition to the actual devices that were intercepted by the authorities in Dubai and UK.