Ok, I misunderstood completely () the point you were making. While I agree that the intel specialists could be an integral part of putting information together on a larger scene, that would be a different group than the TSOs at most airports. By and large, most TSA employees at the airports are not trained to gather intel, connect dots or assist in investigations of this nature. I can assure you that (at a minimum) the basics on this discovery and followup investigation will go to the intel specialists in all the major groups (alphabet soup notwithstanding). Mostly it will simply be just another case of something being left at an airport (just like if it were left at a Walmart), however, if there are other incidents of a similar nature, the intel gang might just pick up on it. There are hundreds of thousands of incidents like this that occur worldwide and most intel sorts make a living off of conneting those dots. I could see maybe having some sort of clearing house data base to enter these types of incidents into (thus involving some of the TSA members at each airport on a small level), but having the local TSA employees actively participate would be a bit of a stretch. I mean, that would entail hiring and/or training folks to actively participate in investigations at a local level, and that could get expensive at a time when the government is cutting budgets across the board. Add to that the fact that local LEOs would be offended at having to include outsiders, the folks that already dislike us would be screaming mission creep over a loudspeaker system, and I am not sure what kind of legal standing the organization would have in this situation. Any suggestions to the opposite?

I also agree that the above mentioned scenarios are highly unlikely, but one thing that has been working in our favor so far, is the relative lack of sophistication of the grunt level folks that wish us ill. The leadership is fairly savvy while being rough enough to live on the run, but the frontline grunts that are willing to commit themselves to wearing a bomb, or taking an AK47 and shooting up a large gathering of people, are not at the same level - at this point. That could change, even so, it is still a small chance that something will happen here, on a good day. Our intel groups have been doing a pretty bangup job of stopping threats before they become realities, again - at this point.