Originally Posted by superbad
Honest question: if someone can fit an effective improvised explosive device into the sole of a shoe, could they not also stuff one down their pants, or into a baggy pocket? And after that happens, is our government going to "suggest" that we remove all our clothes before walking through the WTMD? And then, after some jackass swallows an IED stuffed inside a condom, will they "suggest" that we submit to having a boroscope stuffed down our esophagus to have a look at what we might have in our digestive system? Where does it end?
Another honest question: exactly how much damage could a shoe-sized (or pocket-sized, etc.) bomb do, considering it couldn't be encased in metal (as that would set off the WTMD), and couldn't contain any metallic shrapnel? I've worked on the design of a couple planes, and I'm having a hard time imagining such a device bringing down a commercial airliner. Killing or wounding a few people, maybe. But I'm certainly no explosives expert.
My real fear, personally, is that while we are x-raying everybody's Chuck Taylors, someone is going to stick an improvised nuclear device onto a shipping container, and set it off in the port of New York.
We have gone through this many times. The TSA people here are front-line not policy makers. We do what Washington tells us to do.
The damage to a plane may be minor but the damage to the entire industry would be devastating.
The container issues is very serious (especially since I live in NY). Only 2% of all containers in the US are even looked at. This needs to be a priority.