Laptop Bombs
 

Not sure where this will go or what additional impact it will have on screening methods.. U.S. and other security agencies should be aware of this possibility.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/terrori...mbs-airplanes/

Whether connected or not we flew DXB>CDG>ATL>SAT Monday and I’ll have to say in DXB and CDG they were quite insistent that all electronics be taken out of carryons. I don’t think of cameras as electronics, though modern digital cameras are probably more computer with lens than old film cameras, and didn’t take them out in DXB. That got me a swabbing and minor but polite lecture. In CDG they didn’t care about the cameras but asked several times about other “electronics” and specifically laptops.

Let me tell you, if there ever becomes a time where I can't carry my laptop onto a commercial airliner, I am going to go from a human being to a bomb (and I have to clarify in this day and age that this is not a threat, it's a figure of speech).

The capability to build a laptop bomb has been known to the security agencies for some time -- it's what prompted the recent ban on carry-on laptops on flights from certain Middle East airports and carriers (mostly rescinded). What's new in the CBS story is that al Shabab is doing it. Up until now, I think it was usually credited to AQAP's bomb-builder, who reputedly put together the bollocks bomb (Detroit a few years ago) and the printer-cartridge bombs they found in some UPS shipments.

At some point, the authorities are going to have to reconcile the demand to put laptops in checked baggage (the laptop bombs they had learned about reportedly still required the bomber to add an initiator in the passenger cabin to make it work) with the pending ICAO advice to keep lithium batts out of the cargo hold (due to the fire hazard).

Oh dear.

TSA misread 'laptop bomb' in the reports and thought it said 'lap bomb' and that's why they've tripled down on the grotesque genital fondling - while continuing to miss guns and other threats because they are so genitally fixated.

Someone please explain this to TSA.

The linked CBS story is all about "laptop bombs" but completely glosses over the other part of the story - a senior, trusted official with total access to the airport smuggled a bomb in through security and passed it off to a compatriot.

Naturally, since a bomb was smuggled in by a trusted person who bypassed passenger screening, TSA is now increasing passenger screening in an attempt to prevent a repeat of this incident in the US.

Which is kind of like fining the fans at a football game when a player on the field commits a rule violation. Or shooting your dog when a bird drops something on your windshield. Or divorcing your wife when your place of work loses a large contract. Or firing your night janitor when your daytime cashier absconds with funds. Or banning popcorn at a movie theater because people have been talking on their phones during the film.

But that's TSA for you. They face every new possible threat with the exact same response: treat passengers worse, abuse more passenger rights, violate more passenger bodies, make passengers more miserable. Because passengers, as we all know, are the one and only possible threat to an aircraft.

Spot on, as usual.

Wrong,

Those in the know, know DHS is working with Airport's on insider threat.

In what way is DHS "working" with airports? On what sort of insider threats?

They're doing a terrible job of it then. They still don't screen non-pax consistently and there is demonstrably close to zero threat given the lack security and even greater lack of attacks via that vector.

DHS is 99.99% chasing ghosts and fantasies. And it chases them poorly 99.99% of the time.

But note that this is why they want to screen pilots.

On a recently trip from YUL to IAD they did a swab test on my laptop and asked me to open it. Never had this before so I was like ... but now I see.

Yes, DHS wants to screen pilots. Because that will stop them blowing planes up. Ah-ha! Take that pilots in control and closed off from the rest of the crew and pax! What're you going to do *now* with a plane now that you can't blow it up!? Another win for DHS! Keeping us safe from pilots. :/

I will admit that DHS *is* fascinating to watch from the "What depths of stupid can they really plunge to now?" perspective. Although I had thought that it wasn't possible to go any deeper into the Paranoid Stupid Mines, I have been consistently proven wrong by DHS on that front.

You're missing the obvious alternative path of destruction. A pilot (whether voluntarily or involuntarily) takes unexamined contraband past a checkpoint and hands the contraband off to someone else, who uses the item to destroy a different aircraft.

It is sort of a mute point to me, and a friggin' nightmare if they stop allowing laptops on planes. You think I would trust my laptop in the hands of ramp service,?

There are tons of places beyond a laptop to hide a small amount of C4 OR a small amount of 2 liquids (or a solid and a small amount of a liquid) that when mixed can cause huge issues (extreme temperatures, highly acidic, flame...etc) .
In the days when TSA wanted you to start up the pc (which will probably return)....just because your pc starts up, doesn't mean there is not a small amount of C4 stashed in the spare Hard Disk or CD slot.
Mandatory extensive checking for explosives is probably what is necessary. The way they check for explosives now.....just required to wipe down everything.
The liquid issue is another story....what really is in the toothpaste tube or mouthwash bottle?