Christmas terror plot: one year onTerror plot a "wake-up call" -- but experts differ on lessons to be drawn
Experts debate the significance of the terror attempt on Flight 253 last Christmas; Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University, called it a “daring” plan that was “as close to an aviation disaster as we’ve been since 9/11”; to Hoffman, Flight 253 was a “wake-up call”; Bruce Schneier, who is a critic of many of the security measures initiated by DHS, says the real lesson of Flight 253 is that “Two things have made us safer since 9/11: reinforcing cockpit doors and convincing passengers they can fight back”; Schneier says technology is not the answer: “We can’t continue to let terrorists spend $4,000 to change their tactics and we spend $100 million in airport security in response. That’s not sustainable”
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab failed in what federal prosecutors say was a plan to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day last year, but the incident succeeded in adding another layer in a growing gauntlet of security measures at the nation’s airports.
In the twelve months since the smoke cleared onboard Northwest Flight 253 and the airplane landed safely at Detroit Metro Airport, the number of full-body scanners used to screen passengers has jumped 11-fold, as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rushed to install machines that might catch devices similar to the type the Nigerian man stashed in his underwear.
From air marshals to explosive trace detectors to scans that see through clothing, air travel has become a sobering cycle of attacks and high-tech responsive countermeasures. Experts believe terrorists are already working on ways around the latest security measures.
“It (full-body scanners) won’t catch anybody,” said Bruce Schneier, a security consultant and author of Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World. “Terrorists aren’t stupid; they adjust to the security in place,” says Schneier, who is a critic of many of the security measures initiated by DHS.
The Detroit News reports that there were 40 full-body scanners in use at 19 airports prior to the failed Christmas Day plot; today, there are 464 in 75 airports, according to Jim Fotino, Midwest region spokesman for the TSA. Authorities hope to have 1,000 of the machines in place by the end of 2011. The machines cost between $100,000 and $200,000 apiece.
The scanners, which produce detailed, three-dimensional images of travelers, are supposed to identify objects hidden under clothing.
“We had a rapid deployment to look for items like those seen last year (in the Christmas Day attempted bombing),” Fotino said.
“It’s not a silver bullet technology. We’ve always had a layered security system — marshals, K-9 teams, advanced screening,” Fotino said.
The Detroit News notes that those layers began in 1970, when President Richard Nixon ordered marshals to fly on some flights in response to the hijacking of airplanes by the Palestine Liberation Army. Three years later, metal
