"Two individuals, both well-known members of extremist forums, according to Aviran, have been leading these discussions which include the use of Botulinum toxin. Botulinum is one of the deadliest substances known to mankind."
"The two individuals have been participating in Islamic Internet forums for several years and are known to the intelligence gatherers at Terrogence."
"These are not kids talking about using biological agents to attack planes. These are two very sophisticated participants who are experts in chemical and biological agents."
http://abcnews.go.com/International/northwest-flight-253-terrorist-attempt-online-extremists-discussed-blowing-planes/story?id=9471721
A group of young men sitting behind me had hoped to take advantage of the free alcohol served throughout the long flight, but they were told by staff that the authorities "wouldn't be happy if they continued".
grrrr
This last Aug. I flew from my home in Maui over to Sacramento with a short stop in Honolulu to change planes. I didn’t have a good carry on so I borrowed one from a friend but did not know there was a hunting knife in one of the little zip pockets. (a fold up one like a buck knife) I found it after I got to my destination and called home to let the friend know that his knife made it through. He had missed the knife and didn’t know what had happened to it, he thought he lost it somewhere. Well, he has his knife back now. Security missed it throughout my flight.
How then was I was able to unwittingly carry a 200ml hairspray can ....after two separate supposedly rigorous security checks?
Maybe she didn’t look Islamic enough to warrent a second look!
Back years ago, before this modern age of nanny state TSA insanity I’d fly commercial with a bag full of interesting stuff, like a mini oxy-torch, and cans of this and that, and some good knives. Let’s go Israeli here — that’s the only kind of system that can work, long term.
Heck, I got on with a stun gun in my coat pocket that I forgot I had there.
The TSA is the most useless federal agency ever.
Twits
Standing
Around
Really, though, how many different sorts of things in how many bags per hour can a person running a luggage x-ray machine be reasonably expected to notice without it stretching their attention beyond its limits? Maybe a couple of things like guns, large knives and obvious bombs, but they’re supposed to be looking for all sorts of contraband in amongst all the clutter that shows up on the screen - drugs, liquids, who knows what else? I’m not surprised if all sorts of things can slip through when they’re looking at every single bag coming through. A more selective approach would reduce workload and increase the chances of finding prohibited items.
I once met someone who had one of those large Western-style belt buckles with a sculpture of a pistol on it, only it wasn’t a sculpture, it was an actual mini-pistol which detached from the belt buckle. He told me he got it through airport security.