DieselDragRacer
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The Transportation Security Administration warns airlines and foreign security agencies that terrorists might try to surgically implant bombs in their bodies as a way to evade security.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the intelligence that led to the warning "does not relate to an imminent or specific threat." But the TSA urges foreign security agencies to ramp up security in response.
"As a precaution, passengers flying from international locations to U.S. destinations may notice additional security measures in place," TSA spokesman Nicholas Kimball said. "Measures may include interaction with passengers, in addition to the use of other screening methods such as pat-downs and the use of enhanced tools and technologies."
Passengers flying from different locations may notice different reactions from security personnel because the agency intentionally tries to be "unpredictable," Kimball says.
The warning comes as terrorist groups try to adapt to increasing security as they attempt to attack a favorite target: the U.S. aviation system.
"Due to the significant advances in global aviation security in recent years, terrorist groups have repeatedly and publicly indicated interest in pursuing ways to further conceal explosives," Kimball says.
The notion that terrorists would attempt to implant bombs or bomb components inside the body is not new. England's Daily Mail newspaper reported in January 2010 that British intelligence had identified the issue by monitoring Internet chatter and had issued a similar warning.
Such a bomb is theoretically possible but would be technically more difficult than even the sophisticated "underwear" bomb that a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, allegedly attempted to explode on a Northwest Airlines flight headed to Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009. The bomb ignited but did not explode.
TSA Administrator John Pistole, commenting last year on a similar possibility that bombs might be inserted into body cavities, said the bombmaker would have to find a way to detonate such a bomb. If wires were connected to the bomb, those wires would theoretically be detectable by traditional airport security, such as metal detectors or the body scanners that are increasingly in use, Pistole said.
The TSA often advises airlines and other nations' security agencies after obtaining intelligence on what terrorists are potentially up to, even if the information is short of a full-fledged plot. Late last year, for example, TSA screeners began more intensively swabbing metal water bottles and Thermos-type containers for explosives after learning they might be a threat, Pistole said in January.
White House spokesman Carney confirmed that Obama has been briefed on what he said was "a possible technique that could be used" by terrorists.
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2011/07/TSA-warns-airlines-of-explosive-implants/49154470/1
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the intelligence that led to the warning "does not relate to an imminent or specific threat." But the TSA urges foreign security agencies to ramp up security in response.
"As a precaution, passengers flying from international locations to U.S. destinations may notice additional security measures in place," TSA spokesman Nicholas Kimball said. "Measures may include interaction with passengers, in addition to the use of other screening methods such as pat-downs and the use of enhanced tools and technologies."
Passengers flying from different locations may notice different reactions from security personnel because the agency intentionally tries to be "unpredictable," Kimball says.
The warning comes as terrorist groups try to adapt to increasing security as they attempt to attack a favorite target: the U.S. aviation system.
"Due to the significant advances in global aviation security in recent years, terrorist groups have repeatedly and publicly indicated interest in pursuing ways to further conceal explosives," Kimball says.
The notion that terrorists would attempt to implant bombs or bomb components inside the body is not new. England's Daily Mail newspaper reported in January 2010 that British intelligence had identified the issue by monitoring Internet chatter and had issued a similar warning.
Such a bomb is theoretically possible but would be technically more difficult than even the sophisticated "underwear" bomb that a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, allegedly attempted to explode on a Northwest Airlines flight headed to Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009. The bomb ignited but did not explode.
TSA Administrator John Pistole, commenting last year on a similar possibility that bombs might be inserted into body cavities, said the bombmaker would have to find a way to detonate such a bomb. If wires were connected to the bomb, those wires would theoretically be detectable by traditional airport security, such as metal detectors or the body scanners that are increasingly in use, Pistole said.
The TSA often advises airlines and other nations' security agencies after obtaining intelligence on what terrorists are potentially up to, even if the information is short of a full-fledged plot. Late last year, for example, TSA screeners began more intensively swabbing metal water bottles and Thermos-type containers for explosives after learning they might be a threat, Pistole said in January.
White House spokesman Carney confirmed that Obama has been briefed on what he said was "a possible technique that could be used" by terrorists.
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2011/07/TSA-warns-airlines-of-explosive-implants/49154470/1
