Security ... think about it!
“Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has been briefed on the incident aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 and is closely monitoring the situation,” said the statement released by DHS Press Secretary Sara Kuban.
Let’s start with the fact that there is no screening system or requirement in place at international airports that will detect explosives. If the preliminary reports that the Nigerian brought firecrackers on the plane that’s not surprising at all. Fireworks normally do not contain any metal and will pass undetected through any of the walk thru metal detectors used throughout the world. Here we are 8 years after the 9-11 attacks and we still employ security detection systems incapable of detecting explosives.
The official said some of the measures might be noticeable to the traveling public, while others would be unseen. They would likely include increased personnel, bomb-sniffing dogs and increased "behavioral detection" methods employed by screeners.
Douglas R. Laird, former security director for Northwest Airlines, said he has advocated for years that airports switch from X-rays and metal detectors to full-body scans -- a move that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars more, but that he insists would help prevent terrorist attempts like the one reported Christmas Day. "If you don't use a body scan, you don't know what the person has under his clothing," said Laird, who helmed Northwest security from 1989 to 1995. He is now president of Nevada-based Laird & Assoc. and advises airlines and governments about airport security issues. "We've talked about this for 20 years. I hate to say it, but you get what you pay for."
According to the Coast Guard, the maritime security zone includes a portion of Kailua Bay, beginning at Kapoho Point and extending westward to the shoreline at Namala Place, near the Castles surf spot. The zone also includes the adjacent Kawainui Channel beginning at Kapoho Point to a point 85 yards mauka of the North Kalaheo Avenue Bridge. Yellow buoys will be placed on the water so mariners can see the zone, officials said.
Melbourne Airport has received instructions from the Australian government to boost security checks tomorrow, said a spokesman, Damian Tkalec. Taiwan has imposed an additional security check of passengers and carry-on items at boarding gates for U.S. flights from the island’s international airports, Liu Chang-hui, spokesman for the Aviation Police Office, said
