WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2007
GAO: Bomb Parts Snuck Past Airport Checks
Investigators Got Through Passenger Checkpoints With IED Components
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Play CBS Video Video Bomb Parts Pass TSA Checks A GAO report obtained exclusively by CBS News shows undercover investigators passed through airport security checkpoints with equipment to make explosive devices. Bob Orr reports.
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(CBS/AP)
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The report, obtained exclusively by CBS News, details how GAO investigators conducted covert tests at 19 airports earlier this year to test the vulnerabilities of the passenger screening process. The investigators succeeded in passing through TSA checkpoints undetected with components for making improvised explosive devices (IED) and improvised incendiary devices (IID).
"Our tests clearly demonstrate that a terrorist group, using publicly available information and a few resources, could cause severe damage to an airplane and threaten the safety of passengers," the report states.
Investigators identified two devices a terrorist could use to cause such "severe damage." The first was an IED made up of a "liquid explosive and a low yield detonator." The second was an IID "created by combining commonly available products (one of which is a liquid) that TSA prohibits in carry-on luggage." The bomb parts were purchased over the Internet and from a local store for approximately $150, according to the report.
The investigators demonstrated how it is possible to bring parts for these devices "through TSA checkpoints and onto airline flights without being challenged by transportation security officers," according to the report.Read The GAO's Aviation Security Report
Specific details about the components and methods of concealment for these devices are classified, however the report states the components were concealed in carry-on luggage and on the bodies of investigators.
The report also details some of the interactions between TSA officers and the GAO investigators. On one occasion, a TSA officer did not allow an investigator to pass through with a small, unlabeled bottle of medical shampoo - a "legitimate toiletry item," according to the report. "However, a liquid component of the IID - despite being prohibited by TSA - was allowed to pass undetected through the checkpoint."
More precise technology, like so-called backscatter x-rays could eventually help screeners find hidden bomb parts, but that equipment is still being tested.
For, now the Transportation Security Administration is relying on 2,500 undercover tests every day to keep screeners on their toes.
"That means every checkpoint, every shift, everyday, every one of the four hundred fifty some airports that we have," says TSA Administrator Kip Hawley.
Still, the failures exposed by the GAO report underscore a long-held fear that a team of terrorists working together could easily beat the system.
"If you start to break up all the components over several different people, and you bring them in in different ways, on your person, in your carry-on luggage, how is a TSA screener supposed to put all those pieces together?" says CBS News security analyst Paul Kurtz.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Michelle Obama tells how her role as the First Lady has changed her perspective.
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See all 124 CommentsAs we all know, freedom isn''t free in this country. Therefore, in the wake of our successful fundraising event of November 5th, in which we all came together to raise $4.2 million dollars for Ron Paul''s campaign, we''ve set yet another date for an even bigger fundraiser. This one will take place during on December 16th: a very important date for people who love freedom and hate tyranny to ring the Liberty Bell, and let our sold-out, globalist, political ****** and their mainstream media enablers know that good Americans are mad as hell, and that we''re not going to take it anymore. December 16th is the 224th aniversary of The Boston Tea Party: an act of protest by the American colonists against the tyranny of Great Britain where the Sons of Liberty boarded British ships and dumped crates of tea overboard into Boston Harbor. It was a key event which helped to spark the American Revolution, and we hope this event will, likewise, add additional spark to our own 21st Century political revolution to restore peace, prosperity and freedom to our Republic by helping elect a President whose record of adherance to The Constitution is unmatched by anyone in American politics. Please join us this December 16th for the largest one-day political donation event in history. Our goal is to bring together 100,000 people to donate $100 each, creating a one day donation total of $10,000,000. The time to act is now. The time for Ron Paul is NOW! TeaParty07.com
My fellow Americans need to open their eyes to the fact that our Republic, along with The Constitution upon which it was founded, is being flushed-down the toilet by our nations'' bought and paid for politicians and media. While the Oligarchs warn and incite fear in the sheeple about the prospect of terrorism, they at the same time leave our borders wide open, and then conduct illegal wars overseas that do nothing but incite the terrorism which their Orwellian Laws like the Patriot Act and the John Warner Defense Authorization Act pretend to protect us from. Wake up America! It''s not about protecting you from terrorism, or Global Warming, or any of that other fear-mongering garbage the sold-out, mainstream media feeds you 24/7. It''s about feeding the bankers and the military industrial complex, and facilitating the global elite''s ability to ratchet-down control over the American people, placing us into a total control grid where they can surveille, track and control everywhere we go and everything we do. It''s the groundwork for tyranny. It''s the New World Order plan of Bush, Clinton, Edwards, McCain, Giuliani, et.al., being executed quite beautifully. You''re a frog in a pot: In order to cook a frog, you don''t throw him into a pot of boiling water. If you do, he''ll resist and jump-out. What you do instead is, you turn the heat-up REAL SLOW, and by the time the water is boiling, he won''t be able to jump out anymore, because it''s too late--he''s already doomed.
- Samual Adams
"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
- James Madison
"Those that give give up essential liberties for temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
- Abraham Lincoln
"We have nothing to fear but fear itself, and those who would exploit our fear for power and their own personal, selfish, cynical gain."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
"When the people fear their government, you have tyranny. When the government fears the people, you have liberty."
- Thomas Jefferson
-- No more meddling in other country''s political affairs
-- No more aggressive military actions overseas
-- No more torture prisons
-- No more pseudo-wars like the "War on Drugs"
-- No more IRS and unconstitutional income taxes
-- No more Federal Reserve (the group of private banks which owns our government)
-- No more erosion of Social Security to pay for militarization
-- No more U.N. (one world government) participation
-- No more NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO or GATT
-- No more North American Union
-- No more federal gun control laws
-- No more illegal aliens pouring-in over our country''s borders
-- No more illegal aliens allowed to roam freely in our streets
-- No more national ID cards (Real ID Act)
-- No more government invasion of your privacy
-- No more federal Laws which are not authorized by The Constitution
-- No more federal erosion of State sovereignty
-- No more unlimited federal government
They don''t call him "Dr. No" for no reason. The Doctor is in! Join us in this 21st Century political revolution at ronpaul2008.com
"Liberty, when it takes root, is a plant of rapid growth."
- George Washington
"if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom."
- Samual Adams
"Ron Paul doesn''t represent your Father''s school of political thought. He represents your Founding Fathers."
- Me
They may have finally got to the bottom of the 9-11 CIA/United Airlines insider trading...
Seems a Bu$h buddy and Halliburton employee named Kronger is under suspicion for netting $22 million for his part in placing ''''put options'''' on some airlines stock, possibly knowing which planes would be flown into the WTC buildings...
Could it be that some in the CIA and the Pentagon actually pulled off 9/11?
Why was Cheney in command of NORAD that day?
What exactly did Bu$h know about the atrocity?
Will personal greed be the undoing of the cabal?
#2 the only liquids that should be allowed on are medications (with dr''s note given to the airlines and specified on the boarding pass) and baby food. all of which should be tested.
I personally know TSOs and they have the hardest time with passengers because all they do is get their items taken, or they have to walk them out to check a bag with the prohibited items into the cargo, not even a slap on the wrist or a sturn talking to. If they start making them start all over(go to the end of the 50 minute security line) when they find violations maybe they would check their bags better, or fines would be a better deturant.
The customer service is getting in the way of security!!!!!!!
By the way profiling doesn''t work, you tell me what does a threat look like, did you know that men over 70 are the most likely to succeed in suicide. and Are you going to question every 6-12 year old child with dark hair and olive skin. guess what, they are the latest in suicide bombs and even younger are stood in front of convoys to stop the military. so you tell me who looks like a threat!
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Posted by alexma50085 at 10:00 AM : Nov 15, 2007
He didn''t say arrest them. This is a common sense approach since 99.9 % of attacks are perpetrated by a single group. Also, the Muslim community has done NOTHING to help. The Muslim leaders in this country need to denounce terrorism LOUDLY.
Posted by lel2007 at 08:04 AM : Nov 15, 2007
How intolorant are you??? That''s like saying every black man is on drugs and will rob you and every Mexican is an illegal immigrant here to steal American jobs. You are only part of the problem.
THIS IS AMERICA, BUSH IF YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN, WE THE PEOPLE OF THIS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, YOUR BOSS HAVE SAID YOU CANT SAVE YOUR BUDDIES IN THE LARGE WORLD OF CORPS. THEY GO BANKURP OH WELL YOU ARE LETTING MILLIONS OF AMERICANS FILE BANKRUPEY.
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Our incongruous president says we are winning the war on terror, but I say the terrorist are winning. The whole job of a terrorist is to make people afraid, and right now the American people are on the brink of paranoia.
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