Guy Builds Ten Weapons With Products Purchased After Getting Through Airport Security
from the security-theater dept
If past history is any indication, it seems likely that the little convenience shop on the "air side" of most airports is soon going to be told to stop selling certain items. Last week a few sites, including Boing Boing, Gizmodo and Business Insider, all had stories on a guy who showed how to build a small bomb in less than ten minutes with items that could all be purchased after already passing through TSA security in an airport. The bomb may not be that big, but you could see how it could do at least some damage (and, given the situation, it's not that difficult to imagine ways to make changes to it that would be more damaging).![](https://i.imgur.com/Hm6auztl.png)
That’s a great question. An even better question is: What if they already know all this? All of these findings have been reported to the Department of Homeland Security (TSA) to help them better detect these types of threats. Furthermore, the next time you fly, you’ll be flying as a more informed consumer (and taxpayer, possibly) — one who is more equipped to demand better, more appropriate airport security.Which, of course, is really the point. Pretending that keeping this info secret makes people safer means believing that if you don't know about a security hole it goes away.
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Filed Under: airport, evan booth, security, tsa, weapons
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It wouldn't surprise me if people made weapons from things found aboard the very plane they're flying on.
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What didn't make his list:
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What's TSA been doing all this time?
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Re: Mentos
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O_O
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Thanks
Sometimes just proving something can be done doesn't mean it something you should do.
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Re: What's TSA been doing all this time?
Junior high and high school students.
It would go something like this(Either A or B):
A) Set up a competition, where numerous schools are provided the contents of your typical airport gift-shop, given a month to brain-storm and create, and tell them that the top three schools to come up with the most numerous 'potentially dangerous designs' will receive a reward.
B) Same as A, except tell them that it's just a 'creativity' challenge, warn them strongly that they are not to create anything that looks like a weapon, and then at the end of the month see how many ways the little crazies have come up with to turn otherwise harmless items into things that go boom, zap, slice, or otherwise cause havoc, all while looking harmless.
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Re: What didn't make his list:
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Like you said, prisoners can fashion crude weapons from basic materials. A mirror (those haven't been banned yet, right?) can be broken and wrapped with some toilet paper to make a simple shiv.
Plastic cutlery (or a toothbrush, etc.) can be sharpened against some abrasive surface (the bathroom wall?) into a deadly cutting edge.
These are just some examples.
For those not familiar, those crude weapons are sharp, and rather effective in the hands of someone with the right motivation. One slice on your jugular and you're dead.
Anyway, six people thus armed can take over a plane, no problem, especially if they make an example out of some hapless passenger first. They could also - alternatively - grab some people in the airport terminal and hold a "knife" to their throats*.
Obsessing over what bits people can bring into airplanes, and what kinds of weapons they can fashion with those bits is both unhealthy and unproductive. Time would be better spent trying to figure out ways to make airports and planes a less desirable target...like locking and hardening the pilot cabin doors, which has done more for security than all of these years of theater.
* In both situations, the "terrorists" will get torn to shreds by officers with guns, but, as we know, the point of terrorism is to show up in the news, not necessarily make it out alive.
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Re: Thanks
the government telling the corporate sponsors they aren't allowed to sell things at inflated prices to a captive audience?
TSA vs Corps...
I expect to see some congresscritters getting more "donations" shortly...
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the flying public who most likely will pull out their phones to instagram what is going on rather than get involved?
While some people with bad intentions have been stopped, more people are aware of the bad things that happen to people who take action rather than wait for someone else to solve it.
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Re: O_O
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LOl
This just proves that the TSA is not there to protect against attacks , it is to brainwash the public into accepting that the right to freely move around the country is really in the hands of the government.
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Not anymore. They could start to take over a plane and get swarmed by passengers. They might be able to kill a few people, but they wouldn't get into the cockpit before they were taken down unless they had better weapons than anything in these videos.
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Re: Re: What's TSA been doing all this time?
Except there is absolutely no chance of having anything even remotely resembling a weapons building contest at a school.
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Sooo..
For those that DONT get it, this USED to be the BASIC info in most chemical books from the early years..
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Re: Re:
Ask Richard Reid and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
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THE.MAN.IS.A.SECURITY.RESEARCHER.
So enough with the "OMG, AREST THE TURREST!".
Thank You.
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