http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Planes_Security_Weak_Link.html Saturday, August 26, 2006 . Last updated 9:22 a.m. PT Overseas airports can be weak link By LESLIE MILLER ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER WASHINGTON -- A passenger's stick of dynamite on a flight from Argentina to Houston exposed a weak link in aviation security: International airports are not always as secure as those in the United States. U.S. and Argentine authorities were investigating how the explosive made it onto the airplane in a college student's checked bag. The dynamite was discovered during a baggage search in an inspection station at Bush Intercontinental Airport shortly after a Continental Airlines flight landed Friday. Officials said terrorism was not involved and that the student said he works in mining and often handles explosives. The head of the Transportation Security Administration said the government is aware of the potential problem posed by international airports and is taking steps to fix it. "We are focused on getting a base level of security around the world," Kip Hawley said in an interview to air Sunday on C-SPAN. "We'll put in additional measures where we think we need to." Airline passengers traveling from U.S. and British airports are now barred from bring onboard any liquids and gels after an alleged terrorist plot was broken up in Britain. Authorities said the terrorists planned to use liquid explosives to blow up as many as 10 U.S.-bound airplanes simultaneously. There have been several attempts to destroy airplanes with bombs in checked baggage. In 1988, 270 people died in the air and on the ground when a bomb in a checked bag exploded on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Many countries use bomb-detection equipment for checked baggage that does not meet U.S. standards, according to a report last year by the Homeland Security Department. "Checkpoint and checked baggage security measures have been radically improved in the U.S. since 9/11 and similar levels of improvements are essential in the rest of the world," the report said. "From the U.S. perspective, we are particularly concerned about security on flights inbound to our nation, but the worldwide fight against terrorism argues for making improvements universal." It was not immediately clear what kind of bomb screening equipment is used in Buenos Aires Airport in Argentina. But Bob Hesselbein, the national security committee chairman for the Air Line Pilots Association, said Saturday the equipment used in the U.S. would have detected a stick of dynamite. "It will identify chemicals common to dynamite," Hesselbein said. A U.N. group, the International Civil Aviation Organization, sets basic security standards for civil aviation worldwide. These standards generally are lower than those for U.S. airports. The organization plans to meet in Montreal in September to discuss raising the standards for international aviation security, including the kinds of liquids that should be allowed on airliners. Hesselbein recently attended the group's security conference in the Dominican Republic. "Airports in South and Central America are complaining they have to comply with TSA standards," Hesselbein said. "The greatest challenge they confront is not having the funds." Hawley said in the past few weeks he has talked to many of his counterparts in other countries - including Britain and the European Union - about tighter security standards. Hawley said TSA inspectors visit international airports that have U.S.-bound flights and audit their security systems and procedures against the U.N. organization's benchmarks. In the past year, TSA inspectors determined that an airport in Bali and one in Haiti fell short of the standards. Airlines and airports were required to tell passengers traveling between the United States and the airports in Bali and Haiti that there were security lapses. The requirement was lifted in July for Haiti. The agency did not return requests Saturday for information about its response to the incident in Argentina. --- On the Net: Transportation Security Administration: http://www.tsa.gov FAIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with "Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use" legally eliminates the need to obtain permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials if the purposes of display include "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 establishes four criteria for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies as a "fair use". A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four criteria to qualify as an instance of "fair use". Rather, "fair use" is determined by the overall extent to which the cited work does or does not substantially satisfy the criteria in their totality. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: <http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION IS PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/