With recent events, do you think airport security will increase?

[Ally]

There can't be a single person anywhere on the planet that has not seen or heard about the death of Bin Laden.

The EU nations have been pressing for the removal of the liquids ban in handluggage...which could start in or around 2013.

In light of what has now happened, do you anticipate an increase in security at airports or do you think it will remain as is?

Personally, I feel its fine as it is (at least on this side of the pond & the Far East in my experience)...and that both paranoia along with complacency are far more dangerous than any one person or organisation can be who wish to do us harm.

Having experienced some extremely lackadaisical security at a very large international airport in the US in 2008, I would hope that the level of complacency will decrease and common sense (read : basic security measures) increase.

What does everyone else think?

[G-CPTN]

I heard an interview with an airport spokesperson who hinted that they had been about to relax the restrictions, and he suggested that future checks might be more 'concentrated' rather than being blanket prohibitions.

[Ally]

Last night I watched a fascinating documentary on NatGeoTV about the now infamous liquid bomb plot that was thwarted by British intelligence & police in 2006. It was an almost exact copy of the original liquid bomb plot of 1994, involving Ramzi Yousef - the WTC bomber of 1993, that actually did have a 'dry run' (PAL flight 434 - full details on google).

http://natgeotv.com/uk/liquid-bomb-plot/about

The film was first shown in April and is due to show again on June 2 at 8pm in the UK.

It gives an amazing insight into how the liquids ban came about...and how the whole scenario might have been different, and how the planned arrests of those involved in London & Pakistan almost came a cropper due to US impatience.

Anyone interested in the liquid ban in handluggage & what caused it to be tightened up should watch the film. Highly recommended viewing.

[Chris G6 UXU]

Evening Ally, I would imagine that airport security will not be relaxed now after what has happened this week and will stay on high alert.

[G-CPTN]

Airport security procedures were tightened after a plan to carry-on otherwise innocuous materials that were to be combined to make an explosive mixture.
The plot was foiled, and no such event too place.

Meanwhile, several guys carried explosives onto trains and a bus, and detonated these, killing and injuring many passengers.
No procedures have been introduced to monitor those who might repeat these outrages.

I recently travelled on a London Underground train on the very section as that which the bomber travelled on the morning of 7th July (Kings Cross to Russell Square).
With me was my son who had been in the adjacent carriage to the bomber on that day:-
We were surrounded by passengers travelling with suitcases and rucksacks, and the carriage was crowded. It was a similar time of day, too.

I found it very emotional . . .

[Ally]

The original 'dry run' for liquid explosives on board an airliner occurred on December 11, 1994.

Ramzi Yousef, a known & very active Al-Qaeda operative who was responsible (and subsequently jailed) for the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, had put together a liquid bomb comprising of explosive carried inside a contact lens fluid bottle, he carried that n his handluggage with componants in his shoes and the wristwatch on his arm.

He boarded Philippine Airlines flight 434 - a B747 - that was going from Pasay City to Narita via Cebu. He placed the device in the lifevest holder under his seat - once he had reconstructed the bomb in the toilet cubicle on board.

He got off the plane in Cebu and another passenger sat in the affected seat.

When the timer reached its trigger point, the bomb exploded, killing the passenger and wounding several others. The aircraft was damaged but not enough to bring it down. The crew diverted to Naha and made a successful emergency landing.

Subsequent investigations by the Philippine authorities uncovered plans & equipment that were to have brought down 12 aircraft heading for the US that year. Yousef got away but was eventually recaptured and jailed in the US.

In 2006, the London liquid bomb plot was discovered and thwarted by the British, it was the 2006 plot that was featured in the film last night. The original 1994 plot has been featured in an episode of Air Crash Investigation on NatGeoTV.

The attacks of 7/7 (along with the Madrid train attack and several other well publicised attacks) have all stemmed from the same group as the two thwarted liquid bomb plots involving airliners.

With the best will in the world, I honestly cannot see there ever being a 100% foolproof way to keep every form of transport completely safe. If an individual or organisation wants to do harm enough, they will always find a way to do so....however, we can make that harder for them to succeed, the main weapon against them is not to be complacent, which I believe some countries have been in the past. The attacks of 9/11 woke up those countries but the complacency has started to creep back into society, hopefully not to the extent that led to 9/11.

Had it not been for the Philippine & British authorities, there could easily have been a total of 24 aircraft...fully loaded widebodied...knocked out of the skies in 1994 and 2006.

Vigilance is key, complaceny & paranoia cannot be allowed to ride roughshod over basic common sense, such as security measures at ports & airports. Attacks like those that took place and those that have been thwarted prove (or should prove) that we are not immune to aggression and that just cos we spend billions on defence does not mean that we are impenetrable.