Columbia

Janet Napolitano was just on NPR flapping her gums about the security screening responsibility and that it would "at least be shared with the cargo providers."

Foiled Cargo Bomb Plot Shows U.S. Security System Worked, Napolitano Says : The Two-Way : NPR

Fixing cargo security system would cost billions - Yahoo! Finance
Fixing cargo security system would cost billions

Improving cargo security system could cost billions -- and offer little extra protection



FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2010 file photo, the FedEx regional hub at Terminal 2 of Dubai airport is seen in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The glaring weakness of the cargo shipping system has been laid bare by the Yemen-based mail bomb plot _ but the cost of fixing it may be too high for governments, airlines and shippers to stomach during a global downturn. Analysts warn that the cost of screening every piece of air cargo in a bid to prevent terrorists from downing airliners might bankrupt international shipping companies, hobble already weakened airlines and still would not provide full protection. (AP Photo/Farhad Berahman, File)


Gregory Katz, Associated Press, On Monday November 1, 2010, 5:27 pm
LONDON (AP) -- The technology exists to safeguard the world's air transport system against threats like the Yemen-based mail bombs, but the cost may be too high to be practical.
Analysts warn that the cost of screening every piece of air cargo in a bid to prevent terrorists from downing airliners might bankrupt international shipping companies, hobble already weakened airlines and still not provide full protection.
"In a worst case, it would stop world trade," said James Halstead, a longtime consultant with the Aviation Economics firm. "UPS and FedEx would probably go bust. We'd have a full-disaster scenario."
The cost of the extra effort, he said, "would be almost too much to consider."
Many countries already conduct extensive checks of cargo, Halstead said. But the increasingly sophisticated technology used by terrorist groups makes further refinements extremely difficult.
Authorities "do as much checking as they can in many places, but it's the danger of these small items that is the problem," he said.
The problem is compounded by the frequent use of passenger flights to carry cargo, some of which has not been properly screened.
In last week's narrowly averted plot, one device almost slipped through Britain and the other seized in Dubai was unwittingly flown on two passenger jets. Investigators were still piecing together the potency and construction of the two bombs, which they believed were designed by the top explosives expert working for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based faction thought to be behind the plot.
More than half of the cargo flown into the United States comes via passenger planes, making cargo bombs a tempting way for terror groups to attack civilian passengers.
As of Aug. 1, all cargo on passengers planes in the U.S. is required to be screened. It's estimated that the new rule will cost $700 million and require 9,000 employees in just the first year, according to the Airforwarders Association.
Cargo flights departing for the U.S. from another country are handled differently. Currently, American authorities do not get details about what's on a cargo plane until four hours before it's supposed to land in the U.S. Once it lands, officials physically screen packages that warrant a closer look based on intelligence.
Jayson Ahern, former acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said new rules should be adopted to ensure that the U.S. gets information on what cargo planes are carrying before they leave for the U.S.
Having the information before the plane leaves would give officials a chance to flag packages that might require extra attention.
The Yemen-based branch of al-Qaida has expanded its use of PETN plastic explosives in the last year, posing severe detection problems, particularly in locations where shipping companies and airlines use older equipment to scan cargo.
Some next-generation machines can pick up traces of chemical explosives, but the costs are extremely high. Swabbing packages individually for explosives is considered the most effective way to scan, but that's not a practical option for the millions of packages that crisscross the globe every day.
A comprehensive switch to these swabbing devices would create massive delays of everything from clothing to iPods. Relatively inexpensive cargo transport would become a thing of the past, with draconian implications for world trade.
The cost of these machines would likely be in the billions of dollars, and would be economically impossible for some countries.
"The technology exists," said aviation systems expert Philip Butterworth-Hayes. "It's horrendously expensive and will take many years to install at all the various cargo depots and freight-forwarding places. If you add up all the places cargo can access the airside at airports, there are many thousands of places, and to put screening units in all those places is very complicated."
He said that to put up-to-date screening equipment in every location would not be possible in the next two years even if money was available.
Butterworth-Hayes said governments -- not airlines or shippers -- should pay for the new equipment since national security is at stake.
European airport operators have cautiously endorsed more screening measures but are urging that national governments shoulder at least a portion of the rapidly expanding costs of aviation security, which in Europe are borne by the airport companies.
"The economics of security is definitely an angle we've been concerned with for some time," said Robert O'Meara, spokesman for the European branch of Airport Council International.
Statistics show that security currently accounts for 35 percent of airport operating costs in Europe, in contrast to just 5 to 8 percent before the 9/11 attacks. Forty percent of all airport employees at the continent's 313 airports are now security-related staff.
Any additional requirements for the closer screening of air cargo will likely drive up those costs still further.
Magnus Ranstorp, a specialist with the Swedish National Defense College, said it would be too expensive to try to establish a foolproof system because of the constantly changing tactics used by terrorist groups.
Instead, he said, efforts should be made to keep cargo off passenger planes -- a change that in itself would prove extremely costly for airlines, which derive substantial revenue from cargo -- and eliminating cargo service from high-risk countries, like Yemen.
"You just have to be more rigorous, because these groups are constantly coming up with innovations," he said. "They will move onto something else."
Jill Lawless in London, Slobodan Lekic in Brussels, Samantha L. Bomkamp in New York and Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.

mmaviator

Not sure if this has posted anywhere yet but guess where the tipoff came from.

Cargo plane bomb plot tipoff came from ex-Guantánamo Bay detainee | World news | guardian.co.uk

"Yemen has revealed that a former Guantánamo Bay detainee who fled to the country from Saudi Arabia after his release by the US tipped off authorities about the plot to send bombs on cargo planes."

Columbia

Napolitano's NPR audio from 11/1/10 is now available for listening. Her response to screening all cargo on cargo planes and who is responsible.

Foiled Cargo Bomb Plot Shows U.S. Security System Worked, Napolitano Says : The Two-Way : NPR

DYNASTY HVY

If I remember correctly the news channels used to tell the public this info every day for the longest time so what changed this ?
The old man basically but not in so many words told me what was posted above in regards to containers.



ALLY

heniek1812

I ended up in this forum to read what others thought about the Yemen Affair and read the following exchange.

and the response was this

I happen to like history and thought that the response was not well thought out and bit reactionary. Also incorrect.

The following link will give an outline of the crusades ALONG WITH references to back up the comment by "atpcliff".

THE CRUSADES TO THE HOLY LAND

heniek1812

This is getting more and more interesting as time goes by

Al-Qaeda plot: David Cameron 11 hours in dark over bomb - Telegraph

Guess he didn't need to know. Didn't the same happen to Obama and those missiles going down.

dosbo

Thanks, It keeps the bills paid during my extended mandatory vacation. There are worse ways to make a living.

I never got to fly the snakes, I bet they were a kick in the pants too, the front seat controls looked interesting.

FDXLAG

So what was the primary reason for the Crusades, particularly the 1st Crusade?

From your web site:

Events turned for the worse in the East, however, in the beginning of the eleventh century.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was completed in 335 on the site of Christ's crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, was destroyed in 1009 by Hakim, the Fatimid Caliph of Egypt. A new wave of Muslim aggression by the Seljuk Turks led to Christian persecution in the Holy Land and the invasion of the Byzantine Empire. The defeat of the Byzantines at the decisive Battle of Manzikert in 1071 gave the Seljuk Turks possession of Asia Minor. Nicaea and then Antioch fell to the Turks. Constantinople was vulnerable, and pilgrimages to the Holy Land abruptly ended. This led Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus to appeal to Pope Urban II for help. The Emperor sent his emissaries to the Pope's Council of Piacenza in the March of 1095, with a request for knights to defend the East.

There were many reasons for US involvement in WW II. However the primary reason was to stop Axis aggression. If one were to say a big impetus for WW II was to get american industry back on it feet, one would be technically correct, but it would be insulting and not provide an accurate account for american involvement.

Jetjok

Didn't those knights have game boys? I mean, you'd think they lived in the dark ages or something. On another note, how about we try to focus on the issue at hand, which of course is, ah, what was the original point of this post?

JJ

HazCan

Good luck with that JJ, it's been hijacked!