State of Recovery: The Quest to Restore American Security After 911 by Barry Scott Zellen

Author:Barry Scott Zellen [Zellen, Barry Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Terrorism
ISBN: 9781441123640
Google: gLtnMwEACAAJ
Goodreads: 17138067
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The lingering liquid bomb threat

Long before the improvised underwear explosive of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab nearly downed Northwest Airlines flight 253 on Christmas day in 2009—using a syringe to inject a liquid trigger to detonate his wearable IED, packed with 80 grams of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN)—airline passengers and aviation officials have been worried about the lingering liquid bomb threat, and its continued potential to thwart currently deployed security systems. Abdulmutallab’s explosive-laden skivvies were actually not a liquid bomb proper, but a binary explosive that required liquid acid to detonate the otherwise powdered explosive compound. It would only take one such detonation to paralyze one of the foundations of globalization: the international aviation system.

A sweeping series of arrests over three years earlier, in August 2006, revealed a nefarious and even more dramatic plot by Al Qaeda sympathizers to use improvised binary liquid explosives to bring down ten America-bound passenger jets departing the United Kingdom, whose destinations included Washington, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, and Montreal. That plot was so horrific that security officials quickly imposed substantial carry-on limitations, and in the early days when confusion reigned, hundreds of flights were either cancelled or delayed. Two years on, seven of the eight accused liquid bomb plotters faced a retrial. One was cleared of all charges, and seven pled guilty to creating a public nuisance. Just three plotters were found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder; those three had pled guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions, though they argued in court that their intent was not to bring down the jetliners, but instead to cause a political spectacle.

While the outcome of the trial was certainly a disappointment to all those whose lives were disrupted by their plot, and the incalculable economic costs of so many cancelled flights, delays, lost luggage, long queues, and resulting anxiety and frustration among the traveling public, it does not mean the liquid bomb plot was any less menacing, or that the liquid bomb threat has been alleviated. Indeed, the enduring lesson of the 2006 liquid bomb plot is that the aviation sector remains a top target to terrorists the world over, and if vulnerabilities are found in the aviation security system, terrorists will invariably take aim at those points of weakness.

Two days after the liquid bomb plot burst into the public’s imagination, the New York Times opined in its editorial titled “The Liquid Bomb Threat”: “The most frightening thing about the foiled plot to use liquid explosives to blow up airplanes over the Atlantic is that both the government and the aviation industry have been aware of the liquid bomb threat for years but have done little to prepare for it.”8 That would quickly change. The initial response was an outright ban on carry-on items, including liquids of all sorts; but over time these restrictions were eased, and are now generally limited to what is known as the 3–1-1 rules, with exceptions allowed for baby bottles and meds. All other bottles must be three ounces or less by volume; they must be contained in one quart-sized, clear, zip-locked.

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