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Thursday, November 15, 2007

Bomb Parts Make It Through Airport Screeners...Again

This can be filed under "NOT doing the job you're supposed to do"

The report, obtained exclusively by CBS News, details how GAO investigators conducted covert tests at 19 airports earlier this year to test the vulnerabilities of the passenger screening process. The investigators succeeded in passing through TSA checkpoints undetected with components for making improvised explosive devices (IED) and improvised incendiary devices (IID).

[...]

Investigators identified two devices a terrorist could use to cause such "severe damage." The first was an IED made up of a "liquid explosive and a low yield detonator." The second was an IID "created by combining commonly available products (one of which is a liquid) that TSA prohibits in carry-on luggage." The bomb parts were purchased over the Internet and from a local store for approximately $150, according to the report.