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I wonder if there've been any cases of a bomb being planted in the cargo, and being set off by remote device from someone in the plane.
Then again, I wonder how much of the baggage is screened, but we dont see it.
I mean, I've gone on a few cruises. Considering there are thousands of people, it'd take all week to screen every bag, thus, the use of dogs.
No big deal either way... people who get all uppity & indignant about it are looking for a reason to raise hell anyway.
Well then - since no terrorist has done it, no need to check for it.
According to the TSA's testimony to Congress, quite a bit.
http://www.tsa.gov/press/speeches/031809_kelly_air_cargo.shtm
As of a couple days ago, they screen 50% of it. The rest - not.
They have had 8 years to get this done. Failed.
But more intensive passenger screenings will make up for it.
Right.
I wonder if there've been any cases of a bomb being planted in the cargo, and being set off by remote device from someone in the plane. Then again, I wonder how much of the baggage is screened, but we dont see it. I mean, I've gone on a few cruises. Considering there are thousands of people, it'd take all week to screen every bag, thus, the use of dogs.
If you don't stand up for your rights, they'll slowly be stripped away. I'm indignant at being treated as a criminal for wanting to fly in an airplane. Making a fuss at checkpoint isn't a useful way to protest--the people there can't change the policy--but I am not happy about the current system, and I sure as heck want my congressman and senators to know that.
. I mean there's been a butt load of money dumped into the whole thing. Do you really want the gov't to waste all of that??? C'mon...
8yrs to get what done??
Explosive Detection Systems work more efficiently than dogs, and can detect more threats. Despite their moniker, an EDS can detect more than just explosives.
Baggage/cargo gets loaded in to an EDS system at a port (incl. an airport). Sometimes every bag gets screened, sometimes random bags get screened - depends on the port. The system then sends a series of radio waves across the baggage, with the waves targeting a set of detector crystals on the opposite side of the wave. The detector crystals receive the wave that is modulated by whatever material the wave went through. The crystals act as a transducer, that turn the the modulated waves in to an electronic signal. Its akin to a bag getting an MRI or CT-scan.
The signal is then run through a bunch of algorithms (that have generally been programmed manually). After the signal goes through the algorithm, the result is a digitized image of what sort of matter the wave actually went through as it traveled through the bag.
As the signal goes through the algorithms, the algorithms will be checking for types of threats. If the compound appears explosive, the image will be highlighted a certain way to alert the human screener. Most EDS systems can also check for radioactive materials, heavy metals (such as lead), wires (esp. loose wires), weapons, and magnets. Some units, especially those deployed at ports can also check for drugs. Some of the larger units can detect stowaway passengers.
The trouble with EDS units is their price. Someone has to pay for the units; the burden has generally been borne by us (taxpayers). The ports (including airports) also need sufficient physical space and infrastructure to support an array of them (multiple units are required to process a load of baggage in an efficient manner). EDS units are notoriously heavy. The smallest units are about 1600Kg (about 3500 pounds) and the larger ones are many times that amount. Most ports were not designed to support 50,000 - 100,000 pounds of detection equipment focused in one area, therefore remodeling is required to build a proper physical plant.
So, yes, the equipment is there, and use of it is growing...slowly.
8 years to obey Congress. They were ordered by Congress to screen every piece of cargo that went onto passenger aircraft. They have been hauled in front of Congress every year since then to explain why they have not yet done it. They make lots of excuses, but they still have not done it. 8 years, they have been given explicit, direct, orders and have failed to comply.
If you do not check all the items that go on a passenger plane, you do not have security. Period. You can look up all the passenger's hoo-hoo's with a flashlight - if any terrorist can put a bomb with an altimeter or a timer or a remote control in a box and SHIP it via plane, guess what? You do not have security.
So that's my complaint. There is zero point to all this passenger hassle - it doesn't stop anything. A fence around three sides of a four-sided property is not a fence.