Beware “Underwear 2″: TSA Chief Offers Rare al Qaeda Bomb Details**** http://swampland.time.com/2013/07/19/beware-underwear-2-tsa-chief-offers-rare-al-qaeda-bomb-details/ ****
** ** A "next generation" device that could have slipped past airport security,*** * and the evil genius behind it**** By Michael Crowley @CrowleyTIMEJuly 19, 201321 Comments**** ** ** ** ** For many Americans, airline security is an onerous and even excessive**** burden. But in remarks at a national security forum on Friday,**** Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole illustrated why*** * the federal government is still on high alert. Speaking in unusual detail,** ** Pistole offered specifics about an underwear bomb devised by a master al**** Qaeda bomb-maker in Yemen meant to be exploded in an airliner over the**** United States last year. The plot was foiled thanks to a double-agent inside **** al Qaeda’s Yemen branch, in a case that has also become the subject of a**** controversial Justice Department leak investigation.**** ** ** In an exchange with ABC News reporter Brian Ross at the 2013 Aspen Security* *** Forum, Pistole described the bomb as “Underwear 2,” a successor to the**** underwear bomb worn Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate on Northwest **** Flight 253 near Detroit on Christmas Day 2009. Abdulmutallab’s bomb**** fizzled, severely injuring his groin but no one else.**** ** ** Pistole described the May 2012 bomb as “a next generation device” that was** ** “new and improved in many respects” from the Christmas 2009 bomb. Designed** ** by one of the most wanted terrorists in the world, Ibrahim al-Asiri, the**** device featured “a new type of explosive that we had never seen,” Pistole*** * said. “All of our explosive detection equipment… wasn’t calibrated to**** detect that. And all of our 800 bomb-sniffing dogs had not been trained for* *** that specific type.”**** ** ** The use of a new explosive has been previously reported, but Pistole**** continued with less familiar details about Underwear 2 that reflect the**** growing sophistication of Asiri’s sinister craftsmanship. He said the**** device included redundancy, by mean of two different syringes to mix liquid* *** explosive compounds-”a double initiation system,” apparently a response to** ** a failure of Abdulmutallab’s initiation process. In essence, Pistole said,** ** “they made two devices.”**** ** ** Finally, Pistole said, the new bomb was encased in simple household caulk in **** an effort to trap vapors that might alert any bomb-sniffing machines or dogs **** that did happen to be capable of identifying the explosive.**** ** ** “So you really have a twisted genius in Yemen,” Ross observed. “That is**** our greatest threat,” Pistole replied. “All the intel folks here [at the**** forum] know that is a clear and present danger.”**** ** ** Pistole added that Asiri is thought to have trained other bomb-makers in his **** dark arts, and that count-terror officials are intensely focused on tracking **** down the mentor and his students.**** ** ** In an interview after his remarks, Pistole said TSA has adjusted its**** bomb-sniffing defenses in response to Underwear 2: “They’ve been**** recalibrated.” But his concern about Asiri and his cohorts in Yemen**** endures. “They want to show that we can spend billions and billions of**** dollars,” Pistole told Ross, “and we still can’t stop them.”**** ** ** Read more:**** http://swampland.time.com/2013/07/19/beware-underwear-2-tsa-chief-offers-rar **** e-al-qaeda-bomb-details/#ixzz2ZcaJ7x72**** ** ** ==========================================**** (F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this **** message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to* *** these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed **** within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with**** "Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. **** The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The**** Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use" legally eliminates the need to obtain**** permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials* *** if the purposes of display include "criticism, comment, news reporting,**** teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 establishes four criteria* *** for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies** ** as a "fair use". A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four** ** criteria to qualify as an instance of "fair use". 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