http://www.zeenews.com/print_articles.asp? `Terrorists looking for new ways to hit airlines`
Toronto, June 07: Terrorists are looking for new ways to hit airlines and are unlikely to adopt the same tactics used by Kanishka bombers or by al-Qaeda in September 11 attack, an airline security expert said. They are looking for new and unique ways to hit airplanes while authorities and airliners are "fighting the last war" by screening luggages and passengers for terrorist threat and ignoring the cargo shipments in aircraft holds, Kathleen Sweet, a University of Connecticut academic and security consultant, said. "Terrorists aren't stupid," Sweet told the an inquiry commission, headed by former Supreme Court justice John Major, focusing on the bombing of Air India Flight 182 in June 1985 and also examining the evolution of terrorist tactics and the security reforms needed to avert future tragedies. "Future attackers are unlikely to adopt the same tactics used by Sikh extremists or by al-Qaeda in 9/11 attack. Many of them are well-educated, well-financed... They sit around all day thinking about how they're going to kill us in unique and new ways." Pointing towards air-cargo operations as one of the most vulnerable points in the current security system and one of the most likely avenues of attack in future, she said, "we have focused so much on passengers and baggage but we have failed to recognise that a large part of aircraft is loaded with pallets of cargo... How, where and when the cargo is screened is a huge gap, not just here in Canada but in the United States as well." Rodney Wallis, a British security expert who served the International Civil Aviation Organisation, said situation is better in Europe, where authorities take more care in monitoring the flow of cargo from manufacturer, to truck or rail shipper, to airport. Nevertheless, he agreed improvements are needed in the whole of the international system. "It's sad," said Wallis. "We have known cargo to be a problematic area for 30 years. Since 1985 we've been trying to do something about it and we're still not there." Similar criticism has come from a Senate committee, chaired by Liberal Colin Kenny, and from an advisory panel commissioned by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority. Sweet expressed possibility that future attackers could expand their horizon far beyond simple bombings, hijackings and suicide missions. In a written report for the inquiry, she said it's time to start "thinking unthinkable thoughts" about whether they could use crude nuclear technology to build dirty bombs, or employ biological or chemical weapons. "New procedures and policies must be developed to meet these threats," she wrote. "The Ebola virus, released in one aircraft and transported thousands of miles across an ocean, can potentially kill millions of people." She said that airport screeners have been slow to adopt technology such as hand-held radiation detectors to search for dirty-bomb components. "We have to start thinking like the bad guys. I think they're going to do things that not only hurt people but scare them to death." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
