How would current security, without body scanners, detect a liquid taped to my leg?

[KansasVoter]

How did anything fail? How was this a failure of anything but the Security Bush put in place?

If I taped a plastic explosive to my chest or leg or had a inner-tube full of gasoline taped to my leg, how would anyone detect it?

Unless we are totally patted down or body scanned people can sneak any non-metal object on the plane easily.

I have a feeling travel will get to be a real pain in the ass shortly.

[jberryhill]

1. ...or ceramic knives....

http://www.chefscatalog.com/product/24476-Kyocera-Revolution-Series-Knives.aspx?sourcecode=AW2PF2078

[DJ13]

2. "We make flying FUN!"

[pitohui]

3. a patdown detects it quickly and easily, at some airports EVERYONE is patted down

apparently at AMS schipol only blondes are patted down but at NBO (nairobi) as of my last visit everyone is patted down before they enter the airport, at FRA (frankfurt, germany) everyone is patted down at least on flights departing to usa

i've been patted down at other airports, even at my home airport, because i was wearing pajamas -- loose clothes -- hey, i was flying halfway across the world, you'd be wearing pajamas too :-)

the patdown doesn't require high tech, doesn't collect digital images of your nude body for strangers to laugh at and perhaps pass around, it's something that can be taught and put to use immediately by anyway halfway competent security force

if everyone is patted down there can be no cries of discrimination or unfairness

travel is always a real pain in the ass, i've been patted down/searched for a long time, frankly considering how many miles a year i travel and the fact that no plane i've ever traveled on has blown up, i don't understand why security forces don't spend more time patting down travelers who don't have a proven track record

it's possible the rich kid paid off somebody at AMS not to be patted down/searched -- prob. the same guy who lets all the drug mules get thru and then makes himself look busy by patting down/searching me

just treat everyone the same and you don't have to be worried

the second method, which is a little more expensive, but also quick and easy, is the swab for explosives, if you have explosives/gasoline taped to you, the swab is gonna find it in less than two minutes, as if you can't tell, they've wasted a lot of time swabbing me over the years

esp. at FRA

but i tell you what, if you're worried about a terrorist on the flight, instead of going thru AMS as your hub go thru FRA, i can't imagine too many bad actors getting thru their security layers -- once i got re-screened because i went to the bathroom next to the gate, understand, i didn't leave the secure area, however, my flight was delayed (snow) and i had to pee (coffee) and i had to go completely thru security again, AND my equipment had to be swabbed AGAIN by the same lady (who betrayed no hint of recognition) who had just swabbed it an hour or so before...maybe they thought there was an extra secret fourth dimension wormhole into an alternative universe in the lady's room where i could reach in and grab some explosives, who knows?

traveling is always "fun" for solo travelers, apparently it is to be presumed that there's something inherently suspicious abt someone who can travel on her own, i dunno

[liberal N proud]

6. At some airports

While other airports don't even require you to take your 3 ounces of shit in your quart baggie out of your carry on.

There is no consistency in the screening from airport to airport.

On a recent trip to Europe, we noticed that in Geneva they worried about what was in our bags. When we arrived in DC, all they were worried about was my PC and our shoes.

[Phx_Dem]

7. That's probably the best way to go, at least for most airports,

They can institute it immediately with minimal cost or training. I think the bigger U.S. airports (NY, CHI, LA, etc) should get scanners.

Of course, scanners at U.S. airports would not have prevented this situtation since the guy borded in Amsterdam, but a simple pat-down would have!

[pitohui]

9. well since you fly out of phx you have no privacy left to defend, your nude body already on record

however, for the rest of us, i can't see any argument to be made for the use of the scanner -- it's expensive and it WILL be mis-used and people's body images WILL be passed around, it's just human nature

the patdown is cheaper and leaves no digital images for a person to find one day whilst they're strolling around the internet

i think the scanner is basically a scam to extort millions of dollars from airports/traveling public

where there's a vested financial interest in pushing an unsafe (both from a health physics standpoint and from a mental health/security standpoint -- for some women, to find out their image had been distributed without their knowledge would really play on their mind and be a form of sexual abuse) -- when this is being pushed, as opposed to a cheap, safe alternative that has no risk of lasting health or emotional issues...well...i dunno

i just can't see it

[Th1onein]

10. What do you do, that you travel so much, pitohui?

Just curious.

[Phx_Dem]

4. Dogs can detect explosive material but I don't know if it's

feasible/possible to get bomb-sniffing dogs at every U.S. airport. It might take a long time to train that many dogs and after considering costs of training, feeding, housing the dogs for entire adult lives, it might be cheaper to get scanners.

Either option will take time and money. Though I'm not sure cost is the biggest issue here. Patting down every passenger is probably the best way to go.

[pitohui]

8. you don't think there are bomb sniffing dogs at every u.s. airport already?

really?

i live in msy, a small airport where you can't get there from here, i always have to connect somewhere else, and i've certainly been in a terminal dump situation in new orleans where they brought out the bomb sniffing dogs before they allowed us to re-board our aircraft

considering the delay was maybe 45 minutes i have to assume the dogs were onsite even at a small airport our size, which at that time had NO international flights (it has recently added some flights to mexico to retain its "international" airport designation)

AMS is a huge, bustling hub, trust me, they have dogs there, however, if they just had patted the guy down, they would have found the crap on his leg, this wasn't shoved up his ass (at least from what we've been told) it didn't require a dog to find -- all it required was for someone to do their damn job

[damntexdem]

5. Making you walk naked through security.

Unless the rest of you is really stunning, they probably wouldn't miss it then. ;-)

[Hello_Kitty]

11. He didn't board the plane at a US airport. eom

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. Last night at the Minnesota DUers' gathering, Mn9driver, who is a pilot for

a major airline, said that trained dogs can sniff out explosives and other dangerous chemicals at quite a distance.

[juajen]

13. On ABC news they said he had a six inch packet in his underwear.

I bet it was only four inches.

[slackmaster]

14. Liquid is not the issue. Like many explosives, PETN bleeds off traces of nitric acid into the air.

That is very easy to detect with a chemical sniffer.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

15. no one checks trains or buses or ships either?