[IP] more on Increased Risk
Begin forwarded message:
From: Stephan Somogyi <ip045@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 12, 2006 1:06:11 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] Increased Risk
At 14:44 +0100 12.10.2006, Frode Hegland wrote:
A good point in the Independent newspaper here in the UK today.
Page 8, headline: "Security at airports 'increase risk of terror'".
Couldn't find a URL, sorry.
<http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/article1842572.ece>
The first point that is made that there is a bigger risk of a
rocket or mortar attack from outside the airport than someone with
a bomb, now that they are looking for this.
This is no surprise. Reduce one attack vector and a motivated
attacker will find another.
Eg, the advent of car alarms and increasingly sophisticated vehicle
ignition/immobilization systems begat a rise in carjackings. What
better time to perform the attack than when the user (driver) has
already authenticated (legit key in ignition lock)?
Also worth noting is that the IRA fired mortars at Heathrow in March
of 1994, so this is already a well-known risk.
But the second point made me feel a little dumb. And scared.
Because it's so obvious and quite scary: Security lines are long
and of course, they are by definition not secure - they are there
to make the area after them secure. This makes them a very
attractive target: Bomb in a briefcase in a security line. Lots of
people killed and the terror and chaos that would ensue would be
phenomenal. People would be very uneasy about standing in long
security lines after that.
I've never flown El Al; I'd be curious to know how it mitigates this
particular risk, since it seems to be the benchmark of effective
security measures -- as opposed to security theater -- in this space,
and its screening methodology seems inherently low-throughput.
For those interested in airline security, I found the Science Friday
interview with Rafi Ron in August to be quite informative:
<http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2006/Aug/hour1_081806.html>
s.
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