Fake news: 'Muslim ban' ...Real News: 'Pres Trump bans Muslims temporarily from 7 of the 50 Muslim Majority countries entry to the U.S.' (IB Times).
The ban was expected to affect several countries in the Middle East as well as in Africa, according to a report by Reuters published Tuesday evening. Those countries follow below:
Iran
Iraq
Libya
Somalia
Sudan
Syria
Yemen
Specifically, the U.S. will automatically block any visa held by a
person traveling from any of the above listed countries. Also included
in the temporary immigration ban are refugees.
While the ban was
expected to be temporary (90 days) , However, Reuters reported the ban
would likely stay in place until the U.S. immigration vetting process
was overhauled to be more thorough.
“From a legal standpoint, it would be exactly within his legal rights,”
said Stephen Legomsky, the former chief counsel at U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services under former President Barack Obama. “But from a
policy standpoint it would be terrible idea because there is such an
urgent humanitarian need right now for refugees.” Read the full story here.
16 Muslim countries have banned Israelis from entering; among them, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Yemen. Please protest that too Muslimban
Head of Customs department at Brussels Airport married to drug smuggler. (HLN)[GoogleTranslated].
The head of customs at Brussels Airport is no longer allowed entrance within her own service. She was transferred because her team is no longer under control, there are casses of bullying and people threatening each other with their service weapons. Yesterday it was revealed that 33 customs officers had to surrender their service weapons. Now it appears that the woman herself is not blameless. She is married to a convicted drug smuggler. Hmmm.....The Fox guarding the hen house.
Police at Brussels Zaventem airport threatens strike if security measures don't improve. (HLN).[GoogleTranslated]
Police Brussels Airport Zaventem will no longer work at the airport Wednesday if the security measures do not significantly improve.
For example, there should be more staff be deployed for security.
Belgian news agency Belga reported Sunday that this was confirmed by a spokesman of the police union in question that there will be a strike if demands are not met. The union demanded action even before the bloody attacks last Tuesday in the departure hall.
The Belgian Ministry of the Interior was told Friday March 18 it would discontinue airport police if there was no action. "The sad events of (Tuesday) March 22 prove that our concerns are justified," said Alain Peeters from the police union NSPV Sunday.
We demand more security and additional staff," says Alain Peeters, national secretary ad interim of the National Syndicate of Police and Security Personnel (NSPV). Today, discussions took place between the NSPV and the head of the government at the airport. "At the Brussels Airport management, we have expressed our concerns.
Specifically, we ask an audit of all travelers before they enter the temporary infrastructure, Which will probably be 'build' in the form of a tent. Secondly, we demand that no cars may appear in a radius of at least 100 meters to the temporary terminal of actual entrance of the airport. "
The measures must be taken before the airport reopens, says the union. The airport authorities want 'Zaventem' to reopen again on Wednesday. Hmmmm......And no this is not an Onion piece.
Video - Two Muslim Women escorted Out Of Plane at L.A. Airport For 'Staring' At Crew Member.(NDtv).
Two Muslim women were escorted off of a plane by police after a cabin crew member accused them of "staring" at her.
The pair had flown from Boston to Los Angeles in the US without incident but were singled out after the JetBlue passenger plane landed, witnesses said.
Passengers said they had heard a member of cabin crew tell a coworker that she "did not appreciate" being stared at by the women, "The Sun" reported.
"The flight attendant had casually relayed to a coworker that she did not appreciate being stared at - she did not seem rattled or scared - just smug," said Sharon Kessler, who was on board the flight.
"Then - after we landed - she announced that the authorities would be boarding the plane and to remain in our seats with seat belts," said Ms Kessler.
A video of the incident was posted on YouTube. "It was a terrible moment - honestly - these women sat quietly, watched movies - it felt like overkill from this flight attendant," Ms Kessler wrote on her Facebook page.
In a statement, JetBlue said the flight attendant had been under the impression one of the women had been filming in-flight procedures.
"If a crew member believes a customer may be filming safety procedures, the crew member may report it for further review.In this instance, our crewmembers acted in accordance with security procedures. We appreciate our customers' patience and cooperation, and apologise for the inconvenience," the airline said. Hmmm.....'If you see something...say something'
Somali Charged in ISIS Terrorism Ring Worked at Major U.S. Airport as baggage handler.HT: JudicialWatch.
In the latest disturbing example of the government’s failure to root
out foreign Islamic terrorists a young Somali man, who bragged about
building rockets that could strike landing planes, worked at a major
U.S. airport as a baggage handler.
This month the Somali, 20-year-old Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame, was
charged with conspiracy to help the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater
Syria (ISIS).
He became the 10th Somali man to be charged with terrorism in Minnesota in a very short period of time.
Now a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent involved in the case
reveals that Warsame once worked at the Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport as a baggage handler.
Local media outlets
published a national newswire report on
the FBI special agent’s testimony during a recent court hearing. The
federal agent’s testimony featured breathtaking information that’s not
included in the criminal complaint, including the fact that Warsame
worked as a baggage handler at the airport “with access to the
airplanes.”
The FBI agent also testified about secret recordings made by
a bureau informant in which Warsame says he could build “homemade
rockets” that could reach 2,000 feet, enough to strike a descending
plane. Hmmmm.....As i said for years the airport staff IS THE WEAKEST LINK! Read the full story here.
Related:
The Inspector General’s statement and testimony both noted that while the TSA is required to conduct manual reviews of aviation worker records, “due to the workload at larger airports, this inspection process may look at as few as one percent of all aviation workers’ applications.”
70 Airport Workers in Paris Lose Secure-Zone Badges After Terrorist Attacks.(EX).
Secure-zone clearance has been withdrawn for nearly 70 people working at two Paris airports following the November 13 terror attacks on the French capital, the boss of the airports company said Sunday.
So-called red badges are issued to people employed in the secure zone of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, working for instance as baggage handlers, aircraft cleaners and suppliers.
Augustin de Romanet, chief executive officer of Aeroports de Paris (ADP), said the prefecture -- the representative of the state -- which issues the badges had carried out a screening after the attacks on Paris, in which 130 people were killed and 350 injured.
"Nearly 70 red badges were withdrawn after the attacks, mainly for cases of radicalisation," he said in an interview with French media.
He said around 85,000 people had secure-zone clearance in the two airports, most of them working for airlines or for "several hundred" sub-contractors.
"To be issued with a red badge, you have to be cleared by police, and if you work for a company that carries out security checks of in-flight luggage, you need three police checks," De Romanet said.
He added that deployment of military personnel at the two airports had been boosted by half following the attacks, and passport officers were checking the IDs of all people leaving the country, "including flights in the Schengen zone," the European Union's border-free area.
Air traffic was down five percent compared with a year earlier, de Romanet said.
"I hope we will return to a more normal level of traffic. It has been a heavy blow," he added. Hmmm.....As i always said the airport staff is the weakest link.More here in French.
Update: Two security badges urgently cancelled from Brussels Airport as well.
Attentats de Paris: deux "badges d'accès" retirés d'urgence à l'aéroport de Zaventem https://t.co/BeJQPG1mT4
'Allah Akbar' found scrawled on planes at French airports. (DS).
PARIS: French police and airport authorities said Saturday graffiti, much of it in Arabic, had been found sprayed on four aircraft belonging to British carrier Easyjet and a plane from Spanish airline Vueling at two airports.
Three of the jets had been defaced at Lyon airport in eastern France with two others sprayed at the Paris hub of Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle, police said.
A police source added authorities believed the graffiti had been painted on prior to the jets' arrival in France, but that the issue posed questions about airport security.
Hmmm.....As i always said the airport staff is the weakest link in security. Read the full story here. More on this story here.
“Since the beginning of the year, there are 57 people who lost their authorization because of radicalization. There have been five since the attacks [November 13],” the prefect of Charles de Gaulle (Roissy) and Le Bourget airports, Philippe Riffaut, told a press conference.
Neither drugs nor weapons have been found, Riffault said, “just some religious literature,” which he called “elements of advanced propagandism."
The TSA Isn’t Keeping Us Safe, Says Inspector General Report.(Popsci).
Congressman: “Just thinking about the breaches there, it’s horrific”
In a couple weeks, the Transportation Security Administration, best known as the TSA, will finally be old enough to sign up for an account online. Born in the months immediately after the September 11th attacks, the TSA is meant to serve as a shield against future hijackings, it’s blue-gloved agents and security gates are supposed to be barriers through which no threat can pass. But frankly, it is terrible at its job. Yesterday, Inspector General John Roth testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and his verdict on the TSA was brutal.
From his statement to the committee:
Our testing was designed to test checkpoint operations in real world conditions. It was not designed to test specific, discrete segments of checkpoint operations, but rather the system as a whole. The failures included failures in the technology, failures in TSA procedures, and human error. We found layers of security simply missing. It would be misleading to minimize the rigor of our testing, or to imply that our testing was not an accurate reflection of the effectiveness of the totality of aviation security.
The majority of the Inspector General’s recommendations aren’t disclosed because the “recommendation includes Sensitive Security Information,” some changes are obvious.
The Inspector General’s statement and testimony both noted that while the TSA is required to conduct manual reviews of aviation worker records, “due to the workload at larger airports, this inspection process may look at as few as one percent of all aviation workers’ applications.” Hmmmm......As i always stated for years: "the weakest link is the staff working at airports!" Read the full story here.
Video - footage of Afro-American Citizen Tracey Lynn Brown killed by Turkish Police at Istanbul Airport.
Video footage showing the events leading to the death of US citizen Tracey Lynn Brown at Istanbul Atatürk Airport in 2013, when she suffocated due to police officers applying too much pressure on her while holding her on the ground, has been released.
Brown, who arrived at the airport on April 4, 2013, from Tashkent and was to travel to Chicago, was waiting in the international arrivals terminal. According to the footage, Brown went into a room belonging to the department of passport control at 9:48 pm, and about four minutes later she was dragged out of the room by the police. Brown, who left the scene after the incident, returned after six hours.
The footage showed the police putting handcuffs on her and then putting her in a room. After a few minutes, Brown somehow frees herself of the handcuffs and the police officers knock her to the ground, handcuffing her from behind and exerting pressure on her with their legs and arms for about 17 minutes. A doctor is seen arriving and giving the woman a sedative without examining her. The police officers, who release the pressure on the woman after the doctor leaves the room, realize the woman is not breathing and call the doctor back. The doctor administers CPR for seven minutes and then sends her to a hospital.
According to the reports in Turkish media, the woman died on April 18, 2013, at the hospital and the forensic report confirmed that she died due to the intense pressure put on her chest and neck.
The Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office filed a criminal complaint against the 12 police officers and the doctor, Mesut Ö., who all face jail time of 12 years to 16 years. The fourth hearing of the case will be in October.
In their statements, the police officers argued that when the woman first entered the transfer room she angrily asked about her daughter and was belligerent to them. The woman is seen being dragged on the ground by the police officers four minutes after she entered the room in the video footage.
According to the video footage, the woman is seen running into the room six hours after her first entry. The police officers claimed in their statements that the woman was holding a pair of scissors and that she wounded one of the officers on his hand while she scattered documents from the desk to the floor. In the footage, the police are seen handcuffing the woman to a chair. However, she manages to get rid of the handcuffs. Then, a group of police officers knock the woman to the ground and apply pressure to her back, hands, feet and neck for 17 minutes, causing her to suffocate.
In the video, the doctor is seen watching the ill treatment by the police officers and not saying anything to Brown, who is unable to move and then he injects a sedative into her while she is on the ground. After the doctor has left the room when the officers noticed that she was not breathing, they called the doctor back again for treatment.
Despite the CPR applied by the doctor she did not show any signs of life. The woman was taken to the hospital. She died 14 days after the incident and a report prepared by the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) confirmed that she died of pressure applied to her chest and neck.
The Bakırköy Prosecutor's Office requested reports for the third time from the ATK regarding the details of the incident and all three separate reports concluded that the actions of the police officers and Brown's death were linked.
The latest report, contrary to the first two ones, put blame on the doctor for failing to intervene while Brown was being held on the ground while pressure was being applied to her, an act that contradicts the rights of patients. Hmmmm......If you're planning to have a holiday in Turkey make sure not to ask info from the police in the airport.....you might regret it. Don't expect Pres Hussein Obama to react to this, his BFF Erdogan is 'untouchable'
Republican Senator Sasse Asks Obama to Release Inspector gen. report on TSA Failures. (SP).
Last week, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released findings of mock tests at numerous airport checkpoints across the United States. TSA agents failed to uncover 67 out of 70 threats that were presented.
“President Obama has an obligation to declassify the inspector general's investigation and to publicly release everything else the administration knows about TSA's failures,” the Republican senator from Nebraska said in an op-ed in USA TODAY.
Sasse, who is a member of the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, added that although the publicly available facts were disturbing, the classified details were even worse.
“If moms knew what members of Congress have learned behind closed doors, they would march on Washington demanding an urgent, top-to-bottom reevaluation of airport security,” he stressed.
Mock tests of the TSA, also known as Red Team testing, have been conducted for 13 years, according to the DHS.
After the failed screening tests, TSA Administrator Melvin Carraway has been reassigned to the DHS’s Office of State and Local Law Enforcement.
TSA was created to strengthen the security of the US transportation systems and ensure the freedom of movement for people and commerce, according to its website.
Another way to look at this story: The TSA has hired a group of terrorism experts -- https://t.co/oW1qqEMX5D
— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) June 9, 2015
What have i been saying for years? 'The weakest link is Airport staff' (IBt).
The American Transportation Security Administration was apparently so focused on nabbing would-be terrorists trying to board planes that it failed to identify at least 73 people hired at US airports with suspected links to terrorists or terrorist activity.
The active aviation workers, employed as airport vendors and hired by major airlines, should have been disqualified and flagged under terrorism-related activity codes by the TSA, reveals a new report by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general.
They weren't identified in part because the TSA is not authorised to receive all terrorism-related information under current inter-agency policies, the report said.
Besides missing workers with terrorism links, the TSA lacked "effective controls" to keep prospective employees with criminal histories and illegal status from getting jobs at airports.
Records used to vet the employees was sometimes based on documents and job applications missing information involving things like partial Social Security numbers or initials instead of full names.
The TSA also "relied on airport operators to perform criminal history and work authorisation checks, but had limited oversight over these commercial entities," the report notes. "TSA lacked assurance that it properly vetted all credential applicants.
"Without complete and accurate information, TSA risks [giving credentials to] and providing unescorted access to secure airport areas for workers with potential to harm the nation's air transportation system," the report found.
Despite the slip-up, which could have had catastrophic results, the agency's "multi-layered process to vet aviation workers for potential links to terrorism was generally effective. In addition to initially vetting every application for new credentials, TSA recurrently vetted aviation workers with access to secured areas of commercial airports every time the Consolidated Terrorist Watchlist was updated," the report found. Hmmmm.....For years i have been warning that airport staff is the 'Weakest link' in the security chain.Read the full story here.
TSA missing lots of Badges Used to Enter Secure Areas at Airports - Judicial Watch. (JW).
In the latest scandal to rock the beleaguered Transportation Security
Administration (TSA), badges that allow agents to access secure areas
of airports are missing along with uniforms and other devices used to
control entry.
Judicial Watch has obtained records that
show the TSA, which was created after 9/11 to secure the nation’s
transportation system, has reported hundreds of lost, stolen or missing
badges since 2012.
It’s part of an ongoing JW investigation into the
massive agency, which functions under the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) with a multi-billion-dollar budget and more than 60,000
employees. Earlier this month JW obtained records that detail alleged sexually-related assaults on passengers by TSA personnel at three major U.S. international airports.
Some of the documents relating to the lost badges and uniforms were
withheld by the government because they were deemed “sensitive security
information” that would be detrimental to the security of transportation
if disclosed. However, the documents JW got reveal that 139 security
badges went missing in 2012 and 131 in 2013. Last year the agency
reported 123 missing or stolen badges an so far this year there have
been 19, according to the records provided to JW by the TSA under the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The lost uniform items, which can also be utilized to compromise
security, were broken down by airports in the TSA files obtained by JW.
O’Hare International in Chicago is among the biggest consistent
offenders with 336 lost uniform items in both 2013 and 2014. Washington
Dulles International lost 343 uniform items last year and Philadelphia
International 253. Houston Intercontinental was the leader with 220 lost
items in 2012, so the numbers show the numbers are increasing with
time.
On the heels of this alarming information, a mainstream news outlet reports this
week that the problem is much worse than the official government
records show. More than 1,400 TSA badges that allow employees to access
secure areas like runways and boarding gates went missing at one airport
alone, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, over approximately two
years.
The same news outlet reported that 270 badges went missing at
San Diego International Airport in the last two years. It gets better.
Some of the security badges weren’t reported missing for months, which
means they weren’t deactivated and could still be used to enter
restricted areas. Hmmmm.....Proves again my point, As i always said 'the weakest link is the staff working at airports' Read the full story here.
U.S. Customs Quietly Launches Facial Recognition Experiment at DC Airport. (Vice).
The next time you come back from overseas and flash your American
passport at Washington, DC’s Dulles airport, customs officers might
take a picture of you and use facial recognition technology to figure
out if you really are who you say you are.
On March 11, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) quietly rolled
out a new facial recognition pilot program to help custom officers catch
“imposters,” or people using a passport that isn’t theirs, an agency
spokesperson confirmed to Motherboard on Wednesday.
The pilot is part of a larger effort to modernize US customs
practices with the use of new technologies as part of the Apex Air Entry
and E?xit Re-Engineering (AEER) Project. And it’s only the first of at
least ?three experiments labeled “Targeted Biometric Operations,”
according to a previously undisclosed CBP presentation obtained by
Motherboard.
The goal of the pilot program, called “1:1 Facial
Recognition Air Entry Pilot,” is to figure out if facial recognition can
be a useful tool in catching these imposters, but civil liberties
activists worry this is the first step to create a database of
law-abiding Americans’ mugshots, which could create unforeseen privacy
risks. Hmmm.......Reminds me of the 'renewed' Toronto Pearson airport departure terminal. If interested in a meal or drink you order by your personal IPad (With Camera), pay through provided bankcard terminal and receive a receipt if you enter your E Mail address....any other info needed? Read the full story here.
Muslim woman from Honduras, attempted to drive her Toyota through Miami Int Airport entrance. HT: AM
A Honduran woman accused of making a false bomb threat at Miami
International Airport will face charges in federal court on Friday
afternoon.
Julissa Magdalena Maradiaga-Iscoa attempted to drive her vehicle through
the airport entrance, crashed her car into a Miami-Dade Police patrol
car and screamed at officers in what was believed to be Arabic and then,
in English — all before falsely claiming she had a bomb, according to
authorities.
Miami-Dade police turned over the case to the FBI, which confirmed the federal charges against the 33-year-old Honduran citizen.
“At this time there appears to be no nexus to terrorism,” FBI special agent Michael Leverock said in a statement.
At about 4 p.m. Thursday, authorities at MIA shut down the upper level
departure area around Concourse D as they investigated, calling it a
“security incident.”
Miami-Dade Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said the woman was driving a silver
Toyota in the upper level in the outer loop when she “made a right turn
and drove through the inner loop making an intentional attempt to
breach airport security by attempting to drive her vehicle through the
airport entrance.”
Zabaleta said she then crashed into the police car. When officers
arrived, she screamed and said she had explosives. The upper area was
evacuated. A search with dogs turned up nothing.Hmmm..........Islam + Violence = 'Crazy'. Read the full story here.
Twitter has been asked to retrieve all data connected to ShamiWitness. (IndiaTimes).
Madhya Pradesh counter terrorist group (CTG) and Anti-Terrorist Squad (MPATS) have reportedly rounded up three youths, from Jabalpur district, who followed and interacted with ISIS propaganda Twitter account @ShamiWitness run by Mehdi Masroor Biswas.
The trio, which was picked up from district's Rampur Patel Mohalla on Wednesday night, was among 17,700 followers of Mehdi's Twitter handle.
IP address of around 50 'objectionable' emails received on Biswas's email id were traced to their computers in Jabalpur by the Bengaluru police who subsequently contacted their MP counterparts for further investigations, said sources.
More than one lakh replies to the tweets of Biswas are being scanned.
Police are also analysing whether any of these followers have anything to do with ISIS or any other jihadi outfits.
Twitter has also been asked to retrieve all data connected to @ShamiWitness, including the deleted messages and replies from its data bank by the police.
Jabalpur Inspector General (IG) Srinivas Rao and MPATS chief Sanjeev Shami, however said no arrest had been made related to @ShamiWitness.
"Some other agency must working on it...not us," said Rao citing 'detentions' could be just a rumour.
But, insiders claim that detainees are being grilled and would be released only after scanning contents of the mail. Read the full story here.
Dutch MP wants law 'No Muslims working at airport security department'. (Volkskrant).[GoogleTranslate].
Graus against Chamber: "If attack happens at Schiphol(airport) you are co-responsible '
"If an attack occurs immediately at the airport, you are partly responsible." Speaking is PVV'er Dion Graus. He speaks against MPs from other parties who are not willing to support the filing of his motion. That resembles the following: people with a passport from a Muslim country may not work in the security of the airport. "Just Wait," he says to the Chamber. "I'll be proven right."
The motion and the subsequent accusations are not appreciated by Graus . What he does, by proposing to ban Muslim people Schiphol, that's an attack, says the SP Bashir. Graus shave all men over a the same comb, says D66 MP Stientje van Veldhoven. VVD Ton Elias announces for the first time in his career not to support the filing of a motion. "When there is blatant nonsense or discriminatory remarks are made, they must be refuted. With seditious cries about the religion of people the safety of any passenger is served. " Elias continues: "What you do is put away people because of their faith.
That is objectionable. That does not belong to the Netherlands. ' Graus can not be put off. According to him Belgian security warns for jihad sympathizers at airport security. "I do not want people with dual nationality working within the nerve center of the airport." PVV'er and therefore wants to close the prayer of Muslim employees at Schiphol. "Away with the worship and worshipers away with that." The PVV'er is a voice in the wilderness. Some MPs were so kind to support the filing of the motion (so it can be put to the vote), but no other party can muster sympathy for the case of Graus.
He calls again: "I am a member of parliament from the NetherlandsE people! Over the past eight years I have always been right. I'm going to get here. "
The danger that Graus sees , the rest do not see. The last word is up to Secretary Wilma Mansfield Infrastructure: 'I find it reprehensible that a group of Dutch unceremoniously be disqualified. " She advises against the motion. Tonight will be put to a vote and will Graus' proposal be rejected.
Hmmm.....How many times these last years have i warned that the staff working at airports are 'The weakest link'?
Al Qaeda plot to blow up 5 passenger planes in Christmas period.(Express).
The threat has been taken so seriously it came close to leading to an outright ban on all hand luggage, a senior insider has revealed.
Mobile phones and electronic devices could still be banned from plane cabins, with the threat of a 9/11-style coordinated attack on London and other major cities feared imminent.
The warning comes as Whitehall officials admit that a terror strike on the UK is now "almost inevitable" particularly with British jihadis returning from fighting alongside the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
An airport security source told the Sunday Express: "We've been told that five planes are being targeted in a high profile hit before Christmas. They've been waiting for the big one.
"We have many scares but this one nearly got hand baggage pulled from all airlines. The threat is still alive and real."
The plot, which has been known about for the past two months, is thought to involve Islamists smuggling bombs on to planes bound for major European destinations before Christmas.
The well-placed security insider said talks had been held about how to deal with it, with suggestions made to ban hand luggage.
The source said: "High level negotiations are continuing at Governmental level but at the moment there has been little done to respond.
"There is paralysis because of the difficulty of banning hand luggage which is one of the strongest weapons we have against the new threats.
"All electronics may be banned from hand luggage and placed in the hold, that has been considered, and there has been behaviour analysis training at airports but while it's effective, it's difficult to roll out quickly and is not a sufficient safety net.
Security experts also warn that future terror attacks could be carried out by sleepers - western converts as likely to have blond hair and blue eyes as dark skin and beards. Hmmmm.....As i said many time before the WEAKEST link is the staff working at the airports, as has been shown some of the Jihadis now within ISIS used to work at airports or other sensitive locations like Nuclear plants. Who and What is being done to check those guys?
Read the full story here.
Phones, shoes to face scrutiny as airport security tightened, says U.S. Officials. (Taz).
Airlines with direct flights to the United States have been told to tighten screening of mobile phones and shoes in response to intelligence reports of increased threats from al Qaeda-affiliated militant groups, U.S. officials said on Thursday.
The officials singled out smartphones including iPhones made by Apple Inc and Galaxy phones made by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd for extra security checks on U.S.-bound direct flights from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Reuters reported.
U.S. security officials said they fear bombmakers from the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have figured out how to turn the phones into explosive devices that can avoid detection.
They also are concerned that hard-to-detect bombs could be built into shoes, said the officials, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
A U.S. official said that other electronic devices carried by passengers also are likely to receive more intense scrutiny.
Airlines or airport operators that fail to strengthen security could face bans on flights entering the United States, the officials said.
The U.S. Homeland Security Department announced on Wednesday plans to step up security checks, but they offered few details on how airlines and airports will implement them.
An official familiar with the matter said the United States believes that while it is possible there may be some additional delays at security checkpoints, at most major airports passengers will not be seriously inconvenienced.
The official said most passengers taking long-distance flights arrive well in advance of scheduled departures, leaving time for extra screening. But he said the United States could not rule out disruptions in countries where airport infrastructure and security procedures are less sophisticated.
U.S.-based airlines had little to say about the enhanced security. American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller said the Department of Homeland Security had been in contact with American on the issue, but declined to comment further.
Luke Punzenberger, a spokesman for United Airlines Inc[UALCO.UL], said: "We work closely with federal officials on security matters, but we are not able to discuss the details of those efforts."
U.S. security agencies fear bombmakers from AQAP and the Islamist Nusra Front, al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, are collaborating on plots to attack U.S.- or Europe-bound planes with bombs concealed on foreign fighters carrying Western passports, the officials said.
AQAP has a track record of plotting such attacks. Its innovative bombmaker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, built an underwear bomb used in a failed 2009 effort to bring down a Detroit-bound airliner, and his devices were implicated in other plots.
There was no immediate indication U.S. intelligence had detected a specific plot or timeframe for any attack.
U.S. officials say the United States has acquired evidence that Nusra and AQAP operatives have tested new bomb designs in Syria, where Nusra is one of the main Islamist groups fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. More here.
Hmmm..........I’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, in my point of view the WEAKEST link is the staff working all over airports. If you see the number of would be jihadis that left for Syria then what’s stopping one or more Islamic staff members at European airports to Aid or organise an explosive device on a plane? If you take in account the drugs that are smuggled by airport staff the possibility becomes very real. Time to rethink the safety procedures……I would hate to be the one saying…”Told you So”
Video - Tennessee congresswoman Reports: TSA hires thieves, pedophiles.(WMC-TV) - A new report by a Tennessee congresswoman reveals the Transportation Security Administration is hiring child pornographers and pedophiles.The report originated out of Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn's office.
Blackburn said America needs to know if the people who are supposed to keep air travel safe are dangerous themselves.
Moments before heading through airport security, Memphis traveler LaDonna Jones admitted this report gave her an uncomfortable feeling about the possibility of a pat-down.
"Many of them have committed the crimes while in their TSA uniforms," said Congresswoman Blackburn.Blackburn said her office put out the report following complaints.
"No pre-employment checks, no criminal background checks, things of that nature. We thought this was something that needed to be addressed," she said.
Blackburn filed a bill to strip transportation security "officers" of the title, if they do not have proper federal law enforcement training.Travelers say the revelations are eye-opening."I'm surprised they're not doing more background checks on people who are responsible for our safety," said Jones.
The TSA released the following statement:"TSA has no tolerance for criminal activity among our ranks. This attempt to cast our highly dedicated workforce as criminals is not an accurate portrayal of our employees."According to a TSA spokesperson, job candidates undergo thorough background checks, and their fingerprints are submitted to the FBI.Read Blakburn's full report by clicking here.Read the full story here.
