Airport security: It’s worth the hassle

By Telegraph Herald

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If you're one of those people who thinks taking off your shoes and submitting to a patdown in the airport security line is a waste of time and invasion of privacy that doesn't really stop terrorists, here's a question for you:

What do you think now?

As details emerge about the thwarted attempt by al-Qaida to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner, it is becoming apparent that security measures at U.S. airports aren't overly cautious. As a matter of fact, a full body scan might just catch a would-be terrorist - and that sort of airport scrutiny is pushing al-Qaida to create more sophisticated devices.

Unfortunately, that's just what they have been doing. The American perception of a terrorist group likely far underestimates the cell's sophistication. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is thought to have a team of engineers, scientists and doctors working on improving bomb technology. In 2009, when the group had only a small, modest lab in a rural area, they still managed to use a suicide bomber wearing a chemical underwear bomb to attempt to assassinate the director of Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism program.

Later, they deployed another operative to try to blow up a U.S. airliner bound for Detroit. In these cases, the devices did not detonate properly, but the intent and ingenuity were there.

The same bomb-maker is suspected in a 2010 plot to hide bombs inside computer printer cartridges loaded on cargo planes, which were found before they reached their destination in Chicago.

Now experts believe that rural lab has been expanded to a modern, well-equipped facility. The bomb recovered from the recent thwarted attempt was made with zero metal parts - making it possible to go undetected by traditional screenings. U.S. officials are studying the bomb to determine what precautions are needed to take to keep airline travel safe.

Unfortunately, most other countries don't adhere to the United States' high-tech, vigilant protocol for screening passengers. That makes planes entering the United States from other countries an area of vulnerability.

Meanwhile, if you're looking for a profile in courage, the double-agent working for Saudi Arabia's security services was truly heroic. At a time when we tend to think of heroes as people who throw touchdowns or slam dunk basketballs, here's someone that worked through Saudi officials, posed as the would-be bomber, then worked with the CIA to get the sophisticated bomb into the hands of the U.S. government for study. He also helped locate al-Qaida's senior operations leader in Yemen, Fahd al-Quso, who was subsequently killed in a drone strike. Talk about working to combat the bad guys, this is a superhero whose name we'll never know.

After more than a decade of fighting al-Qaida in Afghanistan, the recent bombing attempt is a reminder that terrorists have roots and fingers throughout the world, and this al-Qaida branch in Yemen is particularly troubling. As the men and women in our armed forces and government intelligence deal with the complicated web of tracking terrorist activity, we'll think harder before we complain about not being able to carry liquid containers onto planes.