The United States is extremely fortunate that two bomb-laden packages shipped via air cargo from Yemen to this country at the end of October did not detonate. An almost unprecedented international effort helped foil the attack masterminded by al-Qaida. The failed plot, however, exposes a major problem in the security of the global air transport system. While passengers and baggage are closely screened, billions of pounds of cargo are put aboard flights to the United States with relatively little inspection or oversight.
The averted disaster is a reminder of a fact barely known to much of the public: A lot of barely inspected cargo is transported in the bellies of passenger aircraft. That reality was exploited by the same terrorists thought to be behind earlier attempts to detonate a bomb in the United States.
The so-called underwear and shoe bombers and an attempt to set off a bomb in the heart of New York City were fairly primitive attempts that failed because of ineptness or keened-eyed observers on airplanes and on the ground. The October attempts were far more sophisticated and extremely dangerous.
According to officials, an unidentified woman in Yemen shipped two printers to the United States. Each contained enough explosive to bring down a plane. Neither relied on an individual for detonation. The alarm on a cell phone wired to each could have detonated the devices. Assistance from the Saudi intelligence service, hard work and some luck prevented that.
The Saudi warning alerted U.S. and other security officials about the bombs. A desperate effort to find the bomb-laden packages ensued. According to The Associated Press, “security officials chased the two packages across five countries, trying frantically … to prevent an explosion that could have come at any moment …. Several times the explosive packages were in plain sight. Twice a bomb was aboard a passenger plane …” Ultimately, the terrorist bomb attacks were prevented, but it was a very close call.
The fact that the bomb plots failed is a positive sign that international unity on security issues is improving. Not so long ago, Saudi Arabia’s cooperation with the United States on such matters — 15 of the 19 hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks were Saudis — was just about nil. A terrorist attack on a Saudi prince last year, however, prompted a change in attitude.
Improved intelligence gathering and sharing will make it more difficult for terrorist bomb plots to succeed. So will tightening international rules about air cargo to match those in the United States, where all items are now screened. It will take time, however, to implement those programs elsewhere.
Truth is, even the best intelligence operations and the most stringent cargo rules are unlikely to stop all terrorist acts. Inevitably, one will succeed. Al-Qaida certainly believes that will be the case. It continues to promise that there will be more bombs and — no doubt — other acts of terrorism.