Sunday, December 27, 2009

Failed Bombing to Be Used to Urge Upgrade of Airport Screening Machines

RICHARD ESPOSITO and BRIAN ROSS
ABC News
December 27, 2009

Officials now say tragedy was only averted on Northwest flight 253 because a makeshift detonator failed to work properly.

Bomb experts say there was more than enough explosive to bring down the Northwest jet, which had nearly 300 people aboard, had the detonator not failed, and the nation’s outdated airport screening machines may need to be upgraded.

“We’ve known for a long time that this is possible,” said Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism czar and ABC News consultant, “and that we really have to replace our scanning devices with more modern systems.”

Read entire article