Items Made To Resemble IED's Seized At Four Airports

[Willowdared]

TSA: Items Made To Resemble Bombs Seized At Lindbergh Field

POSTED: 1:47 pm PDT July 24, 2007
UPDATED: 5:47 pm PDT July 24, 2007

SAN DIEGO -- Lindbergh Field is among four airports named in an intelligence bulletin that warns terrorists may be planning future attacks in the United States.

In the report issued by the Transportation Security Administration, and obtained by NBC News, law enforcement and airport officials are urged to be aware that terrorists "may be" conducting "pre-attack security probes" or "dry-runs" at airports across the country, including San Diego.

According to the bulletin, dated July 20, TSA personnel have confiscated items "resembling improvised explosive device (IED) components." The items included wires, switches, pipes and "dense clay-like substances," and were found not only at Lindbergh Field, but also at Milwaukee, Houston and Baltimore's airports. The finds were described as a "surge in recent suspicious incidents."

In two of the four incidents, the TSA said blocks of processed cheese were connected to wires and an electrical switch, or the cheese was taped to a bag holding a cell-phone charger.

While the people found carrying the items were not linked to terrorist organizations, the TSA said, "most passengers' explanations for carrying the suspicious items were questionable, and some investigations are still ongoing."

According to the bulletin, "Past terrorist attacks and plots show that such testing generally indicates attacks will soon follow, according to a joint FBI and Homeland Security assessment."

A U.S. law enforcement official told NBC News that the bulletin is an analysis of possible suspicious behavior and not a sure sign of terrorists at work. In addition, the official said the items seized may indicate a warning sign, but could also be completely innocent and coincidental.

[lewisipso]

TSA: Items Made To Resemble Bombs Seized At Lindbergh Field





According to the bulletin, dated July 20, TSA personnel have confiscated items "resembling improvised explosive device (IED) components." The items included wires, switches, pipes and "dense clay-like substances," and were found not only at Lindbergh Field, but also at Milwaukee, Houston and Baltimore's airports. The finds were described as a "surge in recent suspicious incidents."

In two of the four incidents, the TSA said blocks of processed cheese were connected to wires and an electrical switch, or the cheese was taped to a bag holding a cell-phone charger.

While the people found carrying the items were not linked to terrorist organizations, the TSA said, "most passengers' explanations for carrying the suspicious items were questionable, and some investigations are still ongoing."

According to the bulletin, "Past terrorist attacks and plots show that such testing generally indicates attacks will soon follow, according to a joint FBI and Homeland Security assessment."

A U.S. law enforcement official told NBC News that the bulletin is an analysis of possible suspicious behavior and not a sure sign of terrorists at work. In addition, the official said the items seized may indicate a warning sign, but could also be completely innocent and coincidental.

Sneaking a fake bomb into an airport is innocent?! OMG! What freaking moron would have made that last statement. This is why terrorist are blowing sh!t up and getting away with it.
Unless this is some lame a$$ attempt to not "alarm" the public. ATTENTION!! The public is already alarmed.

[dadyswat]

They're testing and everyone will be sitting on their ass in Washington trying to figure how to play nice when it goes BOOM!

[gozling]

but could also be completely innocent and coincidental
ummmmm yeah sure... thats it... its all completely fucking innocent!!!!

those poor fucking people being harrassed like that

how dare we.

wtf???? that line just pissed me off..

[Trojan 42]

While the people found carrying the items were not linked to terrorist organizations.

What planet are these idiots on? The laws should still treat them as real bombers. And it should also read " no known links."

[Ducky]

I'm wondering if the people found with these items are by any chance of middle eastern origins.

[BEK]

I doubt they are going to blow up another plane. They are gonna try something else first

[Willowdared]

but could also be completely innocent and coincidental
ummmmm yeah sure... thats it... its all completely fucking innocent!!!!

those poor fucking people being harrassed like that

how dare we.

wtf???? that line just pissed me off..

Well, they would be innocent if they worked for the government, and they were sent through to test security. The way things work in Washington, sometimes one hand doesn't know what the other is doing.

Or if they were some self-appointed watchdog group that wanted to make a point.

[Willowdared]

Report of terrorist 'dry run' at Lindbergh a false alarm

By Steve Schmidt
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
and Karen Kucher
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
4:05 p.m. July 25, 2007
SAN DIEGO – The San Diego director of the Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday that a recent report of a possible terrorist “dry run” at Lindbergh Field stemmed from what turned out to be a false alarm.

The TSA circulated an intelligence bulletin Friday noting the July 5 discovery of two suspicious ice packs found inside a checked bag at the Harbor Drive airfield. The bulletin was obtained by NBC News, which first reported the story.

The bulletin said the incident at Lindbergh and three others at airports around the country since 2006 could indicate some type of pre-attack security probing by terrorists.

The bulletin said the ice packs found in San Diego contained clay.

But local TSA Security Director Michael J. Aguilar – and the chief of the police agency that patrols the airport – said Wednesday that while screeners initially thought the packs held a clay-like substance, it was quickly determined they contained the usual blue gel.

Aguilar said he didn't know why the TSA memo, issued in Washington, reported the substance as clay.

Christopher White, a spokesman with the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, contradicted the San Diego officials and said the agency stood by its bulletin.

“The information that we have in the report is for official use only and I am not going to discuss our sources,” White said.

Aguilar said TSA screeners at Lindbergh spotted the ice packs while working an X-ray machine. He said he believed the incident occurred in Terminal 2.

San Diego Harbor Police Chief Kirk Sanfilippo said the incident involved a bag checked by a woman in her 60s flying out of Lindbergh Field.

Sanfilippo said a routine swab test of the bag indicated the presence of a chemical that is sometimes used in explosives or medications. Inside the luggage, inspectors found cold packs, wrapped in clear packing tape, that were old and leaking.

The TSA bulletin said the ice packs were covered in duct tape and had clay inside of them.

Sanfilippo said they weren't covered in duct tape and didn't have clay inside of them. “It is a little bit off,” he said of the bulletin.

The chief said a Harbor Police officer found what appeared to be hardened old gel that had seeped out of the ice packs and dried, leaving a clay-like substance around the outside edge of the pack.

Investigators with the county's Metro Arson Strike Team were called in to assess the ice packs, and they determined there was no risk.

In all, it took about three hours for the woman's luggage to be cleared by security officials.

After the packs were cleared, the woman told authorities she didn't want to keep them and they were thrown away, Sanfilippo said.

Sanfilippo said he first heard the San Diego incident was being highlighted in the TSA bulletin early Wednesday morning on the TV news.

He said his agency sporadically receives TSA bulletins, but that he plans to make sure the notifications become more regular.

“I can't say they come to us routinely,” Sanfilippo said. “We have gotten them, but it is more sporadic than constant. It has now raised awareness.”

Aguilar said TSA alerts are circulated on a daily basis to make sure they agency's staff has access to the latest security concerns, even if they later prove false or inconclusive.

“We get these all the time,” he said. “Almost all the time they prove false.”

The TSA memo also reported curious seizures at the Milwaukee, Houston and Baltimore airports in recent weeks.

TSA regional spokeswoman Jennifer Peppin said her agency has issued more than 90 bulletins in the past six months.

“It is really a standard way of communicating that information to the people out there on the front line,” Peppin said.

“I think it's really crucial to focus on the fact that there is no specific credible threat related to this information. It is simply just part of an overall environment of being alert.”

[gozling]

i dont know who the f*ck to believe...

still... geesh....

[Ducky]

I have an ice/heat pack that actually DOES contain clay. Guess I'm not going to be traveling with it anytime soon.

[cwtlady]

Maybe I'm a little paranoid but I carry a TENS unit around with me. It's a little black box with lead wires coming from it and it has flashing lights on the top of it. If others were more paranoid than me, it might look like an explosive device to them.

I'm going to Six Flags next month and I'm a little worried. I took it with me last year and nothing happened when they inspected it. Of course it wasn't on me at the time. It was in the little black bag I carry it in. Still I wonder...maybe I should leave it home.

[TheeBadOne]

Fly our Airline, it's the cheesiest!