'Wash Post' Chat on Airline Terrorist Threat Produces Lively Exchange

By: E&P Staff A well-timed online chat Thursday afternoon featuring one of The Washignton Post's national security experts, William Arkin, produced a lively exchange with readers, looking behind the headlines.

Arkin writes the "Early Warning" blog at washingtonpost.com.

Here are a few highlights.
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Fredericksburg, Va.: With the total ban on all liquids brought aboard aircraft, are the airlines still providing refreshments during the flights? And if they are, what security measures are being taken to ensure that those liquids are "safe"?

William M. Arkin: I guess when someone figures out a way to make an explosive out of apple juice, we'll all be....parched.

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San Jose, Calif.: If liquids can be easily mixed to make bombs (and apparently have been in the past) why hasn't our government banned liquids on flights long before now? After all, aren't they supposed to be protecting us against potential terrorist attacks?

William M. Arkin: Great question. We are talking about the Department of Homeland Security though, great at coloring, not so good at anticipating.

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Seattle, Wash.: Homeland Security is touting this intervention as a success. Ironically, al Qaeda and Bin Laden are alive and active while we are busy in Iraq. Bush loves to use 9/11 as a reason to "stay the course" but when was the last time you heard him mention Bin Laden? Maybe because we aren't pursuing him? We are no safer today than 9/11 thanks to this administration's agenda.

William M. Arkin: It is unfortunate that for political reasons the President and his aides have ceased making reference to bin Laden. He is, after all, the inspiration and the leader of a vast subculture and an international insurgency.

But I understand their desire not to focus attention on an individual who has proven so illusive. Still, bin Laden's survival is mightly inspiration for many: if he can survive against the best of what the U.S. and the west can throw at him, then maybe there is hope for a Muslim jihad against the west.

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Washington, D.C.: Bill, I also read your blog, don't always agree, but also like your independence. So tell me: What would you do to improve homeland security?

William M. Arkin: If a few airport security officials and FBI agents and CIA analysts had done their job on September 11 five years ago, we wouldn't be having this conversation. That's my answer: accountability. The only way we are going to improve homeland "security" is by making the government more accountable, and that means making the Congress more accountable. It is a depressing state of affairs.

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Herndon, Va.: What are some likely combinations of liquids that could be carried on a plane and used as an explosive?

William M. Arkin: Any search on the Internet can easily produce examples of various household explosives, all of which are relevant to airplane security. So the question is, at what point do we establish a working system of identification for airline travel that allows 95 percent of travelers to go through and then has effective screening of what the others are carrying. Panic mode after each incident just doesn't like effective security policy.

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Indianapolis, Ind.: Dumb question: How did some airports get the fancy "no liquid" signs with pictures of shampoo bottles, etc., posted so quickly?

William M. Arkin: Hadn't heard that, good question. Maybe it means that quietly the word went out that there was a flaw in security. I guess we'll find out in the days ahead.


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New Market, Va.: Hi Bill, I read your blog and mostly agree!

Aren't we all suffering from "abundance of caution" and changes to transportation protocol, in part, due to a lack of profiling of Arab men? Sorry to pigeonhole anyone, but as I looked at the people at Heathrow throwing away their water bottles, I wondered how effective the transportation alerts really are in filtering out suspect criminals.

William M. Arkin: Profiling is essential, but more important, some system of separating "cleared" travelers is more practical and essential first. That we haven't solved this problem in five years is still stunning to me. I travel a lot and I just can't believe the rote routines still of turning out the belt buckle.

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Austin, Minn.: Unless I'm mistaken, in the similar 1995 plot, masterminded by Ramzi Yousef, terrorists planned to blow up several airplanes using nitroglycerine mixed in contact lens solution and triggered by a battery-powered device hidden in a shoe. Why are officials cracking down now, eleven years later?

William M. Arkin: Good question. Don't know the specifics of the liquid under question today, but it is true that such "threats" are known, and a multi-plane plot hatched by Mohammed Atef -- al Qaeda's military chief -- is also discussed in the 911 Commission Report.

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Arlington, Va.: It is interesting that this terrorist attack was foiled by a "police action" and not a military intervention. It seems that we have learned little over the years. Combatting terrorism is more akin to battling a street gang, like MS13, than it is to fighting a sovereign state. When we apply military force, we make little headway in "eradicating the threat." Instead, the "collateral damage" of dead bystanders only serves to swell their ranks. It's classic "political jujitsu."

The only way to eliminate terrorism is to win over the hearts and minds of the children 10 - 14, as they become aware of the world around them and make assessments of how "just" they perceive it to be. We will make no progress on this front by "accidentally" killing them, their innocent parents and their innocent relatives. No wonder so many have so little reservation about killing innocent Americans and British...

William M. Arkin: When we declared war five years ago, a few voices questioned whether it was necessary. They were drowned out. There's no question in my mind that there is a military dimension to the battle against terrorism, but I agree that old fashioned police work is the core. Well, maybe not old fashioned. In the war against terrorism, it is more important to arrest first and put together the case later. That is just the price we pay, and we should be grateful that our intelligence agencies and law enforcement types have modified their behavior to deal with plotters in this way.

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Baltimore, Md.: Hello Bill. I often disagree with your conclusions about terrorism and the Bush administration. However, I would like to thank you for consistently denouncing the lunatic-fringe conspiracy theories regarding the 9-11 attacks. Unfortunately, these theories, that don't even work as a Tom Clancy plot, seem to be gaining an increasing number of followers in the American population (one statistic I saw had 33% of the population believing that 9-11 was an inside job). Why do you think these nonsense theories are embraced by so many people? Does it just stem from a desire to hate Bush?

William M. Arkin: Long before Bush, there were conspiracy theories about the Kennedy assassination, UFOs, etc., that were just as rabid and self-deceptive as the 9/11 ones today (they still are). So I don't think it is about Bush. It is about finding meaning in complex events. People don't want to think that the world is as random as it is.