New bomb detection equipment For UK airports
After the lasts attempt at blowing up an American airliner on Christmas day 2009 by Islamic extremist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the British government has responded by ordering the installation and use of new bomb detection equipment. This is in the form of Body scanners and they will be in use pretty soon.
To assist in the detection of potential troublesome individuals, the BAA has started to train its airport staff to identify these individuals using behavioural analysis techniques. So if you are passing through any of the major UK airports in the coming weeks you will need to be prepared to be delayed. This increased screening will also include the usual sniffer dogs, body search, and baggage search just to name a few.
Whether or not these measures will be enough to stop a potential terrorist attacks is anyone’s guess. These terrorist are finding new and innovative ways to carry out their terror so do not look for these measures to be 100% effective.
There may also be increased and focused passenger profiling or as the Americans would call it racial profiling.
The government has to be careful with these new measures and the ones they may be considering, as not many people will be will to give up their civil liberties, nor are they going to allow them to be trampled upon. A number of civil rights groups are now warning the government that the use of the body scanners may produce images of children that may be illegal and the same is true for all travels including celebrities.
Then there is the belief that the body scanner may never have caught the bomb making materials carried on the plane by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. So what’s the sense of installing them then? Chances are it is to make Brits and the people who travel feel somewhat secure and to give the appearance that something is being done.
It is very clear based on this last incident that those in the intelligence community are not sharing information as widely and as quickly as is necessary. There were far too many blunders with this last situation and this must be corrected.
Finally before I go, I have just comprehended that I have been staring at my computer screen for the last couple of hours and am really tired of my Heroes Wallpaper, I think it is time for a change, these and more updates coming soon!