Experts: Electronics ban focuses on simpler bombs
Setting off explosives in plane’s cargo would require more complex device
Though a bomb in either cargo or the passenger cabin could bring down an airliner, security experts said a new ban on carryon electronics aboard U.S.-bound flights is probably aimed at less sophisticated devices.
The Department of Homeland Security adopted the ban Tuesday, which prohibits electronics larger than cellphones, such as laptops and DVD players, in the cabin of planes from nine airlines with non-stop flights to the USA from 10 airports, mostly in the Middle East and North Africa.
Government security officials said the DHS adopted the security measure in response to two recent incidents that allegedly used simple devices: a bomb in a soda can suspected of destroying a Russian Metrojet above Egypt in October 2015 and a laptop suspected of blowing a hole in the side of a Daallo Airlines flight in Somalia in February 2016.
Explosives in checked luggage can be just as deadly. In December 1988, a bomb hidden in a cassette player in checked luggage destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland.
Checked baggage poses less of threat in the air because a bomb packed in luggage would need a sophisticated timer, said Jeffrey Price, who writes about aviation security as a professor at Metropolitan State University in Denver. A bomb in checked baggage could explode prematurely, while the plane was still on the ground, if the flight were delayed or if a baggage handler inadvertently detonated or disarmed it with rough handling, Price said.
“While a bomb in checked baggage can bring down a flight, the possibility of the detonation decreases as the bomb has to include either a timing system or a barometric pressure trigger — both of which add to the complexity of the device,” Price said. “When bomb and bomber are together and the device is command-detonated by the bomber, there is less margin for error.”
Andrew Thomas, editor in
chief of the Journal of Transpor
tation Security and an associate professor at the University of Akron, said screening for checked luggage is better suited for finding explosives than passenger screening, which is under constant pressure to keep people moving.
“Passenger screening is about convenience and about moving people through, as well as security,” Thomas said. “Checked-bag screening is really about security.”
If a bomb brought down a U.S. airliner, it could disrupt the economy and bring even tighter security. As security officials balance risk and traveling convenience, Thomas said pushing electronics into checked bags is a way to prevent them being banned from airliners entirely after an attack.
“The asteroid hanging over our planet on this one, if there’s a significant threat level or — God forbid — there’s an incident involving electronics, what do you tell people? You can’t bring your phone? You can’t bring your laptop?” Thomas said. “Who’s going to travel?”
“What do you tell people? You can’t bring your phone? You can’t bring your laptop? Who’s going to travel?” Andrew Thomas, security expert