Following information from interrogation of al Qa’eda operatives and evidence gathered at captured al Qa’eda camps, DHS is warning airlines to pay closer attention to portable elecronics as carry-ons.
The concern follows the discovery of apparent prototype weapons in al-Qaida safe houses overseas and interrogation of a captured, high-ranking al-Qaida operative. Officials say al-Qaida terrorists considered trying to hide explosives in particular models of cell phones, cameras and simple electronic devices, such as radio boom boxes.
Intelligence officials tell NBC News the advisory will inform airport security officers to give extra scrutiny to some types of common carry-on items, to see if they might be concealing weapons. Senior U.S. officials told NBC News that recent raids of an al-Qaida safe house uncovered a camera flash unit modified for use as a stun gun and cameras modified to hold explosives. In addition, there have been intercepted discussions on using other materials to defeat security measures at U.S. airports.
The official would not identify the time or the place of the raid other than to say it was “in the last couple of months” and that it was not in Afghanistan.
Moreover, the same official said that interrogations have revealed that al-Qaida has discussed using “improvised weapons in electronic devices” in attacks on aircraft. The information is “recently obtained, but how recent the planning is remains unclear.” There is also, from interrogations, a concern about toys, specifically “stuffed animal toys.”
As someone who carries a cell phone, a Palm Pilot, and whose briefcase full of adapters and transformers and the like already gets close scrutiny, I’m less than enthused.
On the other hand, it makes certain sense — certainly more than some of the other TSA security frenzies.