Northwest Flight 253 - a Terrorist Onboard

When Northwest Flight 253 became the target of a terrorist attack on Christmas Day, it once again focused on the shortcomings of security at airports for both domestic and international flights. As Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian who attempted to ignite an explosive device containing PETN, (also known as pentaerythritol), it malfunctioned and caught on fire in his underwear in what Al Qaeda has since called a "technical fault".

After hearing a noise that sounded like firecrackers going off and seeing Abdulmutallab's pant leg and cabin wall on fire, other airline passengers (who realized what he was trying to do), managed to tackle the suspect and overpower him. These passengers effectively thwarted any other action he may have attempted towards making the bomb go off. Had he been successful in detonating the explosive device, 290 passengers and crew, along with an unknown number of fatalities and injuries on the ground, would likely have been killed.

The incident also unleashed a number of "security measures" by the Transportation Security Administration that left passengers (and the public) mystified as to how exactly those measures related to security. Depending on the airline and the flight, passengers were told there were several things they could not do during the last hour of their flight.

They were told to keep their hands in plain view on their laps, were not allowed to open overhead compartments, could not open carryon luggage, had to return their blankets to the flight attendants, could not keep other items on their laps, iPods were not to be used, in-flight movies were turned off, cabin movement was restrained, and people were not allowed to use the bathroom. Even small babies were being patted down and frisked.

The problem was not passengers on other flights after the incident on Northwest Flight 253. The problem was how Abdulmutallab got on the plane in the first place with explosives hidden in his clothing. What is even more dumbfounding is how Abdulmutallab was able to keep his visa, especially after his father, former First Bank of Nigeria Plc Chairman Alhaji Umar Mutallab, had expressed concern to U.S. Embassy officials in Nigeria about his son's ties to radical fundamental Islamic groups.

His information resulted in his son being placed on a terror watch list in May 2009 - known as the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) - along with 550,000 other people with suspected terrorist connections. Then, in spite of the attention he garnered due to his alleged radicalism, it is unfathomable how he was not placed on another list of 14,000 people that was to receive "added attention", or on the "no fly" list of 4,000 more. Yet, this self-proclaimed terrorist was able to get on a jetliner and fly to the United States while wearing a bomb.

What is even more amazing is that investigators now believe Abdulmutallab was connected to Al Qaeda through the radical Islamic cleric known as Anwar Al-Awlaki (who sadly was not killed in Thursday's attack in Yemen against Al Qaeda leaders). Al-Awlaki has been linked through e-mail correspondence to American Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of opening fire at Fort Hood in November, killing 13 people. Had a real investigation been instituted concerning Abdulmutallab, this should have raised a major red flag regarding how extremely radical he may have become.

Although I understand the above security measures are an effort to "err on the side of caution", it would seem more important to have conducted real security and kept track of suspected or known terrorists who are attempting to enter the United States. Otherwise, it was really an effort in futility by locking the barn door once the cow was gone. As Janet Napolitano said, the system that should have protected airline travel and safety - "failed miserably".

Sources:
US vows to hunt extremists, Al-Qaeda claims jet attack, by Stephen Colinson, December 28 2009
Confusion fills skies after attempted bombing, by Michael Tarm, December 28 2009
System to keep air travel safe failed: Napolitano, by Deborah Charles, December 28 2009