The Boston Herald October 30, 2010
U.S. alert after 'terrorist threat' paralyzes skies
By Jules Crittenden and Donna Goodison
A suspected al-Qaeda terror campaign testing a new method — airfreight packages — could be under way as authorities intercepted two potential explosive devices from Yemen en route to the United States and addressed to Chicago-area synagogues.
President Obama called the coordinated attacks a “credible terrorist threat,” and U.S. officials said they believed al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch, the group behind the failed Detroit underwear-bomber airliner bombing attempt on Christmas, was responsible.
“The United States is not assuming that the attacks were disrupted and is remaining vigilant,” White House counterterror chief John Brennan said last night.
One package was found aboard a cargo plane in Dubai, the other in England. Preliminary tests indicated the packages contained the powerful industrial explosive PETN, the same chemical used in the foiled Christmas attack, U.S. officials said.
In the United States, the discovery prompted searches of cargo planes on the Eastern Seaboard, and an Emirates Airline plane was escorted into New York by U.S. fighter jets. No explosives were found.
The incident did not immediately affect security at Boston’s Logan International Airport yesterday, Massport spokesman Phil Orlandella said: “None of the suspicious package incidents are related to Boston.”
A Massport statement said: “The security level at BOS and all airports remains ‘High’... Passengers should continue to expect a mix of security techniques at Logan. As we do with employees, we ask our customers to be vigilant and report suspicious activity to the state police . . . If you see something, say something.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Malden) said he’s looking at filing a bill to require security screening for cargo flights. “I have been concerned about air cargo security since the terrorist attacks on 9-11.”
Intelligence personnel had been monitoring a suspected plot for days, officials said. The packages in England and Dubai were found after Saudi Arabian intelligence passed on information from Yemen. U.S. intelligence officials warned last month that terrorists hoped to use the mail.
But security experts last night, referring to the initial discoveries, said preliminary indications suggested another in a long line of post-9
11 failures by Islamic extremists, including shoe bomber Richard Reed, the underwear bomber and the Times Square bombing attempt.
MIT Security Studies researcher James Walsh said of the discovered devices, “This is a sign of (Islamic extremist) weakness, not strength. They tried to send people. It’s hard to do. Now, they are reduced to sending mail. They are having to rely on more and more tenuous methods.”
Joseph Trevithick, a research associate at GlobalSecurity.org, said, “There is a vulnerability, the fact that they could get a device with explosive material on a plane.” But Trevitchick said he was encouraged by the apparent incompetence in the discovered package bombs, which he said apparently were not functional.
Judging by the series of failed bombings, he added, “Getting explosives onto the plane apparently is the easy part. It’s having a functional device that seems to be the difficult part.”
Dave Wedge and Herald wire services contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2010, The Boston Herald
