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Laptop Ban a Reaction to X-Ray Equipment Stolen by ISIS

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Re: Laptop Ban a Reaction to X-Ray Equipment Stolen by ISIS

#91

Post by [deleted] »

simonh wrote: post #78
mtgx wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then the CIA allied again with alQaeda when fighting Assad. And round and round it goes. Too bad the public is made a to be a sucker every time.

They didn't 'ally with Al Qaeda', they just both happened to be opposed to the same guy while also being opposed to each other. It's a complicated situation out there. Even at the height of the Cold War, sometimes the CIA and KGB would share information of mutual benefit. That didn't mean the CIA was allying with communism. Even Trump has learned this when his 'bombing Syria is the wrong thing to do, what Assad gets…

[deleted]

Re: Laptop Ban a Reaction to X-Ray Equipment Stolen by ISIS

#92

Post by WorldMaker »

jetti wrote: post #62
leggomylibro wrote: post #7

>So why was the stolen x-ray equipment kept a secret? I asked my source if there was some security reason for keeping the stolen x-ray equipment from the public, and was told, unequivocally, no. “It’s because the mom from the midwest planning to fly her kids to Disney would freak out. They are worried that people would stop flying if they knew.” Kind of ironic, because I've already stopped flying - not because I'm af…

"If I absolutely must travel, I take a train or drive. " The problem with train is it is expensive and time consuming in the States. I could take a train from Chicago to Orlando and it would take around 30 hours and cost just as much, if not more, than a plane ticket. Not only that, the 19 hour second leg of the ride has no food car.

Passenger train is just generally severely crippled in the US.

From Louisville, KY you get to factor in the greyhound bus to Chicago, as the nearest passenger train station, because the passenger trains haven't run to Louisville in more than a decade. So far as I can tell, that's the most direct route via train: northwest by bus to go southeast by train, eventually.

You could do it somewhat more directly using a sequence of bus transfers instead, but that's also entirely inconvenient in its own way.

Re: Laptop Ban a Reaction to X-Ray Equipment Stolen by ISIS

#93

Post by nraynaud »

askvictor wrote: post #72
suihkulokki wrote: post #39

This article seems to miss the fact ISIS took over Mosul international airport in 2014. Surely they got luggage screening machines in hand by then already.

My guess would be that the gear at Mosul would not be as advanced as elsewhere.

Not sure, because the destinations countries for the planes departing from there have some interest (a bit like the US forcing some theater on Europe), and there is some international help for military and security theater gear.

Re: Laptop Ban a Reaction to X-Ray Equipment Stolen by ISIS

#94

Post by chx »

petre wrote: post #56
subterfudge44 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They are worried that people would stop flying if they knew. And that describes what the whole TSA thing is about. It is a theatre. There was no need to put laptop ban either because it is just as useless. One has to only check Quora answers on all sort of things people have taken through security which includes 2 full size Katana Swords, loaded guns, Fire starters, Ethanol bottles and various other items. I unders…

Nitrocellulose? One could turn a troller full of cotton underwear into a bomb. So are they going to ban underwear on flights next?

You could create a dust explosion out of almost anything containing small enough particles and you can learn how from YouTube videos. It's seriously that easy. Are they going to ban baby powder next? Sugar, flour, corn starch, whatnot?

But all you have achieved is a hole in the fuselage. That sucks but it's nowhere near enough to take a plane down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Airlines_Flight_812 for example.

Re: Laptop Ban a Reaction to X-Ray Equipment Stolen by ISIS

#95

Post by spc476 »

leggomylibro wrote: post #65
jetti wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If I absolutely must travel, I take a train or drive. " The problem with train is it is expensive and time consuming in the States. I could take a train from Chicago to Orlando and it would take around 30 hours and cost just as much, if not more, than a plane ticket. Not only that, the 19 hour second leg of the ride has no food car.

It is definitely not a saving on cost or time, but I don't have to travel too much and the vastly improved experience is worthwhile for me, especially within a 2-3 state radius. Amtrak tickets will rival a plane in cost while taking longer, but they tend to be less crowded. They often have designated quiet cars. There's far less invasive security theater. The seats are comfortable. It's an environment that I can actu…

The one time I took a train (Amtrak) I found it was nearly impossible to work due to the swaying of the train. The other down side was the return train was a few hours late (Amtrak does not own the track where I was traveling).

On the plus side, the seats were large and comfortable, and the food was surprisingly good.

Re: Laptop Ban a Reaction to X-Ray Equipment Stolen by ISIS

#96

Post by thaumasiotes »

tsaoutourpants wrote: post #89
stevenwoo wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a model that we already know works in practice but it's not cheaper or faster and it would generate a lot of income for security/airport renovation companies at the cost of much higher ticket costs to pay for it - the Israeli model. https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/01/adopting_the_...

The Israeli model requires ethnic and religious discrimination. It is not an option in the US, nor should it be.

Should it be an option there?

Re: Laptop Ban a Reaction to X-Ray Equipment Stolen by ISIS

#97

Post by andrewflnr »

Animats wrote: post #32

The secrecy issue has gotten out of hand. The classic military view of secrecy is time-limited. "Where the ship was last week is unclassified. Where the ship was yesterday is confidential. Where the ship is now is secret. Where the ship will be tomorrow is top secret." The opposition will eventually find out what you're planning on doing. The goal is for them to find out the hard way, when incoming fire starts hittin…

Anti-terrorism seems like exactly the kind of field where your "intelligence community" outlook is appropriate.

Re: Laptop Ban a Reaction to X-Ray Equipment Stolen by ISIS

#98

Post by martinald »

chucksmash wrote: post #83
jetti wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If I absolutely must travel, I take a train or drive. " The problem with train is it is expensive and time consuming in the States. I could take a train from Chicago to Orlando and it would take around 30 hours and cost just as much, if not more, than a plane ticket. Not only that, the 19 hour second leg of the ride has no food car.

This is exactly the thought that occurred to me, except for New York to Atlanta. I've looked into taking the train a couple of times and balked each time at the idea of paying the same price for 10-15x the transit time. 40 hours in transit is going to be a non-starter for so many kinds of trips, unless you're specifically doing something like [1] where the transit is the whole point of the trip. [1]: http://www.viara…

The thing is it is way more expensive to provide a train for 40 hours than a plane for 2. The plane could do 20 journeys in that time, for 20x the nominal revenue.

This is why high speed rail is so good: it can actually really decrease operational costs Vs normal rail as your train, crew, station etc does 2-3x the volume of passengers, and therefore revenue, compared to slower alternatives.

Re: Laptop Ban a Reaction to X-Ray Equipment Stolen by ISIS

#99

Post by RandVal30141 »

vkou wrote: post #90
simonh wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't 'ally with Al Qaeda', they just both happened to be opposed to the same guy while also being opposed to each other. It's a complicated situation out there. Even at the height of the Cold War, sometimes the CIA and KGB would share information of mutual benefit. That didn't mean the CIA was allying with communism. Even Trump has learned this when his 'bombing Syria is the wrong thing to do, what Assad gets…

And yet, the press has done an about-face on Al Qaeda's, referring to its Syrian branch as 'Al-Nusra, a moderate rebel group.' If I didn't know any better, I'd say that we are being primed for the CIA getting into bed with Islamist terrorists, in order to combat Russian influence in the Middle East. Again.

"And yet, the press has done an about-face on Al Qaeda's, referring to its Syrian branch as 'Al-Nusra, a moderate rebel group."

Substantiate your claim.

"CIA getting into bed with Islamist terrorists"

This is tiresome, just because US govt allies with Muslims that Russia calls terrorists doesn't make them so. In fact, last time I checked Russia works on the ground with Hezbollah, a designated terrorist group. This argument can easily go sideways for people hoisting it up as a mantra.

Re: Laptop Ban a Reaction to X-Ray Equipment Stolen by ISIS

#100

Post by RandVal30141 »

mtgx wrote: post #74
digi_owl wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The anti-terrrorism community has adopted the intelligence community mindset. This is a problem. Wonder how much that has to do with overlap between the two. Today's terrorist may well have been yesterday's informat, and may well be an informant again tomorrow. After all, the CIA was deeply involved in Afghanistan back when the USSR was fighting there. And many of the people that the CIA supported then later turned…

And then the CIA allied again with alQaeda when fighting Assad. And round and round it goes. Too bad the public is made a to be a sucker every time.

CIA allied with groups that have died fighting al-Qaeda. Just because theft and corruption means material aid given to the groups ended up in AQ's hands doesn't mean CIA allied with al-Qaeda, it shows quite the opposite. SAA goods end up in ISIS's hands by the tons but that doesn't mean they allied with them either.

"Too bad the public is made a to be a sucker"

Who is the sucker here?

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