Washington, Dec 26 (IANS) While it is unclear how a man smuggled a small explosive device aboard a Northwest Airlines plane and set it off, an airline security expert said Saturday the incident should prompt a swift re-evaluation of passenger screening at airports throughout the world.
Douglas R. Laird, former security director for Northwest Airlines, said he has advocated for years that airports switch from X-rays and metal detectors to full-body scans — a move that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars more, but that he insists would help prevent terrorist attempts like the one reported Christmas Day.

“If you don’t use a body scan, you don’t know what the person has under his clothing,” said Laird, who helmed Northwest security from 1989 to 1995. He is now president of Nevada-based Laird and Associates and advises airlines and governments about airport security issues.

“We’ve talked about this for 20 years. I hate to say it, but you get what you pay for.”

X-ray equipment isn’t detailed enough for screeners to get a good look at items hidden in luggage, Laird said, and metal detectors fail to pick up liquid or plastic explosives. The hindrance, he said, is financial: An X-ray machine can cost less than $50,000, he estimated, while body-scanning equipment would be more than $1 million.

“The American public has been adamant that they do not want body scans,” he said. “I think that is crazy because if you want to keep dangerous items off of airplanes, you’ll have to have body scans.”

The suspect boarded the plane at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam and allegedly carried a device that he later attempted to use to explode the plane. It is unclear what the device was, though earlier reports indicated that it could have been firecrackers.

Laird said he knows Schipol security “like the back of my hand” and that he’s surprised someone apparently chose that airport to board with what federal officials have described as explosive materials. The security in Schipol is top-notch, he said, and meets all international standards.

He doesn’t know why Detroit was the selected destination, but he doesn’t think the location — or the date held holy in Christianity — was chosen at random.

“What really concerns me is that, from past experience, I imagine if this event happened, it’s very likely there are others in the pipeline,” he said. “My real fear is that there may be others.”

Bruce Schneier, a security technologist and author, said it’s too soon to tell if the suspect was a real threat or, as he put it, “an idiot”.

“There are all these idiotic wannabe terrorists who claim terrorist connections,” Schneier said Friday night. “Every nitwit can claim to be a member of Al Qaeda. There’s no membership card, no dues to pay to say you’re officially in the club. It’s hard to tell if there was anything real here.”

He pointed to Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, as another idiot.

“We have to ask, was the plan at all feasible? Right now we don’t know,” said Schneier, who has written security-themed books such as “Beyond Fear” and runs an online blog at schneier.com.

“I’ve heard reports that his plan was to blow up the plane in the air, while another report said he tried after it landed. If it’s after it landed, that’s just dumb. You might as well blow up a bus.”

Regardless of what details emerge, he urged people not to panic.

“Terrorism is a crime of the psyche, of the mind,” he said. “If you refuse to be terrorised, you win.”