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NRC Handelsblad, The Netherlands

Terrorism and the Illusion of 'Total Security'

 

"One hundred percent safety is an impossibility. Terrorists, particularly if they're willing to give up their own lives, will always have an edge over the security services. Risks can only be reduced - not eliminated. Total security in an open, democratic society is an illusion."

 

EDITORIAL

 

December 28, 2009

 

The Netherlands - NRC Handelsblad - Original Article (Dutch)

Troubled Youth: Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab has been charged by the United States with attempting to blow up an aircraft which was enroute from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.

 

BBC NEWS AUDIO: An interview with British Home Secretary Alan Johnson on the investigation into Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Dec. 28, 00:07:50RealVideo

Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the son of a former Nigerian minister and banker who tried to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day, was already a suspect before he boarded his flight in Lagos. A year and a half ago, he obtained a visa at the American consulate in London. But in November, after a worrisome tip from his own father, he was put on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, a list that includes 550,000 names.

 

But that didn't mean his access to Schiphol Airport or a U.S.-bound aircraft should have been denied. The student from a well-to-do family, who by his own admission is an operator for al-Qaeda in Yemen, wasn't on the “no-fly list” of 4,000 potential terrorists. Nor was he among those on the list of 14,000 people subject to extra screening [aka/the "Selectee" list].

 

Partly as a result if an undercover report by SBS in which a fake bomb was smuggled onto an aircraft there, Schiphol Airport doesn't exactly enjoy a superior reputation. Nevertheless, Abdul Mutallab's relatively low degree of suspicion is probably why he wasn't stopped and arrested. The explosives he wore on his body would have been found during a manual search, which perhaps would have been conducted had his name been on one of the two smaller lists totaling 18,000 names.

 

Such gaps have been known for some time. On his way from Paris to Miami eight years ago, in late 2001, shoe-bomber Richard Reid carried the same explosive chemicals as Abdul Muallab. At the time, airport security, which had already been tightened significantly after 9/11, was made even tighter. For example, passengers have to take off their shoes and aren’t allowed to take fluids onboard. But that doesn’t guarantee seamless control, particularly if a person plots to commit a terrorist act or behaves suspiciously, as was the case yesterday on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. 

 

Dr. Alhaji Umar Mutallab, father of Christmas

bomb suspect Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, is

a former Minister of Economic Development

(1975), of Cooperation and Supply (1976),

and former chairman of the First Bank Plc.

   

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

Elaph, United Kingdom: America Should 'Hire Private Jets for Muslims'

The Daily Sun, Nigeria: Christmas Bomb Suspect's Family Issues Statement

 

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President Obama has announced new security measures and ordered an investigation. The Netherlands should follow his example, even if Schiphol handled everything according to protocol. A probe could reveal outdated practices and close procedural loopholes. 

 

No less important is the fact that such an investigation may shed light on the question of whether the culprit was part of a network or operated on his own. The answer to that question, a politically-charged one both in The Netherlands and the United States, would offer some guidance in sizing-up the terrorist threat and identifying the counter-measures necessary to keep it in check.   

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

Because 100 percent safety is an impossibility. Terrorists, particularly if they're willing to give up their own lives, will always have an edge over the security services. Risks can only be reduced - not eliminated. Total security in an open, democratic society is an illusion.

 

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Posted by WORLDMEETS.US, Dec. 29, 3:10am

 







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