Bomb plot spurs a 'new normal' for flying

Fly the jittery skies.

A week after British intelligence foiled a plot to blow up multiple planes with liquid explosives, security at American airports remains at a heightened level.

Passengers and crews are extra vigilant. Even the slightest disturbance is cause for a security alert. In just one 24-hour period, two planes – one from London to Washington, the other from Fiji to Australia – were diverted for what turned out to be false security alarms.

It's all part of what could be called yet another "new normal" in US aviation.

In the five years since 9/11, the airline industry has implemented a wide range of added security measures, and more are in the works. But many analysts contend the vulnerabilities exposed by the foiled plot require the nation to take a step back and reassess the whole manner in which America's skies are guarded. The reason: The terrorists are what one security expert calls "thinking predators."

"Here we are with a problem five years after 9/11 that will not be solved by more screeners or more technology – the liquid [explosive] problem – and even if it hypothetically were, the terrorists would move to some other form," says Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition in Radnor, Pa. "We reacted after 9/11. We put a lot of things into motion that are now law, but we never had any kind of meaningful debate about the nature of the problem. We have to do that now."

Security analysts say the new restrictions banning most liquids and gels from carry-on luggage will remain in place indefinitely. Some congressional leaders are calling for the immediate screening of all cargo loaded onto passenger planes and a ban on objects that can't go through explosive detection machines. Officials at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) also announced they plan to expand the training of screeners to spot suspicious behavior. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has a new director for its science and technology division, which has been highly criticized by Congress and security experts for its failure to aggressively research new explosive detection technology.

In considering and implementing such security measures, officials have always had the challenge of finding the right balance between technological fixes (such as coming up with machines that can detect liquid explosives) and expanding human resources (such as hiring more screeners and increasing intelligence capabilities). In the wake of the foiled plot, DHS has come under fire for not aggressively researching new and existing technologies. The threat of liquid explosives has been well known since the mid-1990s, when a similar plot was exposed.

"The entire Department of Homeland Security has been inept and inert in finding new technology, some of which already exists. It's on the shelf," says Michael Greenberger, director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.

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