Michelle Malkin » Another shoe bomb alert

Another shoe bomb alert

By Michelle Malkin • October 25, 2007 09:30 PM

Several MSM outlets got a hold of a joint FBI-DHS homeland security bulletin warning of potential shoe bomb attacks. ABC News:

Following the seizure in Europe of hollowed-out shoes containing blasting caps, U.S. authorities have been told to be on the lookout for thick-soled shoes that could be used to conceal explosives, as infamously was the case with convicted “shoe bomber” Richard Reid.

According to a Department of Homeland Security-FBI bulletin issued Wednesday, Oct. 24, European authorities in September 2007 discovered a pair of shoes that were used to smuggle electric blasting caps across international borders for use in a terrorist attack.

“A recent terrorist incident involving the international smuggling of electric blasting caps highlights the continuing use of modified footwear as a concealment method for explosive devices,” stated the DHS-FBI Bulletin “Terrorist Use of Modified Footwear to Conceal Explosive Devices.”

CBS:

The joint FBI-Homeland Security bulletin, obtained by CBS News today, bluntly warns that terrorists are still working to use “modified footwear as a concealment method for explosive devices,” CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports.

The alert follows the discovery of bomb detonators - expertly hidden in the hollowed-out soles of this pair of shoes - found aboard a European bus last month.

Intelligence officials say the shoes were not being worn at the time, but instead were being used, as the document says, “to smuggle electric blasting caps across international borders for use in a terrorist attack.”

“The terrorists have an interest in explosive devices. They are trying to figure out the best way to push them, to move them through the system,” said CBS News counterterrorism analyst Paul Kurtz.

Shoes have been used by terrorists before.

Three months after 9/11, al Qaeda operative Richard Reid tried to blow up an American Airlines jet with a shoe bomb similar to the one shown in this test.

Now at U.S. airports, scanners X-ray all passengers’ shoes and carry on bags, searching for explosives.

Still, experts worry that a team of terrorists could beat security by carrying unassembled parts of a bomb past a checkpoint.

“Where one person will carry component A, the next person will carry component B, and they will meet together past the safety point, past the checkpoint and reassemble,” explained Mike White, the director of training for Michael Stapleton Associates and a former head of the NYPD bomb squad.

Officials say there is no specific intelligence that terrorists are preparing new attacks against America.

It would have helped to know more about the people involved with carrying around these shoes in Europe. I’m guessing they weren’t Irish Catholics.

You know what they say: If you see something, say something.

And as the last shoe-bomb incident taught us: Do something.

***

Flashback: The other shoe bomber.

Flashback: Maybe TSA should leave the nuns alone.

Posted in: Airline Security, John Doe

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#1

On October 25th, 2007 at 9:36 pm, AlohaGuy said:

Good job finding them on the bus. Wild guess - they fit a profile?
#2

On October 25th, 2007 at 9:41 pm, AlohaGuy said:

You’re not going to say you’re waiting for the other shoe-bomber to drop are you?
#3

On October 25th, 2007 at 9:42 pm, Crazy Horse said:

Why would we profile??

I mean really who is more likely to be a bomber…………a 20 something muslim man or a 80 year old nun????

This is a reason for profiling
#4

On October 25th, 2007 at 9:55 pm, ajmontana said:

Officials say there is no specific intelligence that terrorists are preparing new attacks against America.

This is scary because you know they are.
#5

On October 25th, 2007 at 9:56 pm, AlohaGuy said:

“…in a related story, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer today refused to run a photo of the shoes saying, ‘We have no confirmation that these shoes were anything but innocuous, and to forever taint them by associating them with terrorism under these circumstances is not consistent with our policy.”’”
#6

On October 25th, 2007 at 10:01 pm, 24Klady said:

AlohaGuy#5 - and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer would be the first to blame another incident involving a shoe on a right wing conspiracy. Taint them? Consistent with our policy. Hmmm.
#7

On October 25th, 2007 at 10:07 pm, ajmontana said:

Policy? what? see a terrorist turn the other way?
#8

On October 25th, 2007 at 10:10 pm, AlohaGuy said:

The quote is snitched from the two guys on the ferry boat story, with a tiny change. I hope everyone knows it’s satire….
#9

On October 25th, 2007 at 10:39 pm, doriangrey said:

Warning off topic rant:

Whoooppppeeee…..They have just lifted the mandatory evacuation notice here in Ramona.
#10

On October 25th, 2007 at 10:41 pm, ajmontana said:

Good news dorian.
#11

On October 25th, 2007 at 10:43 pm, ajmontana said:

yep aloha guy.
#12

On October 25th, 2007 at 11:02 pm, limmo said:

Really, how do we know that woman is a nun? She could be a grandmother, and goodness knows we need to have our grannies take their shoes off at airports. It’s de riguer. It’s not like these older women are crossing our border with coyotes. They’re at airports unattended. They need to be patted down and wanded!
#13

On October 25th, 2007 at 11:02 pm, 29Victor said:

Mazal tov doriangray.
#14

On October 25th, 2007 at 11:03 pm, limmo said:

That nun’s bangs are showing. Of course, they’re going to arrest her.
#15

On October 25th, 2007 at 11:05 pm, DaveC said:

AlohaGuy#5 - and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer would be the first to blame another incident involving a shoe on a right wing conspiracy. Taint them? Consistent with our policy. Hmmm.

Would that be a right wing tipped shoe?

okay.. that was bad..

and now that the government is running security at airports, what’s to worry about….
#16

On October 25th, 2007 at 11:11 pm, puhiawa said:

Chertoff is dangerously stupid. And his arrogance does not allow him to see his weaknesses.
#17

On October 25th, 2007 at 11:12 pm, feebiebabe said:

bluntly warns that terrorists are still working to use “modified footwear as a concealment method for explosive devices,”

Faux news Alert

Ronald McDonald was tackled late Thursday night by security agents inside the international terminal of LAX while the french fry guys and Grimace looked on in horror!
#18

On October 26th, 2007 at 12:56 am, josetheguerilla said:

I’m john Doe sue me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#19

On October 26th, 2007 at 1:28 am, doriangrey said:

On October 25th, 2007 at 10:41 pm, ajmontana said:

On October 25th, 2007 at 11:02 pm, 29Victor said:

Thanks everyone, this is great news for me and I appreciate everyone suffering my need to post about the fire…
#20

On October 26th, 2007 at 4:14 am, Mark Jaquith said:

This simultaneously encourages and discourages me. It encourages me that some terrorists aren’t adapting. But it discourages me that security forces seem to be focused on the methods of stupid terrorists trying to recreate a previous failed attempt.
#21

On October 26th, 2007 at 6:17 am, Snooper said:

The poli-speak of the usual gaggle of garglers is getting old.

“…Officials say there is no specific intelligence that terrorists are preparing new attacks against America…”

The phrase is very similar to when a politician says something like, “let me be perfectly frank…” What were they being BEFORE they said that. Or, “Let me be perfectly clear…” Were they being vague before?

I agree with ajmontana (#4), if there were specifics, arrests would have been made.

Poli-speak. Whatever happened to honesty?
#22

On October 26th, 2007 at 7:51 am, gayle said:

…..and this made the headlines?

It’s nothing new.
#23

On October 26th, 2007 at 7:54 am, Dandapani said:

I can’t imagine the mentality to agree to walk around in shoes where the heals have been hallowed out for BLASTING CAPS!!!
#24

On October 26th, 2007 at 7:57 am, ajmontana said:

No kidding dan, although they said this pair wasnt being worn at the time others do. geez, these morons probably use shark tanks as footbaths.
#25

On October 26th, 2007 at 9:03 am, almeehan said:

Shoe bombs. Scary yes on aircraft. I was in Baltimore last week and obviously Homeland Security has never heard of the town. A driver at a fuel depot with a fully loaded tanker truck was confronted by an armed man (that’s all the description the news would give) who got away with the full fuel truck! Homeland Security? What’s that? I never heard any follow up news. Nothing to see here folks, move right along. Meanwhile TSA keep on hiring Muslims without checking their total family connections. We need diverse people to pat down those dangerous nuns.
#26

On October 26th, 2007 at 9:37 am, Eric_CharlotteNC said:

Just think what you could hide in a turban. Strip search that nun but don’t remove that turbin.
“This is our religious sign,” he said of the turban wound around his head. “You can’t remove this.”

“To me, the August policy raised concerns about racial profiling and religious sensitivity,” said Honda. “We have been working with TSA Administrator Kip Hawley to find a balance between securing our airports and protecting people’s civil liberties. We hope the implementation of this revised (procedure) will do that.”
#27

On October 26th, 2007 at 9:42 am, conservativesRus said:

Amazing -

Officials say there is no specific intelligence that terrorists are preparing new attacks against America

No other evidence other than they say they are planning to attack.
Of course, the threat isn’t imminent (meaning it didn’t yet actually get completed - according to some, the threat of the 9/11 guys wasn’t imminent until after impact).
#28

On October 26th, 2007 at 9:55 am, conservativesRus said:

As one who previously flew quite a lot - I have to say TSA really is only a giant jobs program giving “authority” to people who really shouldn’t have it. Last week my wife and I were flying and she had an obviously empty shampoo container confiscated it. While that was happening, they were taking away a painted rock from a girl. I do realize she could possibly have used the rock as a weapon - but to borrow (and mangle) a phrase - the rock wouldn’t kill anybody, the person using it would. Next thing you know, they will ban fuel on airplanes because that is obviously what burned and caused the towers to fall down.
#29

On October 26th, 2007 at 9:59 am, conservativesRus said:

“…. racial profiling and religious sensitivity,” said Honda. “We have been working with TSA Administrator Kip Hawley to find a balance between securing our airports and protecting people’s civil liberties.”

I’m wasn’t aware that flying was a right as defined in the constitution?
#30

On October 26th, 2007 at 10:03 am, Eric_CharlotteNC said:

Its listed right after healthcare conservativesRus.
#31

On October 26th, 2007 at 9:57 pm, scooter56 said:

Do you realize what’s going on here? Terrorists have attacked our imagination and now our imaginations are running wild.