TSA warns against surgically implanted bombs
The Department of Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently warned both domestic and foreign airline carriers that terrorists may be turning to invasive surgery – including explosives inside breast implants for suicide bombers – to get past security lines.
Since 2009, when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully tried to detonate an explosive stashed in his undergarments on a flight to Detroit, TSA and Homeland Security have been looking into related ways terrorists may be trying to sneak deadly devices onto flights. In March, The Sun of London reported on rumors that Al Qaeda is trying to develop an explosive breast implant.
“Surgery to implant explosives could be done a couple of days before a planned attack,” Colorado explosives expert James Crippin told The Washington Post in an article printed July 7. “In order for it to work, there would need to be a detonation device, and it’s conceivable that if the explosive was implanted in a woman’s breast, the detonator could be underneath the breast so that all the operative would have to do is press downward.”
USA Today on June 6 reported that Johns Hopkins School of Medicine gastrointestinal surgeon Marty Makary, MD, said that in theory, it would be simple to place a bomb the size of a breast implant into a person – and it would be easy to hide on a heavy person.
TSA put out a statement explaining that this type of technological advancement in terrorist tactics is not a surprise. “Due to the significant advances in global aviation security in recent years, terrorist groups have repeatedly and publicly indicated interest in pursuing ways to further conceal explosives,” the TSA statement noted.
Airport security checks have become much more extensive since 9/11 – and with these new terrorist attacks on the horizon, travelers can only expect the practices to become longer. “As a precaution, passengers flying from international locations to U.S. destinations may notice additional security measures in place,” TSA told PSN. “These measures are designed to be unpredictable… Measures may include interaction with passengers, in addition to the use of other screening methods such as pat-downs and the use of enhanced tools and technologies.”
TSA didn’t respond to PSN's questions involving plans to utilize plastic surgeons’ knowledge on the matter of explosive implants. However, it did note that attacks are not imminent. “Such a threat is likely to come from overseas rather than domestically, but precautionary steps are being taken internationally and in the United States,” according to the TSA.
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