Has an airport passenger security scanner ever uncovered a bomb or other potential terrorist attack?
Historical data on terrorist attacks suggests that the primary effect of airport security scanning was to deter attackers from attempting attacks on airplanes by raising their risk of failure. Before explosive detectors were in airports in the 1980s, explosions aboard aircraft were not uncommon. After the Aviation Security Act of 1990 that introduced explosive detection, fatalities due to explosions on airplances went down to zero. See pages 26-30 and especially the graph on page 28 of this paper http://www.devabhaktuni.us/resea…. “Contrary to popular disbelief, the deterrence effect resulting from “annoying” airport screening procedures has likely turned out to be much greater than would have been predicted simply by a multiplication of the detection probability by the rate of incidents prior to introduction of these measures. Commercial passenger airplanes have historically been a high-visibility target for terrorists, yet statistics indicate that the incidence of aircraft bombings
Related Questions
- Can I still buy liquids, cosmetics or other substances covered by the regulations in the airport shop beyond the passenger security point, and take these on board the aircraft?
- What new airport security measures were put into place after the hijackings and terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon?
- Is IU Southeast a potential target for a terrorist attack?
