Watch for This at the Airport

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Welcome to the watch floor. I'm Sarah Adams.

Today we're covering one of the topics we get the most questions about.

Can you walk us through a kind of current aviation plotting related to the US homeland, right?

I'll kind of doesn't come out and give you the entire framework of a plot.

What they do is lead bread crumbs and then you have to figure it out.

Hopefully in advance.

Unfortunately, a lot of times it's after the fact where you learn a lot of pieces.

But again, there was the 2006 liquid bomb plot that was thwarted.

So the more we can get ahead of this, we can thwart it and save a lot of lives.

So today we're going to walk through what we know about this plot.

Others might have different information and that's okay.

There's a ton of aspects to this plot.

A lot of gaps, a lot of unknowns.

All we're doing is getting the information out there so everyone can be more alert and more prepared.

When we talk about this plot, like anything, of course it has objectives.

And the plot has three main objectives.

The first is turning past failures into success.

So there's a number of aviation plots that never came to fruition.

We had the shoe bomber, the underwear bomber.

We just told you the liquid bomb plot, etc.

So we're going to talk a little bit about what that means today and what plot they're focused on the most from the past that didn't come to fruition.

Another thing is they want to prove that our Department of Homeland Security, this huge organization we created and specifically, you know, TSA within it, is completely useless.

They want to say, hey, they can't protect you.

We can get bombs on aircrafts and we're going to show you.

So that's something to keep in mind and it's a huge part of this.

The last piece is they want to finally execute a successful operation using the invisible bomb or as al-Qaeda likes to call it the hidden bomb.

So we're going to explain to you what this bomb is, how it looks today, and why they think they'll be successful.

And there has been innovations too and a lot of people are still thinking about the bomb from like 15 years ago.

And it is much different today.

And so we're going to explain, you know, the pieces we can say publicly about that.

Of course, you know, al-Qaeda is always monitoring what we're going to say and what we're sharing.

And of course, then they change their tactics and techniques.

It's unfortunately why you can only share so much, but you need to share enough in the hopes to thwart something like this.

It's a very delicate balance, unfortunately.

When we say turning past failures into success, this is very important for people to understand.

In December 2023, al-Qaeda's core leadership had their Yemen branch.

So AQAP put out a video kind of threatening in the West and hinting about this aviation plot.

Now the interesting thing is there is really useful information in the video.

And then there's information in the video to make law enforcement go off on wild goose chases.

So you have to spend a lot of time, you know, on this video.

And luckily we've collected a lot of information since this video to really see what you need to see.

And not what al-Qaeda wants you to see.

So if you just took the video at face value, you would think al-Qaeda's plot is to get a lone wolf or a lone attacker.

So someone who's just inspired by the video to make this homemade version of the invisible bomb in their kitchen,

take it on an airplane and blow it up.

So they want you to think that they're looking for someone out there to be another Umar Farouk, who is the underwear bomber.

That is not the plot.

But again, that's what they want you to think of the plot.

It's just this one off person.

And that's why a lot of people don't take the plot seriously.

So the plot isn't based on the failed Christmas Eve airline plot.

The plot is actually based on Bojinka.

So if you don't know Bojinka, we are going to walk through it today just for an understanding of it because it was a plot that was thwarted 30 years ago.

So it's not even in recent history.

It is so far back in history.

So this plot was a mass casualty aviation plot and it was thwarted in 1995 pretty much accidentally.

So the masterminds were College Shake Muhammad, who obviously was a mastermind behind 9-11 and Ramzi Yusuf,

who most famously was involved in the first World Trade Center bombing.

Remember, if I'll kind of think they weren't successful even though the World Trade Center bombing was,

they will come back again and bring the plot to fruition and then that's of course what happened on 9-11.

So we have some of these historic actors going all the way back to this plot.

The goal was to down 11 to 12 airliners traveling over the trans-Pacific into the United States.

We got lucky because Ramzi had like an electrical fire in his apartment.

You know law enforcement showed up and when they did they found you know all these pieces of the plot

and it was just weeks away from occurring.

It was also at that point that they found out, oh in December 1994 there was a dry run of this bomb on an airplane.

Luckily in that case it only killed the bomber and the pilot was able to successfully land the plane and there was no other fatalities.

So it was interesting that no one ever connected the dry run to an actual plot

and it's something we have to keep in mind because that unfortunately happens

and we really want to be on top of these things, right? There are no coincidences.

There are other waves to the plot Bojinka.

If you know it of course they wanted to take a plane into the CIA, they wanted to kill the Pope, etc.

But really the piece we care the most about is the dozen airliners.

Now the bombs are a little different.

The goal was to put kind of these liquid explosives into everyday items and the focus was like a contact lens solution.

So that bottle, so just think of it that way.

That is not what the bomb looks like now but just to be aware they have continually evolved this

and of course the 2006 plot was also liquid explosives.

A lot of people say Bojinka was the prototype for 9-11.

It was a piece of it but within al-Qaeda Bojinka has yet to be completed and they now want to bring it to fruition.

So what we're seeing is the potential that they want to do a Bojinka style plot of a dozen airliners

but all over US soil.

So it won't be this time trans-Atlantic like 2006 was or trans-Pacific from what we know because they want all the attackers to get on the planes at a US starting point.

So from a US airport and so we all blame our government.

It's not like you can say well he got on the plane in Paris, it's the French government's fault.

No, it's going to be the US government's fault because they're going to get on at airports in the United States.

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Now let's just take a couple minutes and talk about you know the hidden bomb or the invisible bomb.

People have heard about this for a long time.

All it is is a bomb with no metal components.

That's why it's called invisible.

Now terrorists have been trying to do this bomb since the 1980s.

But the current phase of the bomb and what we talk about today really started in 2009.

That's when the bomb maker used the bomb against kind of a head of Saudi intelligence.

His own brother was the bomber.

Unfortunately it killed his brother in that case not the head of intel.

So that was again an failure for al-Qaeda and then they attempted to use the bomb in the underwear bomb.

And again that was a failure for al-Qaeda.

And of course the underwear bombers did the hand here in the United States.

So this is what we mean and we're talking about the invisible bomb.

It is just the underwear bomb but it has now been innovated on.

And the interesting thing is al-Qaeda literally showed us the bomb.

Now a lot of people think they only showed us the homemade version of the invisible bomb in the 2023 video.

But I'm going to roll a clip for you really quick and I want you to see this version of the bomb.

And following the footsteps of the hero Umara Varuk.

The hidden bomb.

On the dawn of 2010 media agencies reported that a Nigerian youth ordered an American plane Delta carrying with him a unique bomb.

He nearly blew the plane up. His name is Umar Al-Farouk.

So you might have to rewind and watch that a couple of times.

But this is the laboratory made version of the invisible bomb.

So our government thinks the invisible bomb is like some big item like two water bottles stuck together but look at the size of that.

And that was in 2023. It's even smaller now.

So I want you to be aware that this bomb isn't some pie in the sky idea.

It was created years ago. It's been tested.

And then it has been sent and brought over a sudden border.

It is already in the United States.

So this isn't the starting phases of the plot.

We're to the ending phases of a plot. And so we need to be very honest about that.

Another thing when people see this video and watch it multiple times of course the main question comes up.

Well, what's the deal with the syringe?

And this is very important to understand.

So how the bomb detonates is it's a binary explosion.

So there is a chemical in the invisible bomb.

And there is a separate chemical in the syringe or whatever the device is going to be to insert it.

And you put the chemical that's in the syringe into the bomb.

The two chemicals mixed together.

Kind of like if you're going to shake a glow stick and activate it.

And then that starts kind of the detonation of the bomb.

So it's just a very simple thing to know and understand.

There was a one back in 2019 that was found with a very similar detonation.

The Turkish authorities were doing a raid on the PKK and they found these pens.

And they realized the pens were chemical initiators for IEDs.

So what they did is you would take the pen and you would put the chemical into the ID.

And at that time there was like a 30 minute burn right so then the terrorists could get away from the bomb.

And then 30 minutes later it would blow up and obviously it would be no threat to the terrorists who deployed the bomb.

So it's a very smart thing.

And again, these pens are really interesting.

Turkish authorities said, hey, we put them through a scanner.

They look like normal pens. So it's just something to keep in mind.

So it's not even like that's a new technology.

I'll kind of came up with, you know, it's been shown improving and it works already on the battlefield.

Another thing that I think is really important to understand is obviously,

Ibrahim Al-Assiri, if you don't know him, he was the famous bomb maker in AQAP,

who literally made the invisible bomb. He's dead.

So then it makes people believe, well, then al-Qaeda does not have a bomb maker to make this bomb,

which is a little foolish since you can watch the video and make it yourself in your kitchen.

But that is an important question, right? Who is the bomb maker for this plot?

Well, the bomb maker is an individual named Yazid Sufat.

If you're not aware of Yazid Sufat, he's long been involved in a Qaeda CDRN program.

He led a lot of those early efforts into anthrax when al-Qaeda was focused on using it.

He even had a nickname like the CEO of anthrax in al-Qaeda.

He was involved in working on the bomb for the USS Cole, which unfortunately this fall,

we just had what the 25th anniversary.

He also trained a couple of the 9-11 hijackers, etc.

And he worked on the original bomb design for Bojinka.

So he isn't just a bomb maker.

It doesn't just have connections to all of these really significant events.

But this was also a plot he worked on that failed.

So I want you to understand like how personal that can be in this case,

because there is a lot of pieces of this plot where there are people from the past involved

and it makes it more impactful on the al-Qaeda side and more personal to them.

Because also think of all the individuals he trained over the years.

They want to bring this to fruition to honor him and give him his win.

I mean, I know that's not the best way to put it, but we do have to think like the enemy,

unfortunately, if we're going to stop them.

Now, we get asked obviously what's in this bomb.

The bomb is slightly different if you make it at home.

Or if it's made in the lab.

Unfortunately, we don't work in lab.

So we don't know exactly those differences.

It contains of course a plastic explosive.

Because again, we have no metal components.

Now, there are other things.

So we talked about how there's chemicals that help detonate.

But also in some of the bombs, there are caustic chemicals that can harm you.

So the best way to explain this is, let's say one of these bombs was set off in a bus.

Obviously, we had the 7-7 bombings in London.

And even though that was a successful plot on paper,

that also is a plot all kind of feels didn't go into fruition because there's other phases to it that got thwarted.

So it's just an interesting thing.

So the bomb goes off and you're on a bus.

So you luckily don't die from the explosion because you're farther back on the bus.

But now a chemical is released into the air.

And if you don't get out of the bus and away from it, you know, that is also going to cause other harm to you.

And unfortunately, you can potentially die from it.

So we don't know if every bomb has this, but it is important to be aware that this is a hazmat situation.

And I know airports will be mad at me, but I don't care.

So if you're in an airport and a bomb goes off, you need to get out of the building.

You need to get as far as you can away from whatever could be within these blasts and these particles coming out of the bomb.

Now another thing is obviously we want to stop this before it ever happens.

So a really important thing is detecting suicide bombers and knowing what they look like.

And I don't think there are a lot of public awareness campaigns out there on what a suicide bomber even looks like.

So do some of your own research and get smart on this.

But some of the things we like to talk about is they might be involved in things like detraction tactics.

So what that means is they can pretend like they're asking questions about something that they don't really care about.

They'll be repeatedly asking questions.

They might be diverting attention away from other things.

You know, just something that doesn't feel normal, it's not like a normal conversation you use to inside the airport.

You know, pay attention to those type of things.

They have behavioral changes.

One of the biggest issues is they can get defensive incredibly quickly.

Remember, they're very paranoid.

They think, hey, someone's going to spot me and know who I am.

And that's in their head.

And so they're hyper focused as well as looking at people who are security.

But also focusing on people who look like maybe they're law enforcement or military.

You know, it's something to watch out for.

Another thing is they do have suspicious body language.

One of the key things that's like they always have to touch the bomb to make sure it's still there.

It's a very strange thing, but you might see them touching themselves.

It's also like, you know, when a man carries a gun concealed.

And then he'll walk by windows or mirrors and kind of like look at himself to make sure it's concealed.

They'll do the same type of thing.

So it's a really important thing to keep in mind.

They might actually avoid contact, you know, with any type of security or law enforcement person.

I mean, that's something to watch for when you're in the airport.

Another thing is they're obviously constantly scanning their environment.

Another thing is they're obviously constantly scanning their environment.

You also might see some of those like nervous ticks.

You know, like they have difficulty standing still, for example.

Besides checking their clothing, also the bomb does have, you know, a couple pounds of weight to it.

So they also might be shifting their clothing to make sure it's not offset slightly.

But that's also something you can look for, right?

The clothing's not all falling down in the same cadence.

There's a little bit of weight in a piece of it.

Lastly, an interesting thing that matters is I'll kind of made this bomb in a lab for a reason.

And the reason is they mess up bombs a lot.

So you can train someone to make a bomb, but they don't always go off or there's a problem.

A shoe bomb, there's moisture in it, the underwear bomb.

Also probably some sort of moisture.

We had the Times Square bomb or his bomb didn't go off.

And so that means they're also not good at making bombs when they're in training.

You know, we can look for that visible skin damage, right?

If they got burned or have some sort of chemical burn from handling, you know, explosives and preparing devices, especially in training.

Now, obviously, if you're law enforcement, we're not going to get into it.

But you do also need standard operating procedures for dealing with a suicide bomber.

And then for the piece, I talked about that this also potentially could be a hazmat situation.

So we're obviously not going to explain to you what those SOPs should be publicly, but you need to start having discussions about them.

In putting a plan in place, or at least reaching out to organizations who do have them and have been training them, there should be no delay in this.

One last thing I want to bring up, that's important for law enforcement, but also for the public, because everybody out there is very aware right now.

We've seen this in a number of recent terrorist events, especially October 7th.

The fact that a number of terrorists are on drugs to carry out the mission.

So the drug can help you perform better, right, like if you're doing ground assaults.

But it also can relax you and put you, you know, in a different state.

If you might do something like a suicide bombing, you know, ecstasy is long been used.

For example, by the Hakani network, you know, with their suicide bombers.

So we have to remember, we have multiple issues going on here.

We have a bomb.

It likely might not be detected by canines because of some of the different things Al-Qaeda has done to the bomb.

But also the terrorists might be on some sort of drug.

So when we have an issue where an animal could be alerting on someone, it might be related to a bomb.

But it also could be related to drugs.

But also you might have a potential suicide bomber in front of you.

And we need to get people thinking about this.

Because if your job in the airport is to just use your dog and look for drugs,

I can tell you you probably don't have a suicide bomber at the top of your mind.

So I now want you to kind of take a step back and start thinking about that.

And then take the time to look at the different drugs terrorists have used over the years during certain events.

Now that's kind of a quick down and dirty of what the plot looks like today.

Again, it's focused on Bojinka from 30 years ago.

You know, we know the bomb maker.

We know a lot more about the bomb than we would have because Al-Qaeda has exposed it themselves by putting a video out.

Actually showing us the bomb.

You know, we luckily have 20 years of a defensive posture at our airports to stop bombs and to prepare for these type of things.

You know, we just need to make sure we don't get lacks on our security.

Like unfortunately, we started decreasing some of the efforts to scan for the shoe bomb.

I don't think we should do that.

I think we should keep the security practices in place.

And then we should be looking at some of the things that make this bomb invisible and focus a little more on where can a terrorist potentially get this through.

And how can we mitigate those gaps and those risks going forward?

Because we know Al-Qaeda has a plot in place.

They literally made a video and told us it.

So now, what is our plan to get ahead of it and to stop it?

And as always, if you see something especially inside the airport, please say something.

Thanks for being here today on The Watchforth.