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Feeling Good

Foiled Terror Attack Sparks Debate: Legislators Argue More Security Needed, Not New Laws

Der Spiegel:

Following this week’s thwarted terror attack on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, officials across Europe are debating airport security standards. What, politicians and police are asking, can be done to stop the next Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab from boarding a trans-Atlantic flight?

Over the Christmas holiday, Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to ignite an explosive device onboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Luckily, a combination of factors — the explosive device did not light properly, Abdulmutallab was overpowered by passengers and cabin crew — meant that the would-be terrorist failed. The plane, carrying around 300 passengers, landed safely and police detained the 23-year-old suspect, who will be prosecuted in the US. The aftermath of the incident has seen security services in all the countries the suspect entered asking themselves: How did he get through airport security?

“That is clearly an extremely serious incident,” European Commission spokesperson Mark English told the German news agency DPA. “As soon as the investigations are complete, we will draw our own conclusions and act accordingly.”

Additional Airport Security Need, Not New Laws

Meanwhile, passengers heading for German airports were warned that there could be longer waits at airports due to heightened security. A spokesperson for German flagcarrier Lufthansa in Frankfurt, home to the country’s largest international airport, warned that people traveling internationally should arrive at least three hours before their secheduled flight. A spokesperson for the German federal police, which looks after security at airports, said travelers bound for the US would be given additional security scrutiny.

Wolfgang Bosbach, a member of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) who is also the chairman of the domestic affairs committee in parliament, defended the need for tougher controls on passengers and hand luggage. “Searches at the airport are not the result of hysteria about airport security — unfortunately they are necessary,” he told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.

But Bosbach also told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper that additional anti-terror laws were unlikely in Germany. He noted that, in recent years, plenty of gaps in security had been plugged through legislation and that tougher laws would not make any difference when it came to human failure. “This attempted attack is not a reason to change our security laws,” said Bosbach.

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Virginia, There Is Something You Need To Know

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Upcoming Congressional Resolution

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