The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has issued a bulletin warning the aviation sector of possible terror attacks based on what appear to be "dry runs" and "pre-attack security probes" at US airports. The warning comes after TSA screeners at airports in San Diego, Houston, Milwaukee and Baltimore confiscated several items from passengers that strangely resemble IEDs (improvised explosive devices). NBC news obtained a copy of the bulletin

According to the bulletin, dated July 20, TSA personnel have confiscated items "resembling improvised explosive device (IED) components." The items included wires, switches, pipes and "dense clay-like substances," and were found not only at Lindbergh Field, but also at Milwaukee, Houston and Baltimore's airports. The finds were described as a "surge in recent suspicious incidents."

…law enforcement and airport officials are urged to be aware that terrorists "may be" conducting "pre-attack security probes" or "dry-runs" at airports across the country, including San Diego.

Two separate incidents involving mock IEDs were alarming in their similarities: 

In two of the four incidents, the TSA said blocks of processed cheese were connected to wires and an electrical switch, or the cheese was taped to a bag holding a cell-phone charger.

Sounds like a mock IED? Of course it does. Why would any airplane traveler in their right mind travel with such a thing during an already jittery summer where people are still trying to wrap their brains around the newest item on a terrorists' resume: medical doctor. (Those who can cure you will kill you.) But could the TSA make a link to terrorism? Of course they couldn't. 

While the people found carrying the items were not linked to terrorist organizations, the TSA said, "most passengers' explanations for carrying the suspicious items were questionable, and some investigations are still ongoing."

Why does this sound familiar? Because it is. Just a few months ago, I wrote a column for WomensWallStreet.com about Fadhel al-Maliki, the Iraqi national caught at Los Angeles International Airport with a mock IED hidden up his rectum. That wasn't "officially" linked to terrorism either. So what were the wires for? Read on:

On March 6, 2007 Fadhel al-Maliki, a 35-year old Iraqi national, attempted to board an early morning, cross-country, US Airways flight out of Los Angeles International Airport. Hidden in his rectum was a device containing electrical wires, chewing gum and a rock. An airport screener noticed that al-Maliki was acting suspiciously. "He was nervous and sweating," I was told by the FBI.

Al-Maliki was asked to step aside and answer a few questions. Also according to my interview with the FBI, only after some heavy questioning about his odd behavior, and after being repeatedly asked by federal agents why he was sweating, did the former security guard admit to the untoward items hidden inside his lower body cavity. "They are for therapeutic reasons…to relieve stress," al-Maliki said. He claimed the rock was from another planet. The bomb squad was called in.

Larry Fetters, security director for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at the airport, told reporters that al-Maliki "was secreting these items in a body cavity and that was a great concern because there were also some electric wires associated with that body cavity." Then Fetter stated, "there never was a threat."  

People around the country began to have a prurient, scatological field day with the circumstances under which al-Maliki had been caught. Newspaper headlines like "Bum Threat Triggers Alert" helped the jokes roll along as did chuckles from law enforcement officials; the first FBI agent I spoke with laughed during our interview.What al-Maliki had done in trying to board an airplane with a "device" concealed up his bum  — no matter how suspicious (and/or perverted) it is — was not a crime. Then again Mohammad Atta was not a terrorist on September 10. But why was al-Maliki still being detained by Homeland Security as the hah-hah articles were going to print? It's all so funny — until the next plane disappears off the radar screen, I suppose. 

DHS declassified and issued a similar "dry runs" warning in November 2006 which I wrote about here:DHS Dry Runs Signal Imminent Terror Attack.

Further reading on Dry Runs and Probes: Men Arrested at Airport Charged in 7/7 Terror Attack and Czech Republic’s Official Report on Terrorist Dry Run.

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