As you all know, on December 25th, 2009, there was an attempted terrorist attack onboard a trans-Atlantic Northwest airplane traveling from Amsterdam to Detroit, MI, USA. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab somehow managed to take a mixture of powder and liquid onboard the plane, which was tied to his leg. After around 19 hours of flying the plane started its descent, which was when Abdulmutallab ignited the mixture. Passengers onboard heard explosions sort of like a firecracker sound and acting on instinct; one passenger climbed over the seats and put the fire out, along with the help of the flight attendants. Thankfully, no one except for the one passenger and Abdulmutallab got injured. If the passengers had started freaking out and order was lost, more people could have been hurt or could have even died.
How Abdulmutallab got through airport security is the question. Is it possible that this plot could happen in the United States? In other words, is this attack preventable? If so, how can we better our system so that this is close to impossible in the future? Tomorrow at the White House, Obama will meet with top national security and intelligence officials to discuss the event that took place last Christmas. Hopefully reforms for airport security will take place and security for international flights will be tightened.
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