TIM_ers

7-21-96. Sunday WaPo: 
 
   "Liquid Explosives, Miniature Timers May Foil Airline 
   Security Measures." 
 
      1994 spelled the beginning of what some experts fear 
      might be a resurgence of hi-tech terrorism, this time 
      involving persons with more advanced bomb-making skills 
      who know how to defeat even the best airport security 
      devices. The new terrorists favor smaller and much less 
      detectable plastic or liquid explosives detonated by 
      miniaturized and benign looking timers.  
 
      At the heart of such devices is a timer built by 
      rewiring a commonly available Casio digital watch, which 
      is connected to a stabilized form of liquid 
      nitroglycerin stored in a bottle ostensibly filled with 
      contact lens solution. The stabilizer for the 
      nitroglycerin looks like unsuspicious cotton. Even newer 
      screening devices that can see through clothes would 
      have difficulty ferreting out such a substance, 
      according to airplane security experts. 
 
   ----- 
 
   http://jya.com/timers.txt 
 
   TIM_ers

At 7:49 AM -0700 7/26/96, John Young wrote:
>   7-21-96. Sunday WaPo:
>
>   "Liquid Explosives, Miniature Timers May Foil Airline
>   Security Measures."
>
>      1994 spelled the beginning of what some experts fear
>      might be a resurgence of hi-tech terrorism, this time
>      involving persons with more advanced bomb-making skills
>      who know how to defeat even the best airport security
>      devices. The new terrorists favor smaller and much less
>      detectable plastic or liquid explosives detonated by
>      miniaturized and benign looking timers.
>
>      At the heart of such devices is a timer built by
>      rewiring a commonly available Casio digital watch, which
>      is connected to a stabilized form of liquid
>      nitroglycerin stored in a bottle ostensibly filled with
>      contact lens solution. The stabilizer for the
>      nitroglycerin looks like unsuspicious cotton. Even newer
>      screening devices that can see through clothes would
>      have difficulty ferreting out such a substance,
>      according to airplane security experts.
>

If so, we can't stop such people at the airport, and we are thrown back on
intelligence, and going after terrorist support networks and
terrorist-supporting States, a la Netanyahu.

Like key escrow, fancy airport detection schemes will spot the dunce
terrorists (which helps), but to get the sophisticated ones, much more is
needed.

By the way, one of Freeh's points is that even if terrorists communicate
with each other using what Freeh hopes will become illegal or seldom-used
crypto, they have to communicate with lots of others not in on the
conspiracy (banks, etc.) and if all legal crypto is escrowed either by
common practice or by law, they can be gotten at that way.

Perhaps Freeh is hinting at sources and methods for some of the
government's successes, rather than presenting idle speculation.

David