[extropy-chat] TECH: Fuel cells and terrorism

[Eugen Leitl]

On Thu, Jun 24, 2004 at 10:45:48AM -0700, Robert J. Bradbury wrote:

> How in the blazes is aviation security going to deal with people
> transporting what is effectively the raw materials for a bomb (or at least
> an incendiary device)?  Yes we have "sniffers" but I can think of ways

These are small cartridges, and usually it's diluted methanol. There's
greater danger in a bottle of vodka. Even several liters of pure methanol
burning should be containable.

> around them.  One can easily disguise the fluid in one or more containers.
> One could carry on a dozen or more laptops pre-fueled and then drain the
> fuel out of them in a bathroom, etc.

I could easily seal a bottle of methyl nitrate (disguised as fine liquor) so
that it had no swabable volatile fingerprint. How do you know my Samsonite
isn't made from a solid explosive? There are classes of weird explosives
about impossible to reliably screen for in a luggage environment.

What about bioweapons? These have no detectable fingerprints, and can take
days and weeks prior to first symptoms.
 
-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a>
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