Dry Ice Bombs at LAX The news story about the guy who left dry ice bombs in restricted areas of LAX is really weird.
I can't get worked up over it, though. Dry ice bombs are a harmless prank. I set off a bunch of them when I was in college, although I used liquid nitrogen, because I was impatient -- and they're harmless. I know of someone who set a few off over the summer, just for fun. They do make a very satisfying boom.
Having them set off in a secure airport area doesn't illustrate any new vulnerabilities. We already know that trusted people can subvert security systems. So what?
I've done a bunch of press interviews on this. One radio announcer really didn't like my nonchalance. He really wanted me to complain about the lack of cameras at LAX, and was unhappy when I pointed out that we didn't need cameras to catch this guy.
I like my kicker quote in this article</a>:
Various people, including former Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, have called LAX the No. 1 terrorist target on the West Coast. But while an Algerian man discovered with a bomb at the Canadian border in 1999 was sentenced to 37 years in prison in connection with a plot to cause damage at LAX, Schneier said that assessment by Bratton is probably not true.
"Where can you possibly get that data?" he said. "I don't think terrorists respond to opinion polls about how juicy targets are."