People wonder what I do for a living. I can’t really say, because no two jobs are alike, and no two clients provide me with the same brief. However, there is something strange about the money I earn: it is like taking candy from a child. I earn so much money for the bleeding obvious. For example, thanks to the late Osama Bin Laden, my security-related work has increased. Clients are paranoid about terrorism, security, and safety. Dare I admit that most organisations still haven’t a clue about security. They invest millions trying to keep the bogeymen out, but they leave gaping loopholes which compromise their security. It’s like clients who secure their computer rooms and data centres, while weekly sending the archived data downstairs to the reception-desk, awaiting a junior courier who arrives to take the tapes to off-site bomb-proof facilities. The junior courier rides across town, unescorted, carrying all the data on tapes/drives that, moments ago, were behind layers of security. Anyone could knock-down the courier and run-off with the tapes, on which would be millions of top-secret files.
Recently, I was reviewing airport security in relation to how someone could threaten the safety of an aircraft. I have always maintained that security personnel ought not be hired unless they can smuggle two dummy-bombs on-board a flight, as part of their job-interview. If the security managers do not know how to do it, how would they know when it is being done?
I was asked to focus on the ease with which a terrorist (or madman) could take anything on-board a flight that could jeopardise a flight’s safety. The idea was to check the screening procedures. Well, my very first undercover review discovered a screening operator (at one of the world’s busiest airports) actually not paying attention: distracted by his colleague across from him, sending texts to each other, while eyeing-out a curvaceous passenger. Oh dear! Nevertheless, I paid little attention to the screening area and walked straight to the duty-free stores. While the screeners were busy confiscating nail-files and bottles of perfume, I was keen on finding out what kind of weapons one could find inside the airport, way past the check-points.
Here is an example of what one can find. So as not to embarrass my client, I will not show you what I found at their airport. However, here is what I found at Sydney airport. You can get your hands on these flammable gasses and liquids inside the terminal, meters away from the boarding gates. I can but shake my head and wonder who’s in charge, and how they can let that happen. No wonder people like me are so busy with work, that we can but raise our fees to diminish the demand.
Below we see two items worth a few dollars each. These can be purchased from inside the terminal where there are no further security checks. It would be irresponsible of me to explain the dangers to you. I would not want to give anyone any ideas of how to start a fire or cause an explosion without any matches. Needless to say that it would be dead simple.
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