WAKE-UP CALL...ABOUT THE 5,000th – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:   Another gross airline screening failure shows just how close we are to a potential disaster.  From the New York Post:

A passenger managed to waltz past JFK's ramped-up security gantlet with three boxcutters in his carry-on luggage -- easily boarding an international flight while carrying the weapon of choice of the 9/11 hijackers, sources told The Post yesterday.

The stunning breach grounded the flight for three hours Saturday night and drew fury from Port Authority cops, who accused the Transportation Security Administration of being asleep on the job.

"In case anyone has forgotten, the TSA was created because of a couple boxcutter incidents," said one PAPD source, referring to the weapons used by al Qaeda operatives to commandeer the jets they later slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11.

The two TSA agents and supervisor who completely missed the blades at a security checkpoint "will all be disciplined and undergo remedial training," said spokeswoman Ann Davis.

COMMENT:  I just don't know how any agency can explain this away.  Boxcutters are easily detected by screening equipment.  And it wasn't just one person who messed up.  It was at least three. 

There have been serious questions raised about the competence of the people hired by TSA.  These are low-paying jobs, and tediously boring as well.  Terrorists are constantly testing the system, and trying to develop new ways to beat it.  Here, a guy wasn't even trying, had obvious boxcutters, and zipped right through.

We've had several very close calls in recent years – the Christmas airline bomber, the Times Square bomber, and, no doubt, others we haven't heard about.  This incident is not reassuring.

March 2, 2011