Policy

Forget the TSA, You Can Buy Bomb-Making Materials After Airport Security

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I can't vouch for the chemistry here, but independent security researcher Evan Booth has a video up at LiveLeak demonstrating the construction of a grenade with materials purchased at an airport after passing through TSA security. This is just the latest very interesting revelation from Booth, who runs Terminal Cornucopia, a site dedicated to tapping into your inner MacGyver at the airport. So far, he's built blowguns, incendiaries, and crossbows, among other items the Transportation Security Administration might wish you not acquire at the airport gift shop. The fragguccino grenade made with a coffee mug, body spray, and other goodies is a new addition.

The blurb over at LiveLeak reads:

Security researcher builds grenade in under 8 minutes using items available in airport terminal. All materials required to build this weapons were purchased in an airport AFTER the security screening.

Booth says "All of these findings have been reported to the Department of Homeland Security (TSA) to help them better detect these types of threats," so if, on your next trip, you find that thermal coffee mugs have been replaced at the airport by old-fashioned styrofoam cups, you know who to blame.

Then again, if I remember my misspent youth, you can do fascinating things with styrofoam. Or sugar. Or…

Life just can't be made "safe" by putting people in uniforms and letting them glare at you and grab your junk. We should know that by now, but this is an effective reminder.

Booth is available for conferences and events. Parties, too, I hope.