Live bomb smuggled into federal building in 27 seconds, then assembled in bathroom

[kpete]

Source: Raw Story

By Raw Story

Published: July 8, 2009
Updated 5 minutes ago


A Government Accountability Office investigator smuggled live bomb components into a federal building in just 27 seconds, then assembled a bomb in a restroom and ventured throughout the building without being detected, a leaked tape revealed Wednesday.

In addition, congressional investigators were able to penetrate every single federal building they probed without any difficulty — 10 in all.

....................

“The GAO has been investigating the service since 2007 for a wide range of reported problems, and says it found serious vulnerabilities during visits to the 10 buildings,” the network noted. “ABC News obtained videos and images from the GAO investigation. Investigators are slated to publish their latest findings in a report later this summer, but Lieberman’s staff said he found the information compiled so troubling that he scheduled a hearing for today.”

“Just think about it. In this case, in this GAO test, ten different federal buildings in different cities in the country were all compromised,” Lieberman is quoted as saying in the report. “If a terrorist group just did that in two or three federal buildings, it would not only really hurt some people; it would create a real crisis of confidence here in the United States about our homeland security

Read more: http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/08/investigators-smuggle-live-bomb/

[LiberalFighter]

1. Personally, I wouldn't trust anything Lieberman would announce.

[MindPilot]

2. Which terrorist groups have historically targeted federal buildings?

And I believe they have also demonstrated that one does not have to enter the building to blow it up.

Methinks there may be more going on here than meets the eye.

[justiceischeap]

3. In other words, "Let's tell the whacko's how to bomb our buildings!"

I'm all for being open with the public and having government accountability but some things, like how easy it is to smuggle in and arm a live bomb into federal buildings is something that maybe should be kept under wraps. Some mental midget is going to read about this and then attempt to see if they can sneak a live bomb into a federal building and instead of doing a test where they just waltz about with it, will use it.

[Odin2005]

4. That's scary.

Like another poster said, we all know which types are the ones that bomb federal buildings...

[kegler14]

5. Thank you, George Bush, for making us so much safer after 9/11.

[FarCenter]

6. So how big and powerful was the bomb?

No doubt you can smuggle in a few kilos of high-explosives.

But this is unlikely to bring down the building, Oklahoma Federal Building style.

Get a grip, folks.

[Ezlivin]

7. Small bombs in the right places can do incredible damage

Remove the proper support structures and you can create a cascading failure.

Well, that's if you believe the feds....

[FarCenter]

8. A small assault team could kill the guards at the building anyway

A few terrorists with automatic weapons and grenades could kill all the guards and local cops, carry explosives in on a hand truck, and blow up the building anyway.

See, e.g., Mumbai.

[clear eye]

9. So maybe there's something wrong w/ a lawyer in charge of all our civilian defenses?

How 'bout replacing Chertoff w/ a top-notch security professional?

[MadHound]

10. More fearmongering bullshit

Given that you can make a bomb from a variety of innocuous household products, one wonders exactly what "bomb components" they smuggled through.

This sounds to me like more fearmongering in order to make going to a federal building as difficult and embarrassing as getting on a flight. This sort of shit keeps up, we're all going to have to be strip searched when we step out our front door.

Oh, and the last time a federal building was bombed, it wasn't from the inside now, was it?

[clear eye]

14. Is it just a coincidence that the Homeland Security Appropriations bill is up for consideration

in the Senate today?

The first thing both houses of Congress should do is call hearings to investigate the source of the leak. Normally the GAO's test would have been reported in secret to the DHS. Going public puts ideas in the head of every unhinged person in the country who is looking for a way to make a violent impact. No more simply shooting up people at church.

On edit: further research reveals that the GAO was not necessarily the source of the leak. Since it benefits DHS, it's reasonable to suspect strongly that it came from there. Chertoff should be fired, whether he personally decided to leak this or not. If it wasn't his idea, then DHS is out of his control and he's not up to the job.

[ContinentalOp]

11. They're just trying to give people ideas. We wouldn't want PRIVATE real estate targeted again

now would we? Unless of course there was a nice lucrative insurance policy on it.

[clear eye]

12. Self-delete

[BlooInBloo]

13. Yep. There's always something that can beat a security detail at an office building.