Terrorist Attack Thwarted… with No Help from DHS

From this article at The Independent,

“Dr Sally Leivesley, a leading terror expert who advises governments and businesses, said yesterday there have been several incidents where detonators have failed to ignite devices, with a major terror attack averted through luck or human error.”

And,

“Why didn’t he go to the toilets to detonate the bomb? Why would he try to set it off 20 minutes before he’s going to land? It could probably have been successful had the person not been amateurish.”

I think the ‘thwarting’ of this attempted attack is due only to luck. I’m sure further investigations will reveal whether the actions of the passengers who subdued the attacker had any part in preventing deaths or more injuries, or if the attempted bombing was already a failure by the time they reacted.  One thing is certain, however:  DHS and TSA had the means to prevent it and didn’t. The guy was already on terrorist watch-lists.

And instead of admitting they screwed up, they are likely going to require some additional security measures that are just as reactive, rational and fruitful as the requirement to remove one’s shoes as a result of Richard Reid’s attempted “shoe bombing”.  I wonder just how effective that has been.  How many more ‘shoe bombings’ have been thwarted due to that security measure?