Keeping U.S. planes safe after Russian crash in Egypt
WASHINGTON -- U.S. government officials tell CBS News they have "higher confidence" an ISIS suicide bomber brought down a Russian plane over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula last month, killing all 224 people on board.
U.S. authorities are still trying to verify a photograph of a purported soda can bomb ISIS published in its propaganda magazine. The terror group claims it was the device used in the terror attack.
If that was the bomb, sources say it's more likely someone flipped a switch because there is no sign of a timing device to trigger the explosion.
And there is still a belief that an "airport insider" in Sharm El-Sheikh was involved. That has U.S. law enforcement taking another look at airport security in this country.
"I'm not sure how you could stop something like that from happening," says Scott Brenner, a former spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. "If you have an employee who is screened, who has been a good employee for a long time and he just decides to do something bad, I think that's a very difficult thing to stop."
Earlier this month, the Homeland Security inspector general testified the agency found "thousands of aviation worker records" with "incomplete or inaccurate biographic information."
And over the summer, a government investigation found 95 percent of mock explosives or weapons made it past airport security checkpoints.
Peter Neffenger, head of the Transportation Security Administration, has tried to reassure the public.
"We're on the front lines of a critical counterterrorism fight and our workforce is willing and able to do the job," Neffenger has said.
About 25 million people are expected to fly over the Thanksgiving holiday. The TSA often beefs up security this time of year, but passengers should anticipate tougher screening and longer lines at airports.