Terror Threat Still Exists
This column was written by CBS News Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.
So we have been shaken back into awareness that there are plenty of people who are willing to die to get their point across.
Just days away from the fifth anniversary of 9/11, we count our blessings because America has not sustained another attack on our soil. But the experts who predict it's not a matter of if, but when, look pretty smart today.
In the meantime, we continue to adjust. We're dumping the liquids and gels from our carryon bags — toothpaste too. Does it really make us safer? Sort of.
Talking with aviation safety experts this morning, I was reminded that just recently in tests conducted by Congress, bomb parts got past screeners at 21 U.S. airports — and cargo on U.S. planes is not inspected, either. The money that was going to be spent on sniffer machines to detect explosives at airport check points was scuttled, too.
Are you really safer today than you were yesterday? Maybe just a little bit.
Harry's daily commentary can be heard on manyCBS Radio News affiliates across the country.
By Harry Smith