Smoke and mirrors

With all kinds of colourful Homeland Security alerts in place, US claims to be well in control of the security situation. The nationwide Orange alert that existed over the Christmas holiday period was lowered by one level to Yellow just recently. But the airports and airlines continued to be at the Orange alert status indicating an elevated security risk.

Then came the extraordinary cancellations of international flights to the US, which included the cancellation of two British Airways flights. US officials spoke at length about how the flights were cancelled only after specific intelligence information.

All this leads one to believe that the extraordinary security measures by the US security agencies have proved to be quite effective in avoiding repeats of Sept 11 style incidents.

But then how can the American officials explain the discovery of live ammunitions in the coat pocket of a 45-year old Sudanese man who came to Heathrow (en route to Dubai) from Washington DC's Dulles airport?! If the terror alert is still Orange at airports in the US, how did these bullets in the coat pocket go undetected through the 'intensive checks' that would've been performed at the Dulles airport?! And it seems all the more ridiculous when one considers the fact that the bullets were found during 'routine' checks at Heathrow.

Makes one wonder if all the security system in place in the US is all smoke and mirrors!!