Egypt havariet - Vanskelig å finne spor etter bombe - Curt Lewis

U.S. Baffled by Russian Jet 'Bombing' Investigators still can't figure out how Metrojet 9268 was taken down-leading some U.S. intelligence officials to believe that militants used a novel or previously unseen bomb. In the absence of any definitive evidence that an explosive device brought down Russian Metrojet 9268 last month over Egypt's Sinai, U.S. intelligence and security officials have been debating a number of competing theories about how the plane crashed, including that ISIS militants may have used a novel or previously-unseen device that has made it harder for investigators to find forensic evidence of a bomb. Among the theories U.S. officials are considering is that the bomb may have been placed near a fuel line on the doomed Airbus jet, and that it was just large enough to ignite a fire using the fuel in the aircraft's tanks, two sources familiar with internal discussions told The Daily Beast. If that was the case, it's possible that investigators might not find tell-tale explosive residue that would prove a bomb had been detonated, the sources said, requesting anonymity in order to discuss sensitive information related to the ongoing investigation of the crash. But others see evidence of a more traditional attack. A former senior U.S. official who was shown an investigation photograph of the wreckage told The Daily Beast that a portion of the underside of the plane shows small, quarter-sized holes and looked like something had blown out of the plane from the inside. This information led the former official to conclude that the jet was brought down by improvised explosive device, possibly packed with nails and other shrapnel to blow as big a hole in the side of the plane as possible. From there, the plane could have broken up in mid-air, which is about the only thing U.S. officials are sure happened, since the wreckage is spread over a vast area. The former official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss confidential information that was shared with him from the investigation. The lack of any concrete evidence has frustrated U.S. officials, who are trying to piece together a narrative from a continent away. They also still cannot rule out a major structural failure. The tail of the aircraft had been damaged during a hard landing in Cairo in 2001. The slow pace and lack of transparency in the investigation also underscored how dependent crash investigators are on evidence collected at the scene. Egyptian officials are leading the investigation, but U.S. officials expressed little confidence in how they're running the scene. "Information from the Egyptians on the investigation is coming out rather slowly," a U.S. official told The Daily Beast, attributing the paucity of sharing both to the Egyptians' lack of technical sophistication and their unwillingness to conclude that this was an attack against tourism, one of the key pillars of the national economy. The Metrojet flight originated at Egypt's Sharm el Sheikh airport, a resort area that is frequented by foreign travelers and that authorities have long said was beyond the reach of Islamic militants in Sinai. By now, investigators arguably should have had answers. It took forensic specialists eight days to be certain that Pan Am Flight 103 was brought down by a bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, after they found residues on the plane's debris that "positively identified and are consistent with the use of a high-performance plastic explosive," investigators said at the time. But 11 days have passed since the Metrojet crash with no hint that any forensic evidence has been found. By now, investigators should have had answers. It took forensic specialists eight days to be certain that Pan Am Flight 103 was brought down by a bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland. 11 days have passed since the Metrojet crash. On Tuesday, the Egyptian foreign minister told CNN that the government had approved applications by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates all aviation accidents involving American planes, to come to Egypt and examine the wreckage. But an NTSB spokesman told The Daily Beast on Wednesday that, according to the board's head of aviation safety, the Egyptians have still not reached out and said that the investigators can come. The FBI has personnel serving in Cairo, but they are not at the crash site, nor have they been invited. "The FBI has offered forensic assistance and other services to our partners in Egypt and Russia, and stands ready to assist," Joshua Campbell, a bureau spokesperson, said in a statement. A senior Defense Department official told The Daily Beast that without access to the crash site, investigators have been forced to rely largely on satellite intelligence and speculation. The official said suspicion that the plane was probably brought down by a bomb is based largely on thermal imagery detected from a satellite that suggests a massive explosion, likely the result of jet fuel igniting. That might argue in favor of the fuel-line theory. But if that was the case, it's also not clear why the wings of the doomed jet appear to be largely intact, based on crash scene photos. The wings are badly charred and inverted, which suggests that the plane landed on its back. But they were not blown away. A senior U.S. intelligence official did said that if a bomb did bring down the plane, it was almost certainly not placed there by a passenger. Instead, attention has focused on ground crew at the airport with access to the airplane when it was preparing for its flight to St. Petersburg. The Associated Press reported this week that "security checks were often lax at a gate into the facility used to bring in food and fuel," citing security officials at the airport. "Sharm el Sheikh is a tourist airport geared towards tourism. Many times secondary airports do not have the level of security found at the larger international airports," security consultant John Halinski, the former deputy administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, told The Daily Beast. Helsinki also ran TSA's overseas airport inspections earlier in his career. "I have always been concerned with the insider threat in this region, especially with a group like ISIS that radicalizes over the Internet," Helsinki added. "Generally screening and vetting of employees in this region occur only once every few years." http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/12/u-s-baffled-by-russian-jet-bombing.html Back to Top

Ambiguity Shrouds Russian Plane-Crash Investigation Most aircraft debris is still scattered in an Egyptian desert even though it may contain clues to the cause Debris from the crashed Russian jet lies strewn across the sand at the site of the crash in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 31. By MARGARET COKER, TAMER EL-GHOBASHY and ANDY PASZTOR SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt-The Egyptian-led probe into what caused the crash of a Russian passenger plane is bogged down in secrecy and squabbling, causing concern among safety experts that key evidence is being compromised. Nearly two weeks after the Airbus A321 broke apart in midair on Oct. 31, most of the debris remains scattered over miles of desert in the Sinai Peninsula even though it could contain critical clues. The bodies of many Russian victims have been repatriated. But the Moscow government hasn't said whether autopsies were performed-something else that could be a potential source of rich information about what brought the plane down and killed all 224 people on board. And there is still deep confusion about who will make up the investigative commission that will analyze the wreckage and search for answers. Egyptian officials leading the probe have started preliminary discussions with U.S. government crash experts on the plane's engines, but Cairo so far has stopped short of inviting those experts to become full-fledged participants in the investigation, according to Eric Weiss, a spokesman for the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. "We are answering some questions and trying to be helpful," Mr. Weiss said. "That's the level of activity at this point." It is normal practice after any major commercial jetliner crash for investigators and industry experts from the countries where the engines were manufactured to participate in the crash probe by offering technical support, even when engine troubles aren't suspected of contributing to the crash. Preliminary indications from the wreckage and black box recorders downloaded by investigators don't suggest possible engine malfunctions were to blame for the Russian airliner crash. The local affiliate of extremist group Islamic State has claimed responsibility for downing the plane. The U.S., U.K. and Russia have all held out the possibility, or likelihood, that the crash was a result of a terrorist act-an outcome that if true would be deeply embarrassing for Egypt's security services. Developments in the investigation have national-security implications and could adversely affect the global travel industry. Nevertheless, confusing and contradictory information continues to mar the probe. The opaque nature of the investigation has also strained relations between Egypt and Western governments. In his first major public-relations move since the crash, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi made an unannounced visit to Sharm El Sheikh International Airport on Wednesday. He said he wanted to reassure investors that the resort is safe. The plane, which was en route to St. Petersburg, Russia, crashed shortly after takeoff from the airport in Sharm El Sheikh. A smiling Mr. Sisi posed for pictures with tourists and airport staff. But the president expressed disappointment at the speculation over the cause of the crash. The president "would have hoped that the ongoing investigation hadn't been pre-empted before its results reveal the circumstances that led to the Russian plane crash," said a statement from Mr. Sisi's office. "He noted that the investigation is being carried out with transparency, and that Egypt welcomes cooperation with all relevant parties." Egyptian authorities have declined to publicly discuss plans for collecting the evidence. But an aviation official said Wednesday that authorities had started moving pieces of the wreckage from the remote crash site to Cairo. The official said investigators have so far been unable to locate several pieces of the plane, but offered no further details on what had been transported. Safety experts consider the collection and examination of plane debris crucial to determining whether explosives brought down the aircraft. Regarding another key source of evidence, Russian and Egyptian authorities have been tight-lipped about whether autopsies on the victims have been conducted. The Egyptian Health Ministry, which conducts autopsies for suspicious deaths, declined to comment about whether autopsies were carried out before bodies were flown back to Russia. It cited a gag order on releasing information about the investigation issued by Egypt's chief prosecutor. And Russian officials, likewise, have not said whether they have conducted autopsies on the bodies that have been repatriated. Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said bodies were being positively identified by DNA evidence collected at the Moscow Forensics Center, according to Russian news service RIA Novosti. The type of injuries suffered by passengers can point toward an explosion. Matching injury patterns with locations of passengers in the cabin could point investigators toward the site and possibly the composition of a potential explosive device. The black-box recorders and engines for the Metrojet flight were supplied by American companies. A spokeswoman for United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney unit, the engine manufacturer that would assist any NTSB team, said the company continues "working with authorities to assess the situation," and referred further questions to the safety board. Another reason investigative teams strive for rapid disclosure in a plane crash: To reassure other airlines that fly the same model they haven't uncovered any immediate hazardous mechanical or design problems. So far, Cairo has refused to approve a statement from Airbus Group SE, which manufactured the plane, designed to reassure other operators of the Airbus A321 that early data from the Egyptian disaster doesn't suggest a need for emergency fixes to the widely used model, according to people familiar with the matter. Typically, in the wake of major U.S. jetliner crashes, one of the first items investigators discuss in general terms are the initial readouts of the cockpit voice recorder, and whether the conversations shed light on system malfunctions. For now, the Egyptian-led probe has disclosed that information was successfully downloaded from the cockpit recorder but didn't divulge any details. The Egyptian aviation official said the investigative committee is still conducting specialized analysis of the cockpit voice recorder to make a definitive assessment of a noise heard in the final second of the recording. "With the rampant and irresponsible speculation on whether that sound is a bomb exploding, we want to be certain that our conclusion doesn't leave any more room for theories but something closer to a fact," the official said. People familiar with the issue have said the crew didn't talk about any onboard problems before the plane's midair breakup. "Investigators certainly should have publicly said no unusual discussions were captured," according to Alan Diehl, a former U.S. military and commercial crash investigator. "That's a factual matter, not a conclusion." Joining the probe could give U.S. officials their first opportunity to assess the physical evidence. But detecting traces of a possible explosive device, according to crash experts, may be challenging because such residue can be compromised by the kind of intense, post-impact fire that consumed most of the jet. Based on prior investigations, Mr. Diehl said such residue sometimes also can be found on metal pieces that pierce passengers-but only if the fragments are removed and then handled properly during autopsies. Egypt has shown particular sensitivity to plane crashes in the past. The 1999 crash of an Egypt Air jetliner off the coast of Nantucket Island led to a much-publicized rift between Egyptian and U.S. air-safety investigators. Less attention has focused on the 2004 crash of an Egyptian Flash Air Boeing 737 charter flight after takeoff from Sharm El Sheikh. Once the cockpit voice recorder was recovered from that wreckage, Egyptian investigators barred their U.S. counterparts from participating in the initial download of information, according to people familiar with the details. In the probe now under way, the NTSB tried unsuccessfully for days to join the investigative team. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also has said Cairo rebuffed the agency's separate offer for assistance. The uncertainty surrounding the investigation is taking a toll on friends and family members of the victims. "I don't think that only the government of our country is to blame," said Vitaly Strekalov, a Russian friend of Lilia Movchanova, a passenger on Flight 9268. "One should ask the side where it happened how an explosive device ended up on board the aircraft, since there are so many devices at the airport that should prevent banned items and substances from getting on board a plane." http://www.wsj.com/articles/ambiguity-shrouds-russian-plane-crash-investigation-1447255114 Back to Top

Russian search team leaves Egypt after plane crash CAIRO -- Members of a Russian search and rescue team that was brought to Egypt after the Oct. 31 Russian plane crash in the Sinai Peninsula have left the country to return to Moscow. The team of 48 left on Wednesday. It had been recovering bodies at the crash site in Sinai's Hassana area, some 44 miles south of the peninsula's city of el-Arish. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff from the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh en route to St. Petersburg. All 224 people aboard the plane were killed. Other Russians remain in Egypt as part of the investigation committee seeking to determine the cause of the crash. U.S. and British officials have cited intelligence reports as indicating the passenger plane was likely downed by a bomb on board. CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reported the focus of the investigation into the crash has turned to airport staff and others who may have had access to the plane. Egyptian security officers have reportedly questioned hotel workers in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, paying particular attention to those involved in catering. Even in the capital city Cairo, international teams were inspecting baggage and cargo handling, and passenger screening operations at the main airport Tuesday, the Egyptian government said. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-search-rescue-team-leaves-egypt-metrojet-plane-crash-sinai/ Back to Top

Suspected Egypt Plot Prompts Security Concerns at U.S. Airports By:  Alan Levin Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, right, looks at the remains of a crashed Russian passenger jet in Hassana, Egypt, on Oct. 31, 2015.  The suspected bombing of a Russian airliner over Egypt is raising concerns about security loopholes in the U.S., where the vast majority of the almost 1 million employees at airports aren't subject to searches like those that travelers receive. Intelligence reports that an airport worker may have been responsible for planting an explosive device on a Metrojet Airbus A321, which broke apart and crashed on Oct. 31, are a sobering reminder that terrorist groups might try to do the same thing here, said Representative John Katko, a New York Republican who is chairman of the House's transportation security subcommittee. "I do think that the Metrojet incident has really pointed up the seriousness of looking at the insider threat at airports, both domestically and internationally," Katko said. "It's become a much more urgent matter since the Metrojet bombing." In most cases, baggage handlers, ramp workers and others simply show their badges to enter areas where they can access baggage and aircraft. After a series of gun- and drug-smuggling cases at U.S. airports, the House last month passed legislation co-sponsored by Katko that would study whether it's feasible to search all employees and also require tighter background checks. The legislation hasn't been acted on by the Senate. Security Measures U.S. officials have increased security measures this year for airport workers, but the Transportation Security Administration and an advisory panel made up of aviation industry groups and worker unions have rejected full screening. Searching every employee wouldn't be a "silver bullet" improvement to security and would be more costly than other methods, a TSA advisory panel concluded this year. That is a mistake, particularly as a result of intelligence reports suggesting sympathizers of ISIS, an acronym for the Islamic State that is fighting against governments in Iraq and Syria, were behind the Metrojet crash, according to John Halinski, the former deputy administration of TSA. "Unfortunately, the bad guys don't play by the rules," Halinski said. "We have to evolve to meet the next threat, not the last one. This would be the next threat." Security Enhanced A spokesman for the agency asked this week about airport security, referred to statements U.S. officials made in recent months expressing confidence in the layers of protection at the nation's airports. Security has also been enhanced for flights heading to the U.S. from overseas airports in response to the Egyptian crash. There have been at least eight cases brought in the past year by prosecutors charging airport workers in the U.S. with using their employee status to smuggle drugs, weapons or other contraband into secure areas so that they could then be brought aboard aircraft. Last July, 46 people were indicted on federal charges they were part of a ring that conspired to smuggle heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine through Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas. Four members of the group were airport workers who used their employee identification badges to skirt security, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office indictment. One suspect in the Texas case told an informant it was a good thing that terrorists didn't know about the security loophole because it would allow explosives to be smuggled onto a plane, according to court testimony by a U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agent supplied by Katko's office.  Four Cases Melinda Haag, who served as U.S. Attorney for northern California until Sept. 1, brought four such cases this year against airport workers in San Francisco and Oakland, California. Another case was brought by her former office on Nov. 7. "It is troubling to learn that there's a whole category of people who don't go through the same stringent level of screening, who have equal or better access to airport facilities and the aircraft," Haag said. "The airports are only as secure as the least secure person who works there." New York Flights Brooklyn, New York, District Attorney Kenneth Thompson on Dec. 30 brought charges against a group that allegedly smuggled 129 weapons aboard airliners from Atlanta to New York. Some of the weapons, which included assault rifles, were loaded, Thompson said. He called the case "deeply troubling" because it showed the potential for a terrorist to gain access to a plane. "They could have easily put a bomb on one of those planes," he said in a press conference last year. As a result of the investigation, a TSA advisory panel studied how to improve security and rejected the need for full airport worker screening. The Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which issued a report on its findings, is made up of airport, airline and union officials. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, following the panel's recommendations, announced security changes on April 20, including increasing random searches of airport workers and reducing the number of access doors to sensitive areas. "I am confident that the potential insider-threat posed by aviation industry employees will be significantly mitigated as a result of these recommendations," Johnson said. Screening Everyone Katko's bill calls for an additional study to estimate how much it would cost to begin fully searching all airport employees. The lawmaker said he expects the projections will be for tens of billions of dollars. It's currently impractical to screen everyone at many airports because the facilities were designed to give employees easy access to secure areas to improve efficiency, he said. Some employees frequently move in and out of secure areas as part of their work, making repeated screening time-consuming. In spite of those hurdles, the government needs to do more, from additional searches to keeping a closer eye on whether employees have violated the law, he said. He called the results of his research in the past year "pretty scary." "The more questions we asked, the more we became convinced that these holes needed to be plugged," he said.