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US and EU Reject Expanding Laptop Ban To Flights From Europe (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader writes: US and EU officials have decided against a ban on laptops and tablets in cabin baggage on flights from Europe. But after a four-hour meeting in Brussels to discuss the threats to aviation security, officials said other measures were still being considered. US officials had previously said they were looking into extending to Europe a ban on electronics on flights from eight mostly Muslim countries. The measure was introduced over fears a bomb could be concealed in a device. The meeting was requested by EU officials after recent reports suggested US authorities had new information regarding laptop parts being turned into explosives.
If laptops had been banned on flights from Europe, then a terrorist could put an undetectable-laptop-bomb in their luggage from Paris to New York, then pick up their luggage, board a flight from New York to Los Angeles with the laptop in hand, and blow the plane up.
Banning laptops on international flights would have done nothing about that risk. Therefore, it seems this measure was security theater, not real security. And when it became clear how big the economic effect of banning laptops would be (in terms of dissuading travel), the measure had to be cancelled. Laptops are still banned on flights from the Middle East, but this is a small market without other options, so the economic impact on the US is minimal.
No. He allegedly revealed specifics from an operation in a particular location in Syria that was detailed enough that it was felt that the Russians could have informed Assad, which would have led to the exposure of an Israeli intelligence operation in the country (and endangered the lives of the informants/operatives).
It was related to laptops, but it was operation-specific.
Thanks for the clarification. I try to stay up on foreign affairs but the current shitstorms have rendered most articles useless with unnamed informants, sketchy recollections of what someone thought someone else wrote or said, and strained attempts to tie possibly unrelated things together. It's kind of scary that SlashDot's more valuable as a traditional news source (kind of like the Daily Show was back in the day) than as a tech source (since it lags tech news by a day or more) these days.
Remember united beaks guitars ? Think about United breaks macbooks. not to mention the infosec people at many companies melting down over executives lousing control over there laptops for that long ext.
But Russia isn't really that interested in fighting ISIS. That's a side-effect of helping Assad. So no, Russia and Israel are not "on the same side", particularly if an Israel agent embedded in the Assad regime gets revealed.
You know, this has only been going on since 2011, so I'm not sure how people could still be confused about the details of the conflict.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I'm sure the three letter agencies have long been in the habit of keeping the President apprised of important operations
He needs to know the broad strokes. He has no need to know the details, and certainly not "actionable intelligence".
seeing as normally the President is a sensible, sane, intelligent human being capable of rational thought and reflection.
But we already knew that wasn't true for Trump, and we have known that for a long time. Someone gave Trump information that he didn't need in order to make themselves look important and curry favor.
If I give a two year old child an expensive vase, and he breaks it, is that his fault or mine? We already know that Trump has the maturity of a two year old, so instead of blaming Trump for being Trump, we should be blaming his staff for giving him something he should have never been trusted with.