1115.org

George Bush and Dick Cheney are both extremely fond of claiming that it is one of their crowning achievements that they kept the country safe from another major terrorist attack after 9/11.

Here’s how strong our security defenses have actually been:

Plainclothes investigators sent to test security at federal buildings in four U.S. cities were successful in smuggling bomb components through guard posts at all 10 of the sites they visited, according to a government report.

The investigators then assembled the bombs in restrooms and freely entered numerous government offices while carrying the devices in briefcases, the report said.

The buildings contained offices of several federal lawmakers as well as agencies within the departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security, which is responsible for safeguarding federal office buildings.
[...]
In a videotape obtained by CNN, a covert GAO inspector places a bag containing bomb components on an X-ray machine conveyor belt and then walks through a magnetometer at an unidentified federal building. Unlike some covert tests that use simulated explosives, the GAO used actual bomb components in the test and publicly available information “to identify a type of device that a terrorist could use” to damage a building.

“The (improvised explosive device) was made up of two parts — a liquid explosive and a low-yield detonator — and included a variety of materials not typically brought into a federal facility by an employee or the public,” the report says. Investigators obtained the components at local stores and over the Internet for less than $150, the report says.

Such stories have become depressingly familiar since security precautions were ramped up after 9/11. The fact that we are still unable to show any improvement should be cause for serious concern. But it obviously isn’t.