WASHINGTON - The latest attempt by al Qaeda to make an underwear bomb designed to be detonated on a plane headed to the United States has set off a fierce debate among security officials in Washington and their critics in Congress about whether the current measures to protect airliners would have detected the bomb.
The debate has centered largely on the belief among officials of the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration that their so-called multilayered approach to security would have stopped such an attack.
The current approach includes increased sharing of intelligence and boarding pass information, the widespread use of body scanners, officers monitoring human behavior in airports and closer relationships with airport officials around the world.
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