Well, the recent FAA reports about the numbers of weapons &c still making it past security post-9-11 are troubling, no two ways about it. Perhaps someone in the know can post data regarding the situation in other nations, so that a truer comparison can be made.
More troubling to me, perhaps, is the issue of the physical security of airports outside the terminals. When I park in the cheap seats at DTW, for example, there's nothing between me and the ramps that a decent pair of wire-cutters wouldn't solve. There are areas of the over-underpasses to the new midfield terminal where a determined scrambler wouldn't even need the wirecutters. And vast tracts of fence, especially to the West, where one could work at getting onto the runways and taxiways completely unobserved. One hopes that surveillance and electronic security measures are in place, but how to know?
At Oakland-Pontiac, the airport perimeter includes significant areas of industrial parks - for want of a better term. Mostly aviation-related, to be sure, but anyone can pretty much drive in and out of the airport at any time. At which point, the entire ramp area is open to anyone who wants to go there. And 737's and such fly in and out of there.
A razor blade, scissors and a rope? Where has this guy been living for the last eight months? Oh, in Canada, maybe? Well, that explains it.
llater,
llamas