By Sam Wohlforth ’13, Staff Writer

On October 29th, President Barack Obama confirmed that packages from Yemen en route to Jewish sites in Chicago contained explosives. The packages were intercepted in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Midland, England.  Al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for the foiled attacks.

This extremist group was also responsible for the 2008 attacks on the U.S. Embassy attacks in Yemen, and the attempted 2009 Christmas Day plane bombing in which the group attempted to blow up a plane using explosives hidden in the underwear of a member.

One of the synagogues to which the most recent packages were addressed was the Congregation of Chadash, an LGBT synagogue in Chicago. However, according to U.S. and U.K officials, the explosives were expertly wired and hidden in toner cartridges so that the bombs could go off midair. They were wired to cell phones and could have been remotely detonated at anytime, from anywhere on Earth.

Many deaths could have resulted had an informant not given an invaluable tip. Jabir al-Fayfi, a former Al-Qaeda operative, gave the Saudi government extensive information regarding the plot, including the tracking numbers of the packages. The Saudi government has for years been waging a war against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, attempting to infiltrate it and paying tribal chiefs to help fight the jihadist group. As a result Al Qaeda has moved many of their operational headquarters to Yemen. The group has also claimed responsibility for the attempted killing of the Saudi Prince, Muhammad bin Nayef. Prince Muhammad bin Nayef has been in charge of counter-terrorism in Saudi Arabia.

In Europe, the political effects of a recent string of foiled terrorist attacks targeting France remain to be seen. Starting in late September, numerous threats to destroy French train stations and monuments have created a tense situation in the same country where the burqua was recently banned. Whether the effects of such terrorism-created tension will take a similar course of action in the US remains to be seen.

In the United States, the mail bomb plot has led to increased screening at Newark Liberty, JFK, and Philadelphia airports, all three of which are the closest major airports to the Livingston area. A plane was escorted by two F-16 fighters into JFK last Friday afternoon as a “cautionary move.”  The administration has taken more cautionary measures, such as screening UPS planes originating in Yemen. The U.S., the U.K., and Canada have all put a temporary halt on packages from Yemen due to this terror plot.  Aside from air security, the Port Authority announced on November 18th that it will soon expand its maritime security coordination.

It seems that with each foiled terror attack, the result is an array of increasingly tedious security checks in airports that dissuade people from travelling.  Are further preventative measures effective or even necessary?  Junior Robin Giles who is “aware of the recent terrorist plots”  thinks that both the plots and the resultant security measures do not “affect [him] in any noticeable way.”   Sophomore James Sutherland-Foggio offers another moderate opinion, understanding the  “importance [of] recognizing terrorist events because we are at risk everyday.”  Still, he admits that  “sometimes [the government] takes it too far with things like full body scans” and they “do not necessarily need to increase security [since it does not always work] but just need to recognize risk the nation is at.”