Transport security

Don’t Be So Quick to Believe Russia That ISIS Bombed Jet

Bringing off the successful bombing of an airliner requires a completely different set of skills than attacking a target on the ground—not only different but far more technically demanding than training and assigning teams of gunmen or bombers to a city.

If, therefore, it does turn out that ISIS was responsible for successfully infiltrating the airport at Sharm el-Sheikh and, moreover, were able to select a precise flight, get a bomb into the cargo and—and this would be at the core of their accomplishment—equip it with a timer to detonate the bomb at the optimum moment, they now have a more formidable and sophisticated capability than they have been able to demonstrate before.

And, if not, then they are only too happy to take the credit. Which raises the question: If not ISIS, who else had the capability?