Fox News and The Sun report that MI-5 has uncovered Al Qaeda plans to use female suicide bombers carrying explosive charges in breast implants.

From the Fox article:

Explosive experts allegedly told MI5 that a sachet containing as little as five ounces of PETN [an explosive compound] could blow “a considerable hole” in an airline’s skin, causing it to crash.

From the Sun article:

MI5 has also discovered that extremists are inserting the explosives into the buttocks of some male suicide bombers.

Both Fox News and The Sun are, as usual, regurgitating hyped up bullshit as pointed out here in Richard Bartholomew’s blog.  Not that they were the only ones, as a quick Google search will reveal.

However surgical bombs are a theoretical possibility and challenge us again to define the line between privacy and security.

Should a surgical bomb attack ever be successful, in the ensuing hysteria would the FAA begin requiring a mandatory feel up after the pat down?

Would passengers be required to submit to a full body scan (a technology whose current effectiveness is dubious)?

Should passengers just climb on the conveyor belts with their luggage and submit to x-raying?