The Great Pager Detonation: The End of Phones and Computers on
Airplanes?

Source:
https://t.co/7wZuG5W7gh

The Ramifications of the Attack, However Warranted It Was, Go Far
Beyond the Middle East

September 17, 2024

Michael Rubin: National Security Journal
The question for security experts is whether the operation presumably
carried out against Hezbollah pagers could be replicated on American
or European cell phones or other electronic equipment.

Is “Operation Below the Belt” the End of Phones and Computers on
Airplanes?

Earlier today, some entity—presumably Israel—caused 3,000 pagers used
by Hezbollah to detonate simultaneously.

It was a unique operation and demonstrated both Israel’s technological
capabilities as well as its penetration of Hezbollah and Iranian
networks.

After all, Iran supplied the pagers to Hezbollah just a few months
ago.

The ramifications of the attack, however warranted it was, go far
beyond the Middle East, however.

Hezbollah might have been today’s target, but today’s events may have
the most profound impact on the aviation industry since 9/11.

Wifi has become the norm on passenger planes. Whereas airlines once
banned Samsung phones due to questions about their safety after
reports that they overheated and still do not allow shipment of
lithium batteries in the cargo hold, most passengers today bring
laptops, cell phones, and tablets onboard flights.

Indeed, on most American aircraft, access to the entertainment system
requires the passenger to use his phone, tablet, or computer.

The question for security experts—and certainly one on which Al Qaeda
now works—is whether the operation presumably carried out against
Hezbollah pagers could be replicated on American or European cell
phones or other electronic equipment.

Put another way, who needs box cutters or an underwear bomb to bring
down an aircraft if a signal could overheat, if not detonate, a couple
hundred tablets or phones at 30,000 feet above the Atlantic?

For 23 years, air travelers have had to limit their liquids and submit
to vigorous pat-downs as the Transportation Security Agency or its
European corollaries sought to protect travelers against the tactics
of a past attack.

Today’s demonstration in Lebanon should raise red flags: Are water
bottles or computers the greater threat? Do computers or phones have
to be on to receive the signal that causes detonation? If not, will
airlines ever accept such electronics in carry-on or cargo? If Wi-Fi
is necessary to transmit the signal, is that the end of Wi-Fi on
flights? And if passengers cannot do work on an aircraft, will they
even fly or turn to video conferencing?

Hezbollah might have been today’s target, but today’s events may have
the most profound impact on the aviation industry since 9/11.