Classified intelligence supports the theory that someone at Sharm el-Sheikh Airport put a bomb on an airliner that crashed in Egypt, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
“This airport has lax security. It is known for that,” the official said. “But there is intelligence suggesting an assist from someone at the airport.”
The U.S. does not believe the explosive device was designed to get past airport security procedures — either passenger screening or other security measures — in Egypt, another U.S. official said.
Rather, it is believed whoever was behind it used a conventional explosive device and took advantage of lax security at the local airport or had someone complicit at the airport, the official said.
On Wednesday, U.S. and foreign officials said new intelligence has emerged that supports the idea that an ISIS explosive device brought down the plane.
“It doesn’t 100% mean yes, but it is leaning in that direction,” the U.S. official said, adding that it is still unclear whether ISIS itself or its affiliate, ISIS Sinai Province, planned and executed the attack.
The airport’s security system is being put under scrutiny.
On Wednesday, for instance, an England delegation visited some of the airport’s security locations and shot footage of different places in the terminal, the independent Egyptian daily El-Watan reported. The group is scheduled to write a report on the airport and the delegation will conduct meetings with Egyptian officials to discuss security measures at the airport, El-Watan reported.
If a bombing were an inside job, it wouldn’t have been stopped by security measures the average airline passenger goes through, CNN safety analyst David Soucie said.
Despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary, the airport has stricter-than-average security checks for passengers, he said, including putting all baggage through a barometric pressure device that would activate a bomb with altitude-sensitive detonators.
“Does this airport stand out in a unique way from other airports?” he said. “No.”
However, the airport has a reputation for being understaffed at security checkpoints, he said. A website with passenger comments about their airport experience had complaints about security employees who stole items or acted rudely.
Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed Saturday in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula after breaking apart in midair, killing all 224 people on board. It was en route to St. Petersburg from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Like most airports in the world, Sharm el-Sheikh Airport doesn’t do a very good job of controlling access outside the terminals, Soucie said.
In May a mentally disturbed man slipped through a hole in a wall and tampered with a plane, the Cairo Post reported, citing Youm7.
The man approached a plane sitting on the runway and tried to open a door to the aircraft, the article said. He was arrested after moving a block in front of the plane’s wheel, the article said.
Despite the crash, Egypt said Tuesday it was not toughening airport security because there was no indication the crash was a terrorist operation, the Egyptian Ministry of Interior Media Office told CNN in response to questions about new security measures.
On Wednesday, England and Ireland suspended all flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh Airport for the time being.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called the British decision “somewhat premature,” as the investigation is not complete.
Some airlines already avoid the Sinai region of Egypt, where ISIS-affiliated militants have been battling Egyptian security forces for the last few years.
Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Air Arabia, Etihad and flydubai have recently opted to reroute their flights to circumvent the area.
The European Aviation Safety Agency issued guidance for the region a year ago, when it warned civilian aircraft operators about a “significant risk” due to “ongoing insurgent activity” in North Sinai, and told airlines to not fly below 26,000 feet.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which controls U.S. airlines, issued similar guidance in March.
If the theory about the bomb proves true, the aviation industry may be shaken up, CNN aviation analyst Richard Quest said.
“Everything in airport security at the moment has been designed to prevent exactly this sort of thing from taking place,” he said. “That it should have happened, if it proves to be true, will give a remarkable wake-up call, if you will, to the aviation industry.”