“On August 10, 2006, authorities announced the apprehension of more than twenty suspects who were part of a plot to blow up seven transatlantic flights bound for the United States from Britain. Just as [shoe bomber Richard] Reid had exploited the inadequate screening of footwear, these plotters realized that they could sneak liquid explosives through security checkpoints by hiding them in drink bottles. The tops of the bottles would be unopened, but the plotters would add false bottoms filled with explosives dyed the same color as the beverage… In this way, the terrorists could pass safely through security even if they were asked to drink from the bottles along the way. Department of Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff commented that if the plot hadn’t been broken up, the United States could have experienced devastation akin to 9/11. ‘If they had succeeded in bringing liquid explosives on seven or eight aircraft,’ he said, ‘there could have been thousands of lives lost and an enormous economic impact with devastating consequences for international air travel.’ ”
– Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Bin Laden’s Legacy, Page 5