Terrorism 101.

Byline: The Register-Guard

More will be revealed, but the foiled plot to blow up airliners with liquid explosives smuggled aboard in carry-on baggage already offers lessons worth immediate attention.

Lesson No. 1 - Public transportation, particularly air transportation, continues to be the target of choice for terrorists. Disruption of mass transit systems and international air traffic throws countless lives into immediate chaos. The resultant fear spreads rapidly around the globe.

From the Sept. 11 attacks to the British plan to detonate explosives on as many as 10 trans-Atlantic jets, terrorists continue to find vulnerabilities in airport security worldwide. In addition, bus, subway and passenger rail networks have been targeted with deadly effectiveness.

Homeland security funding allocated to transportation security should reflect the real risk associated with terrorist threats there. The term "homeland security pork" needs to be understood to mean money that should have gone to save lives but was instead wasted to get a politician re-elected.

Lesson No. 2 - Terrorists are adaptable and patient. They know cockpit doors have been reinforced. They know shoes are being screened. They know checked passenger baggage is being scanned for explosives. They worked on the system for smuggling explosive liquids onto planes for months and had planned to make a dry run to probe security at London's Heathrow Airport.

The British plot involved the use of carry-on bags, most of which are screened using older X-ray machines that can't detect explosives or the kind of household chemicals that could be mixed to create a bomb. Newer, more effective technology is available. It should be purchased with money from the "homeland security pork" fund.

Lesson No. 3 - Any terrorist who reads newspapers now knows that security experts around the world are raising the alarm that commercial cargo loaded into the bellies of passenger airplanes generally is not screened for explosives. See Lesson No. 2.

Lesson No. 4 - British law enforcement efforts were the key to this successful interruption of a largely homegrown terrorist plot. Two dozen people, mostly British Muslims with ties to Pakistan, formed the cadre of terrorists who police believe planned to blow up the planes. Lives were saved because of savvy police efforts at the local and national level. No high-tech electronic surveillance system beats solid intelligence on the street.

Lesson No. 5 - The most important solid intelligence on the street came in the form of a tip to police from a worried member of London's Muslim community in the aftermath of the July 7, 2005, subway bombings.

The importance of this can't be overstated. A Muslim, who was a British citizen, who cared about his neighborhood and his city and his country, who abhored the violence being committed in the name of Islam by fanatics, reported his suspicions about an acquaintance to the authorities.

This spark of life-saving public service needs to be nurtured, supported and celebrated. It must not be extinguished by a bigoted backlash against Muslims and xenophobic rants demanding more repressive profiling. No amount of profiling will contribute anything nearly as worthwhile as the British Muslim's tip that may have saved a thousand lives.