Thankfully, an alleged terrorist bomber's plan to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas fizzled and no innocents were injured.

But he didn't fail completely.

Leave it to the federal Transportation Security Administration to give the terrorists exactly what they were looking for — panic and overreaction.

Hours after the aborted bombing, the TSA issued new rules for airline travel. These included subjecting passengers to a thorough pat-down at boarding gates, requiring passengers to remain seated for the final hour before landing, denying them access to their carry-on baggage or from holding personal items on their laps during that final hour, and prohibiting flight crews from announcing to passengers the airplane's flight path or its position over cities or landmarks.

Does anyone believe those will be effective? They wouldn't even have prevented the attempted Northwest bombing had they been in place prior to Christmas.

It's similar to how the TSA reacted to the "shoe bomber" in 2001. That failed attempt to detonate a concealed explosive in flight resulted in passengers being required to remove their footwear when going through airport security. In 2006, evidence of a terrorist plot to smuggle liquid explosives aboard planes compelled officials to place restrictions on what toiletries could be carried in the cabin.

Ever-resourceful jihadists figured out how to place explosives in their underwear. And undoubtedly, they will find ways around the latest TSA rules.

So long as the TSA focuses on inanimate objects as being the threat, and not individuals, it will continue to chase its tail. It will add layer upon layer of regulations that will inconvenience millions of travelers, making flying more aggravating without making it safer.

Check out this video of how easy it is to conceal a high explosive in a ballpoint pen: tinyurl.com/y9dggns. How do you prevent that from getting aboard an airplane?

By following that reactive strategy, the TSA eventually will be forced to make passengers fly naked, strapped to their seats and in silence for the entire flight with the windows blacked out.

Instead of trying to guess what the next vessel for explosives will be (Eyeglasses? Jewelry?), officials should focus on why someone like Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was allowed to board Northwest Flight 253 in the first place.

Flailing about doesn't inspire confidence in public officials' ability to deal directly with threats. Nor does Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano's declaration Sunday that "the system has worked really very, very smoothly over the course of the past several days."

Sure, other than the fact that Abdulmutallab held a U.S. visa despite being on a terrorism watch list, got past airport security carrying explosives in his undies and proceeded to light himself on fire while in flight. The system failed miserably (something Napolitano was forced to acknowledge Monday amidst nationwide mocking of her previous stance). Disaster was averted only because of a faulty detonator and a quick-reacting Dutch passenger who subdued the perpetrator.

Once again, just as Flight 93 on 9/11 proved, the best defense against in-flight terrorism is alert passengers who spring into action — who take responsibility for their own safety instead of entrusting it to clownish bureaucrats like Janet Napolitano.

REPRINTED FROM THE PANAMA CITY NEWS HERALD.