The story earlier this week on the deportation from the US of A of two Brits who ill-advisedly tweeted they were off to "destroy America" left a few readers pretty shaken up at the way the Department of Homeland Security handles potential terrorist threats.

Trust us, you don't know the half of it. Today, we publish exclusive behind-the-scenes photos of exactly what went down, and those of a nervous disposition are advised to take a large brandy before proceeding.

Some of our exclusive snaps have bigger versions available, if appropriate. Just click on the image for an expanded view in a new window.

So, let's get down to it. Here we have our happy tourist twittering merrily away just prior to jetting off to Los Angeles:

What he doesn't know is that it's a pretty quiet night down at the Homeland Security cyber-monitoring bunker, and one of his tweets is immediately flagged up on the really big global threats board:

Michelle Obama's just popped in to offer herbal tea and cookies to the tireless operatives on the front line of the War on Terror™, but refreshment will have to wait as the Paris Hilton clone used by Homeland Security to gauge the true seriousness of social networking threats to the American Way of Life™ leaps from her chair in a state of semi-hysteria.

Cue an urgent call on the big red phone to LAX, where armed personnel are waiting to offer our traveller and his companion a traditional warm California welcome: