AIRPORT SECURITY

Airport Security

Airport Security

Introduction

Although well-intentioned, much of the effort to enhance aviation security since September 11, 2001, has finished little to make the atmosphere considerably safer. Despite large allowances of taxpayers' cash and pas­sengers' time, little has been carried out that actu­ally increases aviation security. The time has arrive for assembly to start over and mandate a new approach.

Discussion

Unburdened by the responsibility of running a 45,000-person screening force, the DHS should turn its vigilance to evolving a 21st years worldwide traveller and cargo security system that does not waste assets by healing every person and package as an identical risk that needs scrutiny checks and screening.

Focused Security Model System

A new model system would allocate security resources in proportion to the risk, relying on "focused security" that puts the most resources against the greatest risks (Michael E. Levine and Richard Golaszewski, 2001).

Aviation Security Function

This approach would start with the fundamentally different assumption that the function of aviation security is to identify and isolate unsafe persons, not unsafe things per se. The challenge is to keep awful persons from initating harm, either in the fatal area or to the planes themselves. The TSA actually dedicates the lion's share of its airport assets to only one of these risks: preventing would-be hijackers from boarding planes with weapons. Far less money and effort is expended on protecting airport fatal lobbies and the ramp localities where planes reserve and on holding airline permits out of the hands of known and suspected terrorists.

Risk-Based Approach

An improved risk-based approach to recognising dangerous persons would entail dividing passengers inside the fatal checkpoints into at least three defined assemblies, based on the quantity and quality of information known about each (www.csmonitor.com):

Low-risk travellers, about who a large deal is known;

"Ordinary" travellers (mostly infrequent flyers ...