AirPort Security Data

AirPort Security Data

Abstract

In the early 1990s, in a work purporting to prepare policy-makers for the twenty-first century, Paul Kennedy singled out the “global population explosion” as one of the most challenging security issues and suggested that in view of the imbalances in demographic trends between “have” and “have-not” societies, one should expect “great waves of migration” because “desperate migrants are unlikely to be deterred” by immigration policies. Biometrics has been no more successful a tool. This technique uses technology to measure and analyze human body characteristics such as fingerprints, retinas, voice patterns, facial patterns, and hand measurement to authenticate people entering secure areas of the airport. Biometrics requires a scanning device, software that scans data into a database, and a database to hold the information. The problem is that biometrics does not work well because it is too easy to bypass. Tests of passengers and airport workers at Logan International Airport during a 90-day period showed it was easily fooled.

Introduction

The security of the U.S. commercial aviation system has been a growing concern since the 1970's when the hijacking of aircraft became a serious problem. Over that period, federal aviation officials have been searching for more effective ways for non-invasive screening of passengers, luggage, and cargo to detect concealed explosives and weapons. To assist in this effort, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) asked the NRC for a study of emerging screening technologies. This book - the fourth of four - focuses on data fusion as a means to significantly improve the ability of the existing suite of airport detection systems and access control systems to detect and prevent attacks.

Yet it is evident that the distant and diffuse security threats attributed to immigration are vastly overshadowed by clear and present ones arising from sheer international travel, as was demonstrated by the events of September 11, 2001. Albeit unprecedented in some respects, in others these events were merely the most recent episode in a long series of political crimes perpetrated by foreign intruders that have punctuated modern history, notably the notorious East European “anarchists” of the 1900s, militants from a variety of ideological camps, and activists from oppressed national minorities. In the light of this, it stands to reason that from a security perspective, the distinction between “visitors” and “immigrants” that prevails in national policies worldwide is largely irrelevant and that it must be overcome in order to fully analyze the impact of the international movement of persons on national security.

Discussion

Airport networks not only have to be cost-effective, reliable and provide data connectivity from the main facility to remote locations, like maintenance hangars or supply depots, but they must do so with no impact on daily operations. Airports, both large and small, have an increasing need for expanded security. In addition to the need for increased vigilance in passenger screening and security, airports contain millions of dollars of valuable equipment and assets requiring more integrated surveillance technologies to properly secure these facilities. Today, more than a quarter million video surveillance ...