yeah, i'm normally one who would be all against something like this, but, i am completely against the original way of "SCREEN EVERYONE RANDOMLY" thing where you really do detain the 90 yr old lady in a wheelchair or the 10 yr old kid going with his family or whatever. I believe that many of the people on the job currently are extremely slack, as evidenced here by people who are able to board w/out even showing ids. I think they do need to be better screened and trained to pick up on the subtle cues of someone who is out to do some major damage. In interviews, the personell who allowed the 9-11 hijackers on the planes felt there was something 'odd' about the hijackers, but were unable to do anything about it. One gave a 1-time boarding pass meaning the guy would have to be checked in again when he transferred to his 2nd flight. Another committed suicide after she learned she let one of the hijackers on the plane. This could have been prevented if the officials were trained to pick up on the cues and allowed to act on them.
Admittedly, this would not and could not be 100% PC, but it would allow the screeners to actually use some common sense and training in order to more efficiently screen passengers. So, instead of hounding the harmless 90 yr old grandma and hte like, they can spend more time wit the people who are more likely to be trouble.
Then again, i can totally see how this could be abused...horribly. Israel's El Al airport uses a similar system and is considered to be the safest airport in the world
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2097352.stm
Quote:
El Al sets security standards
Security agent at Los Angeles airport
Airports were on alert for potential 4 July attacks
Israeli security experts say that Thursday's attack at Los Angeles airport should serve as a wake-up call to airport officials to re-examine their security procedures.
Issy Boim president of consulting company Air Security International in Houston told BBC News Online he believes that swift action by El Al agents averted a major disaster.
El Al's security agents are trained to identify a threat, respond to it quickly and accurately and neutralise it
Issy Boim, president of Air Security International
"If the attacker had targeted another carrier it could have been a very, very sad 4 July," Mr Boim said.
"El Al's security agents are trained to identify a threat, respond to it quickly and accurately and neutralise it," he said.
Security
El Al is renowned for its strict security procedures. It has armed guards at every ticket counter - many of whom are former Israeli soldiers.
El Al attacks
1968 flight from Rome hijacked
1970 hijack thwarted in mid air
1986 thwarted attempt to put a bomb on board a plane
1972 Japanese Red Army faction members opened fire at Tel Aviv airport
1985 Palestinians attacked El Al check in counters in Rome and Vienna killing 18
It also has undercover agents on every plane and armed guards at every ticket counter. Aircrafts' cockpits are protected with double doors.
Isaac Yeffet, the former director of general security for the El Al, told broadcaster MSNBC that the security guard acted appropriately by fatally shooting the gunman.
"Security surrounds the passengers in different positions to make sure that if a terrorist is coming to open fire he will be killed immediately. This is what happened," he said.
He noted that two previous attempts by would-be attackers at Paris and Brussels airports were contained "after 30 seconds" by El Al security.
Passenger profiling
"If he comes to kill he has to be killed immediately," he said.
Israelis with military or security experience are becoming increasingly popular with US Government agencies looking to beef-up their anti-terror measures.
Mr Boim - a former agent for the Israeli security service Shin Bet - says that El Al's rigorous security procedures rely heavily on human intelligence.
Policeman stands in front of an El Al plane
El Al has the most rigorous security procedures in the world
The difference between the Israeli and the American systems, he explains, is that the Israelis are looking for the terror suspect, while the Americans are looking for weapons.
At Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport, passengers - in particular non-Israelis - are interrogated at length by highly-trained screeners while plain-clothes security officials watch for suspicious behaviour.
Outside Israel, travellers experience thorough searches of their luggage, including not just repeated X-rays but also swabs to test for explosives and lengthy questioning.
But some passengers have reported that these measures are discriminatory and sometimes unpleasant, with Palestinians and their friends subjected to much stricter procedures, including body searches.
El Al uses rigorous computerised passenger profiling systems, which apparently looks for anomalies in a traveller's itinerary, finances and personal profile.
Previous attacks
Such profiling is problematic under the laws of some countries, such as the US.
But Israeli security experts argue that such profiling has helped thwart potential attacks.
They point to an attempt in 1986 by a Jordanian to send his Irish girlfriend on to an El Al flight with a bomb concealed in her hand luggage without her knowledge.
Airports are looking at ways of improving security
Airports are looking at ways of improving security
The woman, Anne-Marie Murphy, was preparing to board an Israel-bound flight at London's Heathrow airport, when she was quizzed by a ticket agent trained to screen passengers.
Since the agent thought her story didn't add up, screeners re-examined her baggage, which an X-ray had cleared and found seven pounds of explosives in the lining.
El Al's security precautions were developed in the 1960 and early 1970s when the airline became the target of attacks and hijackings.
The only successful hijacking of an El Al plane was in 1968 when a flight from Rome was hijacked by members of the militant Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and forced to land in Algiers.
One of the most famous examples of an attempted hijack was in 1970, when highjackers tried to storm the cockpit.
The El Al pilot sent the aircraft into a nosedive, creating zero gravity, which knocked the hijackers off their feet.
They were then overpowered by security agents.
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Oh, and i'm with will. I have ended up in super-restricted areas of hospitals bc i made a wrong turn and nobody stopped me. only when I asked someone for directions did they realize i was not supposed to be there. I haven't flown much, but in the 4 flights i've had since 9-11, i have waited a total of 3 minutes in security/check in/xrays/boarding. Seriously, i walk up, put my stuff in the bowl, walk through, pick up and go. My laptop had me stopped once for an extra 3 minutes while they handwanded it, otherwise, i have kept my nailclippers intact
i've often wanted to go to GSO airport (very small, but is a main hub for usair) and try to sneak things on the planes. There are generally 200 people in the entire terminal at any given point and they all look bored out of their minds..