Airport Security Done Right

[HisMajestyBOB]

Interesting interview with a former head of El Al, the world's most secure airline:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/01/11/yeffet.air.security.israel/index.html

Basically, they do the complete opposite the US does - they use well-trained personnel and interviews, and don't rely on technology.

[Strix]

And how many passengers a day do they deal with?

[Alatriste]

And how many passengers a day do they deal with?

All the more reason to do it well, I'd say...

Anyway, El Al's approach to security is sanely paranoid. For example:

- Its planes do have several small but evident antennae and bulges other companies planes don't have, even if they are  from the same model.  Everyone in the business knows they are ready to jam incoming missiles and deploy flares...   

- El Al has its own, small warehouses in every airport they fly to. No cargo flies in El Al planes without spending at least 24 hours in them.

- Everything, including passengers luggage, passes trough a decompression chamber before being loaded on the plane.

In short, they take security very seriously. Their system isn't 'in your face' security conceived mainly to be seen (tough they don't have any troubles with being seen) but an integral approach to the problem. They invest a lot of money, well trained, professional men and time, and they get results.     

[Viking]

I've been on El-Al. Had to show up a few hours early at Copenhagen. A young man opened my suitcase and interviewed me, I was 14 at the time. It was clearly profiling. Who was I, what was I going to do in Israel, who was I going to meet, why was I going to meet them, was this my first trip etc.etc.

Now hott stewardesses, Israel has no lack of hott women looking to work internationally, instead we had muscular military age men with bulges inside their jackets and bad atttudes.

[Josephus]

I have a story to tell you, about what I perceive as the flaw with El Al, which I've travelled on several times...but it's gonna have to wait till I get to work.

[grumbler]

In short, they take security very seriously. Their system isn't 'in your face' security conceived mainly to be seen (tough they don't have any troubles with being seen) but an integral approach to the problem. They invest a lot of money, well trained, professional men and time, and they get results. 

Agree that they get results, but their methods are inappropriate for an actual commercial airline.  If every airline had security like El Al, commercial air travel would be dead except for the most necessary business flights and some government travel.

It would be a boon for the private jet industry, though.

[Grey Fox]

I have a story to tell you, about what I perceive as the flaw with El Al, which I've travelled on several times...but it's gonna have to wait till I get to work.

So, we'll get to find out around noon, eh?

[grumbler]

I have a story to tell you, about what I perceive as the flaw with El Al, which I've travelled on several times...but it's gonna have to wait till I get to work.

So, we'll get to find out around noon, eh?

He leaps out of bed at the crack of noon.

[Josephus]

I have a story to tell you, about what I perceive as the flaw with El Al, which I've travelled on several times...but it's gonna have to wait till I get to work.

So, we'll get to find out around noon, eh?

He leaps out of bed at the crack of noon.

nah, there was a centimetre of snow on the ground, so my commute got held up forever.

[Josephus]

Ok. I wrote this a few weeks ago for an OP-Ed piece for a major Canadian daily, which they accepted and were gonna pay me some nice money. But then that thing in Haiti happened, and this got put on the backburner. They offered to put it on their website for free, and I told them to go fuck themselves.
So instead I offer it to you. Paypal donations accepted.

By Josephus

If Canada adopts what some media are calling the "Israelification" of airport security, I, unfortunately, will be hesitant to travel again.

This much-touted and highly effective method used in Israeli airports of singling out potential terrorists by looking travelers in the eye and studying their behaviour patterns is a problem for me because it targets a group of people of which I am a part of –– nervous or anxiety prone people.

Call it emotional profiling.

I suffer from anxiety. Many things can set me off, including authority figures.

Two years ago I went on a business trip to Israel from Toronto on Israel's national El Al airline.  I had been to Israel before, I knew what to expect, and wasn't particularly nervous. When you fly El Al, even if you board outside of Israel, you are subject to a quick interview by Israeli security agents. They ask you standard questions such as where are you going?  Where are you staying? etc.

On that trip, I was traveling alone and on tickets I didn't purchase myself (the Jewish Agency in New York purchased them) at a hotel someone else booked for me. These things seemed to set them off. I was pulled aside, asked some more questions and eventually, only a phone call to a Jewish Agency rep in Israel whose card I was lucky to find in my wallet  (they woke him up, since it was about 3 am Jerusalem time) cleared the matter up.

It was a minor, necessary inconvenience. I was happy to forget about it. I had a great trip in Israel, traveling all over the beautiful country.

Except as I stood in line at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv a week later to return home, I suddenly got nervous. My body betrayed me, and I got nervous about appearing nervous. I stood in line, noticeably fidgety and craving a cigarette. I may as well have had Long Live Hamas tattooed on my forehead.

A young security rep approached me and asked to see my Canadian passport. As he flicked through it, he asked me the standard questions, all the time looking me in the eye. I knew I was acting nervously, even though I had nothing to hide.

"Why are you so nervous?" the agent asked.

"I don't know. I'm always nervous."

"Is it a medical condition?"

He pasted a blue sticker on the back of my passport. Everyone else had a yellow one. I knew this wasn't good.

I proceeded down the line. The next agent, looked at my passport, saw the sticker, and pulled me aside. She X-rayed both my luggage and my carry on, and then asked me to open them. She took everything out, brushing everything with a swifter like wand.

She did put everything back neatly while I watched, unsure if I should help her or not.

At the next stage, another agent, after looking at my passport, pulled me aside. I was put into a cubicle like space. He made me take my belt off and my shoes. More than likely I was being X-rayed, but I can't say for sure. He made me strip to my underwear. He took my passport and put it through a machine of some kind, probably searching for explosive residue. Again, I put my jacket and carry on, pants and shoes through a screening device.

A more senior-like agent approached.

"Where's your passport?"

I fidgeted through my stuff nervously. I couldn't find it. Scenes from Midnight Express flashed. Then I remembered the other agent had it. "He has it," I said anxiously.

He looked at it. "Why are you nervous?"

Why do you think?  I wanted to yell at him. "I don't know. I'm tired, it's been a long day." I think my voice betrayed my frustration now.

He gave me back my passport. "Enjoy your flight."

I packed up and walked to the waiting area.

I completely understand why the Israeli agents are so thorough. I am aware that this method is highly effective and that El Al and Ben Gurion Airport, such obvious targets, have impeccable safety records. But I'd much rather go through a full body scan than have to go through that ever again. At least X-Ray machines don't detect anxiety.

[Neil]

You make it sound pretty effective.  I kind of like it.

[Josephus]

You make it sound pretty effective.  I kind of like it.

LOL. Good one.

[Malthus]

My own amusing travel through Israeli security story ...

When they put my carry-on through the x-ray, it caused a stir: exclaimations from the agents, guards summoned, they quickly pulled it open to find ... my pastels.

In those days I always travelled with my drawing kit, containing pencils, several sizes of ink pens, and pastels.

See, what I didn't know was that pastels are made from metallic pigments that show up solid on x-rays. I had a box of half-sized pastels, which were used - thus rounded at one end and flat at the other. On an x-ray, they look exactly like a box of .45 bullets.

Going back the other way, I handed the pastels to the agent. 

[Josquius]

- Everything, including passengers luggage, passes trough a decompression chamber before being loaded on the plane.

For some reason I've a mental image of someone trying to take their beloved pooch on a flight....

My own amusing travel through Israeli security story ...

When they put my carry-on through the x-ray, it caused a stir: exclaimations from the agents, guards summoned, they quickly pulled it open to find ... my pastels.

In those days I always travelled with my drawing kit, containing pencils, several sizes of ink pens, and pastels.

See, what I didn't know was that pastels are made from metallic pigments that show up solid on x-rays. I had a box of half-sized pastels, which were used - thus rounded at one end and flat at the other. On an x-ray, they look exactly like a box of .45 bullets.

Going back the other way, I handed the pastels to the agent.

What happened first time anyway?
They realise they were just art supplies right away or what?

[Malthus]

What happened first time anyway?
They realise they were just art supplies right away or what?

Yup, soon as they opened the box, and they had a good laugh over it.

I didn't really realize the kerfuffle I had inadvertantly caused until it was over.