Passengers under tighter scrutiny

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The US government is asking governments around the world to increase security screening of passengers bound for the United States. In particular, U-S officials are asking for tighter scrutiny of airline passengers from 14 nations, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Nigeria. The World’s Jason Margolis reports.

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JEB SHARP: I’m Jeb Sharp and this is The World.  There was more follow-up today to the failed attempt on Christmas Day to blow up a US airliner.  Tightened security measures have been put in place for all travelers flying into the United States.  Airport staff are carrying out full body checks on passengers from nations that the US considers security risks.  Passengers coming from other countries will be checked at random.  The World’s Jason Margolis tells us about the new guidelines and how effective they’re likely to be.

JASON MARGOLIS: The Transportation Security Administration announced the new procedures in a brief written statement.  It says aviation security must begin beyond our borders.  And so enhanced screening will be conducted on people from or traveling through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism, or other countries of interest.  That would put 14 countries on the list.  They are Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.  It’s the latest attempt in a post-September 11^th world to keep our skies safe.  And as with every new security measure, security analysts disagree about the effectiveness of profiling passengers by country.  Norman Shanks is a former head of security for BAA, the owner of six British airports.  Shanks says that profiling is necessary.

NORMAN SHANKS: The sad fact is it’s a particular group of people that are targeting us at the moment so, you’re going to focus more on that group than any other.  But profiling takes into account their behavior patterns, their tickets, how they purchase them, how they’re acting and interacting with people.

JASON: Counter that with the viewpoint of Isaac Yeffet.  He’s a former head of security for the Israeli airline El Al.  El Al is widely acknowledged as the most secure airline in the world.  Yeffet says screening passengers by country of origin is ineffective.  What you have to do is interview every single passenger.

ISAAC YEFFET: I don’t care the religion of any passenger.  I don’t care what country his passbook is.  I want to ask him simple questions to find out if he’s bona fide passenger or suspicious passenger.

JASON: But just getting through El Al security takes a lot of time.  Then there’s the question of how screening will be done.  Aviation security analyst Chris Yates favors full body scanners over pat downs.

CHRIS YATES: Yes you can do a proper exam of somebody and pretty much determine whether they’re hiding something.  But you know at the end of the shift on a bad day at work the security guard’s just wanting to get home.  Is he going to do that?  And there’s the big issue.  And I will prefer to see technology doing the electronic pat down if you will than a person doing it.

JASON: Counter that with Simon Davies.  He’s the director of the human rights watchdog organization Privacy International.

SIMON DAVIES: These machines can’t tell you what the object is underneath or within the clothing, they can only detect the irregularity.  The problem is the way modern clothing is designed, the fact that people take man objects of a non-metallic nature through airports means the machines are of extremely limited value.

JASON: Davies argues in favor of more traditional security techniques.

DAVIES: Ordinary and quite boring measures actually do work like for an example making sure that your airport staff are properly screened.  That you have vehicle checks.  There’s hundreds of vehicles in the average airport; these vehicles need to be thoroughly screened.  Now that’s behind the scenes.  It’s stuff the public doesn’t see; it’s not a politically sexy solution.

JASON: Then there’s the question of funding and resources.  For example, who will pay for extra security measures or expensive equipment in places like Nigeria or Yemen?  The assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counter terrorism, John Brennan summed up the challenges of keeping the sky safe yesterday on the morning talk shows.  Brennan said there’s no single silver bullet to stop people from blowing up planes.  He said keeping airline travel safe requires technology, intelligence and international cooperation to come together seamlessly on a daily basis.  For The World I’m Jason Margolis.

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