Importance of The Aviation Security - Essay Example

AVIATION SECURITY The events of 9/11 were a realization that the concept of Airport Security was increasingly becoming a fallacy and that the key risks lay in the management of the airline and airport security in the West. This was mainly due to outsourcing security agreements to Private sector contractors and their recruitment of minimum wage workers.This is something I have often observed even today that is ,how significant it is that these workers had such low levels of training and language skills, as well as pay, and that a number of them also had criminal records. Therefore at times I felt there was no real concern for security, safety, and health.I feel that contracting out, and deregulation have deteriorated standards of security.To my horror the last time I traveled I had so many bad security experiences that I was surprised. It is indeed true that terrorism has existed as a global phenomenon for years but I don’t see the governments learning any lessons from yesteryears. It has to be seen that armed with the tremendous improvements in technology, communications, weaponry, and transportation systems, the unscrupulous terrorist elements are better able to network their plans and actions. The last time I travelled it was a busy holiday season and I felt that the AirPort security was not increased to match this increase of customers and there was a point when it seemed that the hidden CCTV cameras were not angled correctly.At other times I saw some very rich people from the middle east or Iraqi origin. Prejudices aside I felt that because of their immense wealth(they were travelling 1st Class) they were spared the ordeal of being searched too much.Also their heavily Burqa clad women passengers were treated less stringently as I felt over dressed in a mini dressed while I was searched from head to toe. There was also an increase in people holding liquids and hot teas in bottles.As I remember only in the year 2006 some terrorists were stopped from detonating homemade bombs by trying to smuggle a relatively small amount of homemade liquid explosives onboard disguised as sports drinks. It has been a relief to know that Government authorities have established a three ounce liquid limit for carry on items to eliminate the possible risk but there is no guarantee what a harmless three ounce bottle may hold.I have also seen little children playing with mechanized toys and teddy bears.I believe that these toys may carry the risk of being converted into remote controlled bombs.It may seem draconian to suggest that today even the most ordinary items should be scrutinised but creativity and innovation is a hallmark of the most lethal terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. Another threat that comes from unaccounted cosmetics ,liquids and sprays is what is being carried with in them.Not only can a spray be used to spray something poisonous into the atmosphere but bio-chemicals and viruses can be mixed with the air in the airplane. It is worth learning from yester years horror bibles like the discovery of the 180 pages long Al Qaeda manual which was seized from the Manchester ,England home of a bin Laden disciple, was a shocking moment for Britain and new dilemma for the counterterrorism forces and think tanks of Britain. The Arabic manual literally translated was about "Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants," which was basically a complete guide believed to be the “terrorism textbook” with guidance for jihad members on subjects such as assassination ,forgery and preparing poisons in its 18 chapters for the followers of Osama bin Laden. The manual was subsequently placed into evidence during a federal trial of four terrorists who were sentenced to life prison. From the point of view of a counterterrorism strategist the “terror bible” presents some challenging scenarios for Aviation Security in Particular.. The manual provides seven pages on “Necessary Qualifications And Characteristics For The Organizations Member”,three on “Counterfeit Currency And Forged Documents”, four pages on “Organization Military Bases -Apartments-Hiding Places" and fifteen pages on means of communication and transportation. The manual goes on to talk about training, measures related to buying and transporting weapons, member safety, special tactical operations ,espionage , information-gathering using open and covert methods, coded language ,kidnapping and assassinations, explosives ,use of poisons ,interrogation and investigation and imprisonment of “infidels”. Based on such considerations of the terrorists it is worth looking into some recommended strategies by the Aviation security to look into these matters.It has to be seen that even though fanatic terrorists claim that no non-Muslim will be involved in their organisation this should not prevent the vetting and investigation of fanatic Muslims, conveniently disguised as moderate or even pretending to belong to another faith. The Airports have to come up with better systems of detecting the forgery of passports and for detecting any falsified documents etc.Again these terrorists will never be found with beards when they are mingling with the masses.The system of telecommications requires much attention.There is free wireless on Airports like Heathrow and Dubai and this can be misused easily by terrorists.It should be noted that these terrorists will memorise the phone numbers they use and use public phones whenever possible. As an anti-terrorism strategist speaking from an ordinary perspective I would recommend four kinds of measures based on the contents of this manual.Firstly prevention is better than cure: before taking any stringent measures to actually cure or protect against terrorist attacks there has to be education for the general public on the Air Port to report any suspicious people possibly involved in terrorism. These terrorists will almost always be present within the public in a very moderate setup. Any potential person can be a threat to homeland or Aviation security and this could be the next door neighbour or even the “average friendly Joe” at your workplace. Secondly the security has to be on alert for a complete breakdown in communications and there should be a thorough monitoring of the communication services like cell phones. Nowadays all public places on Airports have CCTV cameras but some far off ,run down parts of the Airport do not have such facilties.It is these places that these terrorists will choose as their hideouts and the place to start their evil activity.Thirdly at its very worse there is the undesired event of these terrorists not being prevented in time,therefore the anti terrorism squad should be prepared for damage control in the form of fire fighting and emergency response units in hospitals .There should be mock raids in where possible terrorism scenarios on the airport are played out and the response capability of the police and the hospitals is tested. The modern terrorist is able to e to network with greater ease, efficiency, and sophistication the increased containerization of luggage has created problems in scanning for hidden threats as the luggage has to pass intermodal freight terminals.Aviation security is under great threat from the containers which easily smuggle drugs and weapons and even human terrorists. It is worth looking at now how these potential risks have been countered by the authorities.The Bush administration has launched the creation of the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ensure safe international trade as well as commercial activity across and within the countrys borders and to guard against any unsafe or illegal infiltration. Another measure which is criticised as much invasive and an infrignement of civil liberties is the Operation Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS) program instituted by the U.S Department of Justice. These measures require extensive questioning, fingerprinting, and other such measures regarding individuals of Islamic countries.Critics are beginning to question whether such invasive procedures will help at all apart from causing delays dissatisfaction, and perceived harassment across international airports .Another time when I felt that that I was at risk was when the some of the passengers were drunk and started to assault the security staff.Many others got impatient with the security checks and baggage screening. However I believe that this was sufficiently taken care of by the techniques of passenger profiling, intensive security staff screening and training, personal and baggage searches, and military and police deployments. I felt that the heavy amounts of baggage which could have been carefully concealing weapons for the terrorists as well as cutlery including knives and forks was well detected by X-ray machines, explosives-detection techniques, image capture capabilities, biometrics and a host of others. There were other measures to screen the hand carriage of passengers to prevent any terrorist activities like the delegation of one part of the staff to the screening, searching, guarding, access control and pass issue ,another part managing the security functions and handling air cargo. What I felt was useful in the end as an integral part of assuring the passengers of security was that there were detailed notices and brochures on the reasons for these security programmes and that these were mandatory for all.This included physical screening of passengers and use of metal detectors,Scanning for explosive devices, detonators, firearms, ammunition, improvised pistols and bladed weapons and X-ray theory, image recognition and operator interfaces .Also countering any threats of a sudden bomb attack were the police and explosive ordnance device (EOD) teams who were well versed in hijack management, crew response, perimeter protection and intruder detection and contingency planning. In conclusion I have discussed above the relative threats arising from the use of Cosmetics,liquids,toys and ordinary everyday use objects.I feel that the air port security is developing new techniques to deal with all these problems but there are still many threats undetected.Attention should be paid recurring trends and the thinking process of the terrorists themselves in order to improve homeland security. Bibliography Nice, D. C., & Grosse, A. (2001). The evolution of emergency management in America: From a painful past to promising but uncertain future. In A. Farazmand (Ed.), Handbook of crisis and emergency management (pp. 55-67). New York: Marcel Dekker. Eric Lipton, 2007 “Airport Security Alert for Toys With Remotes” New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/us/nationalspecial3/02tsa.html?th&emc=th[7] For more on this, see James J.F. Forest (ed.), Teaching Terror: Strategic and Tactical Learning in the Terrorist World (Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006). Eric Lipton, 2007 “Airport Security Alert for Toys With Remotes” New York Times, Websites http://www.disastercenter.com/terror/ http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/law/terrorism.htm http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2205809,00.html http://cryptome.org/alq-terr-man.htm http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/08/04/zawahiri.london/index.html Read More