Improving Security at San Francisco International Airport - Research Proposal Example

Transmittal Memo Robert Warner, Article Acquisition Editor Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx Report on improving security at San Francisco international airport The objective of the report was to identify the way in which security at the San Francisco international Airport could be improved. For the purpose of the report it was needed to undertake a research. The research was based on both primary and secondary methods. It was found that current security system by the TSA is not at all adequate and there are several loopholes that exist in the security measures adopted. Finally several cost effective methods are suggested that can be used that can improve the security at the airports to a great deal. Improving TSA security at a specific airport Executive Summary The following report analyzes the issue of security at the airports in America. After the occurrence of 9/11 incident, it was found that security had become a much important concern for the United States of America. The main agency that is associated with looking into the matters of airport security in the United States of America is the Transportation Security Administration or in short TSA. With strength of 50000 employees and huge funds that is financed by the taxpayers’ money it was estimated that the organization will be one of the most effective in ensuring security at the airport. However there are evidences that support to the contrary situations. It is found that the success rate of the organization is very poor. In a mock experiment that was conducted it was found that the organization failed to detect 67 out of 70 explosives and weapons that were tried to pass through the airports. The failure of TSA is also related to the fact it creates unnecessary harassments for the innocent passengers. The following report analyzes the issue of security for one of the airports in United States of America namely San Francisco International Airport. The aim of the study was to find out ways in which the security can be improved at the airport. The reason for choosing this airport was because the airport reported one of the largest number of security breaches in the past 10 years. It was found that there are several simple steps that can be taken in order to improve the security. Some of these methods are cost effective and can easily be implemented. Section 1: Introduction Statement of the problem or opportunity The airport that is taken for the sample over here is San Francisco international airport. When the study was conducted on the San Francisco international Airport since it was found that it is one of the airport that has recorded highest incidents of security breaches over the last decade. The department that looks over the security in USA at the airports is the Transportation security administration. TSA is the agency that is responsible for ensuring security at the airports in the country. However, the role of the body has been criticized severely over the years due to the fact that the body has not been able to detect security issues and has unnecessarily harassed citizens. Analysis of the benefits of the opportunity The security issues at the airports have been a major area of concern for the citizen and the government of America. The airport security has especially turned into a problematic area after the occurrence of 9/11. Now with the American government continuing its war against terrorism and the terrorists vowing of revenge against the United States, the concern of airport security has become a more fundamental issue. This leads to the fact that under these circumstances the concern of increase in the airport security while at the same time looking after the privacy of the people is an important consideration. This is also a sensitive issue that needs to be immediately considered as one hand the security of the country is at stake and on the other hand taxpayer’s money is at stake. Scope establishing boundaries for the research project The aim of the report is to conduct research into the field of improving security that is offered by TSA or Transportation security administration such that it leads to increase in the security while at the same time taking care of the privacy of people. The research that is to be done in this paper is aimed towards identifying the way in which the security at the airports can be increased while also ensuring that fact that it does not lead to the breach of privacy. Another issue that is considered over here in this research paper is that the people should not be standing in the queue for security checks or in other words the security checks should not unnecessary harass common people. Background information It is found that that TSA as the airport security organization in the United States has been criticized over several issues in the past. TSA in the past has been criticized over several issues. TSA has employee strength of 500000 and a massive budget that is contributed by the American taxpayer. It is however found that the agency has been constantly criticized over the years due to long waiting queues at the airports. Limitations Limitation of the report is related to the fact the time scope that is required for the study is very limited. The increase in the availability of time required to conduct such a research would result in more detailed research results. Another limitation of the research lies in the fact that the research in this dimension requires a lot of funding that would be required to conduct research in this dimension. The limitation of the research lies in the fact that the research is limited to just one Airport. Plan of development This report tries to research on possibility to increase the security at the San Francisco international airport while ensuring that the security system that is used does not cause irritation or headaches for the passengers. That is to say the security system should be able to identify the threats and at the same time ensure that people should be unnecessarily harassed or their privacy to be put at stake. The paper follows the steps of describing the project, defining the methods of research, then describing the conclusion that are drawn from the research, evaluation of the alternatives and recommendations. The report then leads to recommendations whereby the next suggesting steps are defined. Description of the project TSA is the main agency that looks after the aspect of airport security in America. The agency has about 50,000 employees and also has a massive budget. Americans expect that the airport security in the country should be the best amongst all the countries. However it is found that the security at the airport is at a sorry state of affair. When the citizens decide to travel from one city to another commonly involves standing in long queues and shuffling through the long queue of checkpoints. This has led to frustrations amongst the passengers and the screeners. Over the course of the past decade the security constraints that have been imposed in the airports have continued to rise while at the same time this has led to headaches for the passengers. In the first 3 months of 2015 alone the number of complaints that has been filed against TSA is 1840 (McCown, 2015). The agency has lots of manpower which it is unable to utilize effectively and this has led to a nickname for the agency. They are called Thousands standing around. However, all these checks which contribute to the frustration of the passengers have not been able to increase the levels of security. In fact it is found from a recent investigation that there are massive lapses in the security measure. In fact it is found that TSA failed to detect 67 out of a total of 70 potential threats (Rogers, 2015). In some cases TSA failed to detect fake explosives and fake weapons. Success rate of the agency is hardly 4% and this is a lot of headache for the passengers. When it comes to analyzing the security conditions at the SFO international airport it is found that SFO has the most no. of security breaches amongst all of the international airports in the country. The perimeter of the airport covers 15 mile and it is found that over the course of last 10 years 37 people have managed to break into the airport (Janet, 2015). In fact recently it was found that two of the security screeners that are employed with TSA were associated with a third party in a conspiracy to transport methamphetamine (Raedle, 2015). The following project deals with finding ways in which airport security at SFO can be improved. Research methods For the purpose of this research that is in order to find the effective way in which security at the San Francisco international airport in particular could be improved it was important to conduct both primary and secondary research. As part of the Secondary research it was important to analyze new reports regarding types of security breaches and the faults of TSA. Recommendations of research firms and government bodies on ways to improve security were studied. A primary research was also conducted to have the opinion of the passengers using airplanes in order to travel. The passengers’ and security experts were asked on the areas of security improvements that they felt as needing improvements. Conclusions drawn from research After conducting the research it was found that there are several areas in which TSA fails as the nodal security canter in the United States. The failure of TSA as the agency responsible for ensuring airport security is evident from the fact that the agency failed to detect in 67 out of 70 instances to detect weapons and explosives. Another fact that can be concluded is that the security systems at the San Francisco Airport have major loopholes. 37 people have managed to break in to the airport over the course of the past decade. These data are evidence enough of the fact that the security system at the SFO needs a complete overhaul. It is also found there are several steps that the airport in taking in order to improve the security concern at the airport. However it is also seen that the major concern about the security issue lies with the fact that the organization that is charged with dealing with the security issue at all of the airports of America has become too sloth and thus has lost efficiency. Evaluating options and alternatives In order to improve the security issues at the San Francisco international airport there are several options that can be implemented. All the options that are described below vary from each other in terms of the amount of money that is required. The options also vary in terms of effectiveness. The options are 1. Limit the no. of peoples in the unsecured areas: The queues of people who are standing in order to get their baggage checked should be restricted. This will help in ensuring that they do not become an attractive target for the terrorists (Rand, 2004). This is because if the terrorist brings in bombs that are concealed in a baggage and stands in the queues he can create havoc if the queue is large. The lines that are formed outside the terminal are also an attractive target for the vehicle bomb and should be restricted. 2. Vehicle security checkpoints with capacity to detect bombs: When the vehicles try to enter the airport they should be made to pass through the vehicle checkpoints that can identify vehicles with huge bombs and can segregate them. It is important to understand that there are far improved versions of machines that can be used for this purpose but even simple machines can also solve the issue and detect bombs. 3. It is important to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 commission to improve the airport security at the earliest. 4. The duty of checking for the suspicious should not be left to the checkpoint alone but every step in the travel process ranging from buying a ticket to boarding the aircraft should be seen as a checking process. 5. All the countries should engage in the process of stamping the passports sequentially thereby replacing the current way in which they are stamped haphazardly (Moore, 2010). This will in turn lead to the fact that a quick glance at the passport by experienced professions would reveal several truths without much effort. Recommendations After analyzing the several issues that can be used in the implementation of increased security at the San Francisco International Airport it can be found that there are certain things that can be done at modest budget which can lead to great improvements in terms of security. Some of things that can be done are ensuring smaller queues at the check in counters, ensuring sequential filling of the passport, implementation of vehicle security check points, greater screening of the cargo and greater screening of the passengers. However, implementation of better security at the airport does not mean greater harassment of the passengers. It simply means that the security checking should be made more efficient with effective use of the security personnel. The checking of the suspicious items or keeping an eye on any suspicious person or activity as the primary duty of all airport personnel should be the duty of all staffs at the airport and not just the duty of the security staffs. It is important to note that if certain simple steps are taken then the security of the airport can be improved by a great deal. It is important TSA should provide all the staffs’ latest security training so that they are trained in the latest ways that the terrorists are using to plan their attacks. Engaging in mock drills to check the preparedness of the system can help in identifying the weak spots and countering the same to have a better security environment. Suggesting next steps The issue of security is an area that is constantly evolving. The terrorists or the people who are intended to do damages are constantly evolving their strategies to cause harm to the public. Hence it is the duty of the security personnel and the office in charge of the security to increase the use of modern technologies so that they can outsmart the terrorists or people with mala fide intentions. However, it is important to note that the security measures that are to be implemented should not cause extra botheration for the innocent passengers nor should it fail to detect the security threats. In order to attain both these goals what is actually required is that TSA should reduce the bureaucratization of the organization and use the 50000 staffs more effectively. References Elias, B. (2009). Airport and aviation security: U.S. policy and strategy in the age of global terrorism. NY: CRC Press Janet, O. (2015). SFO has most security breaches in country, investigation says. Retrieved from http://abc7news.com/news/sfo-has-most-security-breaches-in-country-investigation-says/645045/ McCown, B.A. (2015). The Lost energy of transportation security. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/brighammccown/2015/06/18/the-lost-energy-of-transportation-security/ Moore, K., (2010). 5 Ways to improve air security. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/opinion/slideshows/5-ways-to-improve-air-security/5 Raedle, J. (2015). TSA security screeners accused of helping smuggle meth through SFO. Retrieved from http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/03/06/tsa-security-screeners-accused-of-helping-smuggle-meth-through-sfo/ Rand. (2004). Near-term options for improving security at Los Angeles International Airport. Retrieved from http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/documented_briefings/2004/RAND_DB468-1.pdf Rogers, M. (2015). TSA misfires are putting country at risk: guest opinion. Retrieved from http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/06/tsa_misfires_are_putting_count.html SFO. (2015). Security. Retrieved from http://www.flysfo.com/flight-info/security Appendices Appendix 1 Figure 1: Security checkpoints at SFO (SFO, 2015) Read More